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What is Play Based Learning?
Play based learning is seen as actively engaging the learner while providing instruction in essential academic skills (Hirsh-Pasek et al. 2008; Van Oers and Duijkers 2013; Weisberg et al. 2013).
Why Play Based Learning?
Crisis in Kindergarten: Why Children Need Play in School (2009)
- Kindergarteners need a balance of child-initiated play in the presence of engaged teachers and more focused experiential learning guided by teachers.
- In the ideal classroom children are engaged, taking initiative to the extent they are able, and teachers are also active in building on children’s play (without taking control of it) as they engage children with intentional but playful activities.
Reclaiming Kindergarten: Part I. Questions about Theory and Practice (2011)
- Children learn best through active engagement, through conversation, and dialogue concerning their experiences.
- Discovery involving concrete objects or manipulatives and multi-sensory experiences enhance learning …Learning in this way is deeper, more meaningful, and offers a strong foundation for future learning.
- Play is an important vehicle to promote language, cognition, social competence, and self-regulation
"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood."
~Fred Rogers
