Play-based Learning

We have over 100 years of solid research that shows that the natural way for young children to learn is through play.    When worksheets, deskwork and standardised testing replace play we are harming children; when we cut or eliminate recess we are harming children; when we give them ever-increasing quantities of homework we are harming children – and the research cited above shows that the harm can be life-long.

Not “Play is something that can add to the ‘real’ learning that happens in chairs and desks in the classroom”.

Not “Play is a way for children to let off steam between the ‘real’ learning that happens from worksheets and sorting trays”.

Play IS the real learning.  And play – real play – is freely chosen and child-led.  It is NOT imposed by adults.  Adults can support play, they can provide a rich environment for play, they can extend play, they can model ways of playing, but the minute they impose play it stops being PLAY – and it becomes WORK (Source: Child's Play Music - The Future of Education is Play).

But what about those boys who never come out of the truck centre?  I paid particular attention to that question, having two of "those boys" at home myself.  When they reached the age that fall babies start kindergarten (3.10), sure enough, all they wanted to do, all day every day, was play with trucks. With lots of exposure to other materials, they did occasionally pick up a paintbrush or attempt to draw a circle, but they spent most of their time with trucks.  And then I noticed - The first word they read, after their names, was "cat" - not the animal, the heavy equipment brand.  The first paintings they gave meaning to were of firetrucks.  Their vocabulary of construction terms quickly surpassed mine.  These early academic skills are now extending to other areas and interests.  And all because they never came out of the truck centre.

It is not our job as educators to "get the boys out of the truck centre".  It is our job to make sure that they have as much access as possible, and to ensure that it meets their learning needs while they are there.