Through open-ended play before formal schooling, children develop skills like reading, writing, and numeracy. Young kids explore their environment and test their own ideas about how the world works, building understanding with help from others. Countries like Scandinavia that delay formal reading lessons until age 7 have high literacy rates, and early vs late readers show no long-term differences. Kids need time to play, learn informally, and do activities after school like eating with family, which predicts high achievement and fewer behavior problems. Allowing kids to do nothing teaches independence and self-entertainment, more important skills than being a "superkid".