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Play
Short Description:
The natural way children explore, learn, and make sense of the world—through movement, imagination, and joyful experimentation.
What It Is
Play is how children learn. Full stop.
It’s how they experiment with ideas, express emotions, solve problems, build relationships, and test the limits of their own bodies and imaginations. Play is the original curriculum—long before any classroom, worksheet, or lesson plan. And it’s deeply intelligent.
There are many kinds of play: physical play, imaginative play, social play, sensory play, risky play, symbolic play—and they often overlap. In free play, children follow their own ideas and impulses. In guided or structured play, adults might offer materials or invitations but still leave space for open-ended discovery.
Far from being frivolous or just “what kids do when they’re not learning,” play is the learning. It builds executive function, self-regulation, language, motor skills, empathy, creativity, and resilience.
Play is essential—and it's also under threat in many early childhood settings. Pressure for academic readiness, standardized testing, and adult-directed “enrichment” too often displaces the deep, meaningful learning that happens when children are trusted to explore.
Play reminds us that joy is not a break from learning—it’s the ground it grows from.
How It Shows Up in Practice
You’ll see play in:
- Block towers and mud pies.
- Dramatic play with costumes and puppets.
- Risky balancing acts on fallen logs.
- Cooperative games and solo tinkering.
- Child-led explorations that spark wonder and inquiry.
Support for play looks like time, space, trust, and materials. It looks like adults who step back and observe with respect instead of directing with urgency.
References
- Gray, P. (2013). Free to Learn
- Nicolopoulou, A. (2010). Play and Development
- Alliance for Childhood. The Importance of Play
Articles and Resources on This Site
A tribute to Bev Bos and the living legacy of Roseville Preschool—celebrating trust, play, presence, and the radical act of letting children tumble freely into becoming.
A bold challenge to conventional schooling, Free to Learn argues that children thrive best when trusted to play, explore, and educate themselves through freedom and community.
Reflection on Peter Gray’s definition of play, exploring how real play fosters autonomy, creativity, and deep learning through self-direction, imagination, and internal logic.