Kindergarten
The Power of Play-Based Learning
“Play is often talked about as if it is a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood."
- Fred Rogers/Mr. Rogers
Play is how children make sense of the world. Much of children’s learning takes place through play. Play is so important in the lives of children that it has been recognized by the United Nations as a specific right.
Young children don’t see a difference between play and school work or between learning and doing. Play engages children’s attention when it offers a challenge that is within the child’s capacity to master.
Through play, children learn about the world around them and share their responses in various ways – for example, they represent in dramatic play what they have learned from personal experiences or from stories that they have heard. When children play with blocks, sand, or water, they are learning problem-solving skills and math and science concepts. Children make their learning visible in different ways—in their drawings and paintings, in the creation of objects, through the structures they build, through dramatization and in their writing.
The educator team provides large blocks of time for play, stimulating children’s learning through their intentional choice of materials, and asks questions that help the children explore ideas through play. The team documents the children’s learning using photos and/or video clips.
When children are learning through play you might see them:
- making choices, sharing materials, trying new things;
- noticing letters on signs and using letters and words to make signs;
- labelling their drawings and writing simple stories;
- filling a container with sand or water, pouring it out, measuring it, counting the number of scoops, comparing; - arranging, stacking, and building with blocks of different sizes and shapes;
- drawing, painting, creating an animal with modelling clay;
- running, jumping, throwing, catching, hopping, skipping.
. . . or you might hear them:
- talking, sharing ideas, discussing something with each other and with adults;
- wondering aloud, questioning, using new vocabulary;
- explaining, suggesting, planning.
At home:
- have children help to match up the family’s socks when laundry is being done. This helps to develop the concept that each count matches a quantity as well as the skill of sorting.
- provide a variety of recycled materials (e.g., plastic food containers, small boxes, etc.) with which children can design, create, and build. Materials that can be used in a variety of ways encourage children’s creativity and imagination.
Ask a child:
- What learning areas did you play at today? What did you do at the block, sand or water centre?
- What did you play with when you were outside (e.g., the tricycle, wagon, hand lens, digital camera)? Why did you choose to play with that?
- What learning area is your favourite? Why? Which learning area haven’t you been to yet? Why?
For a list of resources, visit
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/kindergarten/index.html
Or call:
Toll-free in Ontario,
1-800-387-5514
The Power of Play-Based Learning
“Play is often talked about as if it is a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood."
- Fred Rogers/Mr. Rogers
Play is how children make sense of the world. Much of children’s learning takes place through play. Play is so important in the lives of children that it has been recognized by the United Nations as a specific right.
Young children don’t see a difference between play and school work or between learning and doing. Play engages children’s attention when it offers a challenge that is within the child’s capacity to master.
Through play, children learn about the world around them and share their responses in various ways – for example, they represent in dramatic play what they have learned from personal experiences or from stories that they have heard. When children play with blocks, sand, or water, they are learning problem-solving skills and math and science concepts. Children make their learning visible in different ways—in their drawings and paintings, in the creation of objects, through the structures they build, through dramatization and in their writing.
The educator team provides large blocks of time for play, stimulating children’s learning through their intentional choice of materials, and asks questions that help the children explore ideas through play. The team documents the children’s learning using photos and/or video clips.
When children are learning through play you might see them:
- making choices, sharing materials, trying new things;
- noticing letters on signs and using letters and words to make signs;
- labelling their drawings and writing simple stories;
- filling a container with sand or water, pouring it out, measuring it, counting the number of scoops, comparing; - arranging, stacking, and building with blocks of different sizes and shapes;
- drawing, painting, creating an animal with modelling clay;
- running, jumping, throwing, catching, hopping, skipping.
. . . or you might hear them:
- talking, sharing ideas, discussing something with each other and with adults;
- wondering aloud, questioning, using new vocabulary;
- explaining, suggesting, planning.
At home:
- have children help to match up the family’s socks when laundry is being done. This helps to develop the concept that each count matches a quantity as well as the skill of sorting.
- provide a variety of recycled materials (e.g., plastic food containers, small boxes, etc.) with which children can design, create, and build. Materials that can be used in a variety of ways encourage children’s creativity and imagination.
Ask a child:
- What learning areas did you play at today? What did you do at the block, sand or water centre?
- What did you play with when you were outside (e.g., the tricycle, wagon, hand lens, digital camera)? Why did you choose to play with that?
- What learning area is your favourite? Why? Which learning area haven’t you been to yet? Why?
For a list of resources, visit
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/kindergarten/index.html
Or call:
Toll-free in Ontario,
1-800-387-5514