PLAY is Important work!

Play-based Education for Developing School Readiness

The focus of academic skill learning is being pushed to younger and younger children. This trend is not effective and can even be harmful in supporting the skills necessary for young children to become ready for school. I assess this harmful trend and suggest ways that parents and teachers of children 2-5 years old can develop necessary skills to help their children become school ready and still maintain the much needed play time necessary for healthy development.

By Unidentified (Ensian published by University of Michigan) - 1968 Michiganensian, p. 91, Public Domain, 

Jean Piaget was a Swiss Psychologist that developed the theory of cognitive development. He clarified that children move through stages of social-emotional development to maturity through play-based learning. Essentially, children move from being ego-centric beings with little knowledge of how their place in the world effects others to socio-centric beings with a good sense of their place in the world. Play is an important part of this growth.

Stages of PLAY according to Piaget

Sensorimotor Play (0-2 years): Babies and toddlers experience the world through their senses and by acting on it. 
Symbolic/Fantasy Play (2-7 years): Children use objects and actions to represent ideas, which helps them develop language and symbolic thought. 
Games with Rules (7-Adulthood): As logic develops, children engage in more structured play with specific rules, allowing for more complex problem-solving and abstract thinking. 

As you can see there are a number of social constructs in which adults have aligned their thoughts in raising their children that do not support the natural development of positive emotional development. Many parents feel it is necessary to have their very young children participate in sports and organized play situations where an adult leads the instruction and children are to asked follow along. This type of learning does not support the natural play-based learning that children aged 2-7 years old need to thrive.  Below are a few ways parents/teachers can support proper social-emotional growth in children.

The role of Parents and Educators

​Child-Centered Approach: Piaget's theory suggests that traditional, direct instruction should be replaced with active, child-centered learning environments for children aged 2-7 years old.
Hands-on and Exploratory Activities: By providing an open-ended play environment, children choose the materials and play areas that suit them best therefore allowing them to learn at their own pace.

Focus on Individual Needs: Understanding  developmental stages allows educators to tailor learning experiences to each child's current abilities, respecting individual learning journeys.
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Integrating Social Interaction: Piaget recognized the importance of social interaction in the early years of child development. Knowing how children play at different ages is very important to understand when organizing play opportunities.

Teachers/Parents as Facilitators:​ Provide materials and experiences that encourage critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration. For example: Indoor play can be organized in designated themed areas or bins with similar toys to inspire a variety of learning opportunities that nurture specific skills. A sensory tub filled with dried beans or sand can be used as a basis for a plethora of exciting new opportunities when you add additional toys like: trucks, alphabet blocks, scoops, bowls, or small dolls.  Outdoor play can be thoughtfully structured too to develop skills by providing age appropriate balls, ropes, scooters, hula hoops, and many other toys that enhance large muscle development and social interaction.​

Mildred Parten describes the developmental stages of childhood play.
Infants- Unoccupied Play: A child's behavior is not focused on play. 
10-18 Months- Solitary Play: The child plays alone and is interested in the activity they are doing. 
18-24 Months- Onlooker Play: The child watches other children play but doesn't join in. 
2-3 Years - Parallel Play: Children play next to each other, using similar toys or in the same area, but are focused on their own activity with little to no interaction or communication. 
3-5 Years - Associative Play: Children begin to interact more actively, but there isn't much shared activity. 
5 Years and up- Cooperative Play: Children are fully engaged with each other, sharing toys and working toward a common goal. 

With the staggering statistics of children arriving to kindergarten unable to self-regulate their emotions, use the bathroom independently, and handle basic dressing and eating skills, I encourage parents and care givers to evaluate the current social norms and pressures to raise their children in a skill based environment that forces children to mimic adults instead of exploring the world around them. To some, this free, play-based learning approach may seem too unstructured, however many developmental psychologists and their studies can reassure those who worry; this approach is exactly what children need to grow and thrive.
I have written two books about the power of pretend dress-up play! PLAY! is a book about how pretend play inspires children and Scary Halloween Costumes offers a funny story and numerous examples of how a child can use common objects to create fun costumes. I encourage you to purchase these books for your children or classroom.