This article discusses the issue of schools limiting the opportunities for children's physical, cognitive, social-emotional, and creative development that recess affords. Red Rover, hopscotch, jump rope, chase, telling secrets, hanging out, making friends, losing friends--these familiar pursuits of childhood recess are vividly memorable. While these are common memories for adults, many children now attending elementary school are experiencing a different reality. Today's climate of increasing school accountability and intense focus on strictly cognitive performance has forced a restructuring of the school day. In the aftermath of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, time literally can mean money. Schools are eliminating activities deemed unnecessary or frivolous, especially those whose contributions to academic achievement are not "scientifically proven." Current research suggests that as many as 40 percent of school districts throughout the United States are reducing or deleting recess as they focus additional time and resources on teaching and learning (American Association for the Child's Right to Play, 2004). Current studies challenge the idea that limiting recess will benefit children's academic performance, however. Research on the human brain informs that excessive and/or unrelieved periods of instruction can, in fact, impair one's ability to learn and retain material (Healy, 1998; Jensen, 1998). Here, the author presents other research in response to this issue.