What Early Childhood Play Learning Entails?

Play is a crucial aspect of children’s learning and development, as it helps them understand the physical properties of objects, use new language, build relationships with caregivers and peers, and use their bodies in new ways. Play-based learning is particularly important for early childhood, as it prepares children for education and brain development.

Play is one of the richest experiences inside and outside of early learning settings, and understanding play sets early childhood educators apart. It takes professional knowledge, experiences, and beliefs to recognize what plays mean in early childhood.

Play allows children to express their ideas, thoughts, and feelings, learn how to control their emotions, interact with others, resolve conflicts, and gain a sense of competence. It also sets the foundation for the development of critical social and emotional knowledge and skills. Play with objects allows children to try out new combinations of actions, free of external constraints, and may help develop problem-solving skills.

In most cases, learning through play starts with parents or carers engaging with, playing with, and responding to the child. Play helps develop a child’s knowledge and skills, preparing them for a lifetime of learning both in school and beyond.

Learning through play has emerged as an important strategy to promote student engagement, inclusion, and holistic skills development beyond the preschool years. Children develop cognitive skills such as problem-solving, imagination, and creativity through play. Play integrates children’s experiences, knowledge, and representations to help them create meaning and sense and understand the world.

In conclusion, learning through play is essential for children’s development, as it helps them retain information and skills better than more passive forms of instruction. It serves as the gateway through which children explore, discover, learn, and grow.

What is teaching through play in early childhood?

Play actively engages children by allowing them to touch, hear, smell, or mold objects, practice skills, develop new ones, test possibilities, and discover new challenges. This combination of sensory, mental, and physical engagement helps children learn and develop, allowing them to make sense of the world around them. To achieve the benefits of learning through play, certain key elements must be present, such as sensory engagement, mental stretching, and physical engagement with the activity.

What is the principle of learning through play?

The Early Years principles emphasize the importance of learning through play for young children. The school provides open-ended experiences and uninterrupted play periods to encourage deep involvement in their learning. The learning environments are rich and enabling, both indoors and outdoors, promoting exploration and discovery. Classrooms and outdoor areas are organized to allow children to access resources independently, making choices and extending their learning independently.

Outdoor learning is emphasized, contributing to health and wellbeing, and developing the “whole child”. Outdoor play offers opportunities for active exploration, risk-taking, and challenges. The school has exceptional outdoor learning environments and a system of “free-flow”, allowing children to choose to play and learn inside or outside for a large part of the session.

Forest learning is also a part of the Early Years curriculum, with weekly sessions exploring and learning in the forest area. This environment helps children learn about teamwork, collaboration, problem-solving, and more through practical activities like building shelters, hunting for bugs, and creating natural art.

What is the purpose of play in early childhood?

Play is crucial for child development as it provides opportunities for children to learn about various aspects such as relationships, language, math, science, problem-solving, and their bodies. Experts believe that play helps infants and toddlers learn about their world, form and maintain relationships with others, and master language. For instance, three-month-old Cayden learns how to form and maintain relationships with his caregiver, Julisa, by watching him and repeating his sounds. Both Cayden and Julisa enjoy their play together, demonstrating the importance of play in a child’s development.

How to encourage learning through play?

Play is a crucial aspect of development, as it allows children to exercise their creativity and imagination while developing important life skills. Playtime enriches their brain development as they explore and learn new things about their world. It provides a fun and relaxed environment for children to explore new ideas and concepts. As a parent, you want your child to have every opportunity for success in life. One way to encourage learning through play is to be creative in activities, mixing things up and changing up your routine.

For example, if you spend a lot of time doing puzzles, switch gears and build a block tower instead. If you play outside, consider going on a nature scavenger hunt. Incorporate games into playtime activities, such as board games, card games, and word games, to make learning more fun and teach new skills.

Surrounding your child with a variety of toys and supplies is essential for their learning experience. Variety allows children to experiment and explore different interests, ensuring they don’t become easily bored with the same things. Incorporating learning into everyday life can help create a more engaging and enjoyable learning environment for your child.

What is meant by teaching through play?

Learning through play refers to the process by which children develop holistic skills through actively engaging, joyful, iterative, meaningful, and socially interactive experiences. This natural inquiry process has been extensively studied by anthropologists, developmental psychologists, and neuroscientists, with Dewey connecting play to the scientific inquiry process over a century ago. Play is highly influential on child development, fostering speech development, cognitive processing, self-awareness, and self-regulation.

Neuroscientists have discovered that play refines the prefrontal cortex of the brain, stimulating the production of a protein responsible for the differentiation and growth of new neurons and synapses. Conversely, play deprivation negatively affects brain development and problem-solving skills.

The interest in these ideas is reflected in current global education policy and research, which increasingly measure holistic skills such as socio-emotional learning, creative thinking, global competence, innovation, and physical development. Intergovernmental organizations like the United Nations recognize that the skills, knowledge, and values children need to thrive in the future far exceed proficiency in traditional learning areas such as literacy and numeracy.

As technology advances and workplaces evolve, governments and education systems recognize the need for a more holistic view of education and learning to best equip children to reach their full potential as adults in society.

Understanding teaching practice across the early years is essential to advancing these goals. As global standards and outcomes for learning expand to include holistic skills, curricula have become more crowded and teachers’ roles increasingly demanding. Research points to learning through play as a promising pedagogy with expansive aims and outcomes for learning.

What are examples of play-based learning in early childhood?

Play can be integrated into everyday routines and activities, fostering learning through activities like dress-ups, building blocks, singing, storytelling, and outdoor fun. Public schools are excellent places for children to learn through play, as they encourage talking, reading, thinking, and writing, making literacy and numeracy an integral part of their everyday experience. Playing alongside children can be an amazing way to learn together.

What does Piaget say about learning through play?

From a Piagetian perspective, play is a pivotal aspect of cognitive development, as it facilitates children’s acquisition of knowledge and the development of essential competencies.

What are the 5 characteristics of learning through play?

The five characteristics of Learning through Play, which manifest in middle childhood, are meaningfulful, joyful, iterative, socially interactive, and actively engaging. These characteristics evolve from early to middle childhood, as children between the ages of 4 to 9 undergo significant changes in social and emotional development. For instance, four-year-olds might focus on physical play like skip, riding a bike, jumping, and climbing, while nine-year-olds might spend more time asking questions and designing experiments.

What is the psychology behind learning through play?

Piaget’s theory posits that play is a catalyst for psychological growth and maturation in children. Outdoor activities have been demonstrated to facilitate cognitive development, social skills, emotional maturity, self-confidence, problem-solving, kindness, and organization. Such abilities can be reinforced through outdoor activities, thereby enhancing children’s awareness of their environment.

What is play and learning in early childhood?

Play is a vital instrument for children, as it facilitates their growth in comprehension of the world and their role within it. It cultivates the capacity for lifelong learning in academic and extra-curricular settings.

What is the meaning of learning through play?

Learning through play is a method in education and psychology that helps children understand their environment and develop social and cognitive skills. It involves various activities such as playing, being with others, being active, exploring new experiences, talking to oneself, communicating with others, meeting physical and mental challenges, learning new skills, practicing and repeating skills, and having fun. Play is a natural way for children to explore and make sense of their world, allowing them to mature emotionally and gain self-confidence.