Why Incorporating Play is Not Such a Bad Idea

I believe we all can agree: School has become B- O- R- I - N- G! Although it is filled with brilliant minds of all human life, classrooms filled with love, empathy, and support, and everything that else that makes you get up to do it every day; it is missing something that makes everybody happy: PLAY! Play is the most natural way of learning, Research into children’s learning through play is gaining traction, contributing new and much-needed insights from laboratory studies, cross-cultural and longitudinal work. Studies find that children with ample occasions to engage in child-directed activities, including free play with peers, also demonstrate greater self control. (Saracho & Spodek, 2006).

The evidence supporting learning through play’s positive impact on child development is strong. Yet many Education systems (ours especially) have reduced opportunities for playful learning and increased emphasis on didactic and structured approaches to learning for school readiness and achievement (Jay & Knaus, 2018). This recalibration is needless, as experts have established that learning through play supports the development of early literacy and numeracy skills in an integrated approach, while also cultivating children’s social, emotional, physical, and creative skills. There is countless studies and research on Education systems regions of the world, such as Southeast Asia, has shown great success in seeking more child-centred pedagogic practices to foster holistic learning. These areas are expanding learning outcomes to include social, emotional, physical and higher order thinking skills, and recognizing that holistic learning requires Executive summary integrative pedagogies such as project-based or inquiry-based learning (Chu,Tse, & Chow, 2011) . When it comes to learning specific academic content, such as reading, this could open a whole new world of learning in our classrooms.

The area of literacy development in play has been somewhat less consistent in its recommendations. Prior research has revealed the benefits of free, child-directed play contexts for the development of literacy skills, especially when the play environment was earnestly designed by educators to include literacy materials such as books and writing materials. More recent research has advanced in exploring the connection between play and the learning of literacy skills. These studies find that surrounding children with literacy rich materials in play contexts is not enough to foster vigorous literacy learning. However, when adults engage children in literacy learning during play, and in a manner that extends rather than interrupts the flow of the play, we do see benefits. Teachers should step beyond the role of facilitators or instructors and should join in on the learning. In other words, this could be fun for you too! I interviewed a Middle School teacher who said, "I find myself sometimes envious of Pre-School and Kindergarten teachers, even those who teach Science, because they get to have fun with their students. Of course they are teaching them academic skills that they need to function, they really just get to play all day and do wild and creative things in their classroom, meanwhile we're looking at books and computer screens. I wanna play too!"

Until our outdated Education system undergoes a reconstruction and a revolution, we must do what we can within the realms we are established. Breaking out of our habitual methods that "got us through the last few years" may sound scary or nearly impossible based on so many factors, but as evidence show, change is an integral part of learning. And don't worry, we will be introducing some fun and effective tools to incorporate play in your classroom on the next page. The change starts with us, and our students, in our classrooms backed by research, love, and open mindedness.