In recent years, there has been a resurgence in the popularity of play based preschool settings, and you may be wondering what all the fuss is about. Don’t we need to get our children reading before kindergarten, so they don’t fall behind? In short, probably not. Although research does indicate children that attended academic focused preschools out-preform those that do not in academics in the first years of elementary school, the script seems to flip by late elementary school. By fourth grade, children who attended play-based preschools had higher overall GPAs, greater mastery of reading, language, and math. Additionally, teachers reported fewer behavioral problems (Marcon 2002). This boils down to social, emotional, and executive function skills that are developed through play-based activities and cannot be learned through rote memorization and structured “homework.”
Play isn’t just about having fun, it sets the foundation for social and emotional skills. Children do a lot of negotiation as they construct their play scenarios. They must work together to determine who will play what role, what the “rules” of the game or storyline will be, how toys will be shared, and so on. When they don’t agree, they are learning about each other’s boundaries, how to respect the boundaries of others, and how to hold their own boundaries.
Children’s relationship with learning begins in preschool and sets the stage for their lifelong learning habits. Allowing children to learn through play makes learning more enjoyable for them as they pursue their own interests. When they are deeply engaged in their “research” they are more likely to keep trying different things to make it work-even when they get frustrated. This helps them develop confidence and persistence.
Let’s look at block building as an example. First, they stack the blocks at random without regard to size. The tower may hold for a while. But, as larger blocks are stacked on top of smaller blocks, they will start to fall. The child may try the same tactic a couple of times before realizing that putting them in a different order would be better. They try it and are successful. This child has now learned two things: a physics lesson in how blocks can be arranged without falling and that they are capable of figuring something out even when its tough. This persistence is something that they will continue to develop through play-based activities and will come in handy in all facets of life to include school where concepts may or may come easily for them.
With intentional play spaces, our children can learn the pre-literacy and pre-mathematics skills that will help them thrive in kindergarten. Children WANT to learn and want to be able to read things that interest them. In more “academic” preschool environments, part of the reason that we see early success that wanes is the children are really just memorizing things. Learning ‘A’ is no different than learning “dog.”
However, when children become engrossed in their play, they are developing executive functioning skills. Executive functioning has three parts: cognitive flexibility, self-regulation, and self- control. Cognitive flexibility is the ability to think of things in different ways. Children who are given open ended toys to play with no adult interference come up with more uses than those who play with an adult.
Self-regulation involves children’s ability to identify and manage their own emotions. This is crucial academically and socially in school. We want our children to be able to manage their feelings of frustration when a skill or concept doesn’t come easily. Self control allows our children to focus on the tasks at hand even when there are distractions, which (let’s face it) there ALWAYS are (Yogman 2018). Supporting these executive functioning skills in the early years will help them academically and beyond.
In the words of Albert Einstein, “Play is the highest form of research”. It’s our job as parents and educators to support their research and therefore their development.
