Welcome to the Forgotten ECE, the show where before and after school educators, summer
camp and PD staff and CYWs have a place where they are seen, heard and valued.
I'm your host, Jamie Wakeler, and I'm so excited you're here.
Welcome to the Forgotten ECE.
I'm your host, Jamie, and today we're diving deep into a crucial topic for early childhood
education, the power of play.
Specifically, we're going to explore how play significantly impacts the development of children
aged four and older and why it's often more effective than, ba da da da, traditional desk
learning.
Play isn't just fun.
Hard to believe, I know.
It's fundamental to healthy development.
It supports physical, cognitive, social and emotional growth.
And let's just take a little look and break down at the different dimensions of play enriched
with the documented facts and research.
So anyone who's skeptical or who's like, no, desk learning is the way to go, just so you
can kind of understand where I'm coming from.
So first, there's some different types of play.
Free play, that is unstructured, child led, where children make their own rules and decision.
Research published in the American Journal of Play indicates that free play actually
fosters creativity and problem solving skills.
And children who engage in free play are better at thinking outside the box and developing
innovative solutions.
Okay, pause for a second.
Picture our world today.
Every good thing about our world had to come from an out of the box thinker.
No one who was thinking inside of the box developed the sphere in Vegas.
Okay, have you seen that thing?
There's no way an in the box thinker developed that.
No offense to in the box thinkers, I guess I would say.
Okay, two structured play.
It involves a guided activities.
This type of play can teach specific skills.
It's essential for children to have ample time of free play.
But a study from the International Journal of Play found that children learn best where
they can balance structured activities and free exploration.
And then you come to social play.
This type focuses on interactions with peers and research from the Journal of Child Psychology
and Psychiatrics shows that social play helps develop communication skills, cooperation,
and emotional regulation, which we know are essential for building healthy relationships.
And these are all things that children need to grow up and be healthy adults with.
We need to have communication skills.
We need to have cooperation.
We need to have emotional regulation.
And then there's some documented benefits of play for children specifically aged four
and older, like cognitive development.
A study published in child development found that children engaged in imaginative play
exhibit greater cognitive flexibility that is crucial for problem solving and play help
children helps children learn concepts such as cause and effect, spatial awareness, and
even basic math skills through hands on activities.
I suck at math and I was actually I was told once that everyone could be good at math and
I don't know if that is true specifically because I feel like I'm not really great at
math but it's fine.
I did have a really amazing math teacher in grade nine and I think grade 10 who actually
was the first math teacher ever to be actually able to teach me anything.
But that's because it was a hands on approach.
It's because he taught me the way I learned best, which no one did before then.
My elementary school year sucked because math was awful.
Well, actually it sucked for a lot of things, but math specifically awful.
And I think it's important that we, I guess we'll talk about this in a little bit, but
that we meet children where they're at and this is how we engage them in learning.
I'm not saying math's not important.
Sure, it's important.
I am saying that we do have technology that does 90% of the math for you these days, but
math is still important and the concepts that we need to know are important to learn and
there's better ways to teach it than standing at the front of the room speaking at children,
get down to their levels, play, make it a game.
I also had a teacher in grade six.
Oh my gosh.
I shouldn't be telling the story because I still don't understand it and it's so embarrassing.
So actually if anyone listening understands the game and wants to tell me, that'd be cool.
It was some kind of rolling dice game and you rolled these dice and then you had to
say how many polar bears there were.
I feel like I'm actually getting it wrong, but anyways, it was fun.
It was like, oh, was it fun?
I guess it was fun for the people that got it.
Anyways, you rolled these dice and then there was certain dice laying down and then you'd
count the polar bears.
I have no idea the trick and I mean, actually I could probably Google it, but anyways, I
don't know the trick.
So if anyone knows that game or the trick, cool.
But the point is that I remember these things because it was through play, because it was
a game.
I don't remember the teachers talking up at the board and telling me how to multiply or
divide or do arithmetic.
What's the word?
Algebra.
I don't remember the times that it was fun.
I remember the pattern pieces that we had to put together to make patterns.
I remember the things that were engaging.
Another important developmental aspect of play is emotional development because play
provides a safe space for emotional expression.
Research actually indicates that children involved in dramatic plays such as role playing
different characters are better at understanding their own emotions and emphasizing with others.
A study done by the University of California, Berkeley, found that children who play together
show improved emotional intelligence and self-regulation.
These are all incredible things that children learn.
If there's one thing I know for sure, the world needs more empathy, more taking consideration
of others.
And this is a great topic that can be learned through play.
Looking at physical development activities like running, jumping and climbing enhance
both gross and fine motor skills.
No surprise there.
And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, active play is crucial
for maintaining a healthy weight and developing coordination.
The CDC emphasizes that physical play can lead to improved fitness levels and stronger
foundation of lifelong health.
Children will learn a love of being active when they're younger.
Social skills.
The social skills are incredible that they learn.
Children will be able to learn negotiation, sharing and resolving conflicts during social
play.
There are so many people that don't know how to resolve conflicts now.
Oh my goodness.
There's so many.
And a study from the University of Minnesota found that children who engage in regular
social play exhibit enhanced social competence and better friendship skills as they grow
older.
We as adults should be playing more specifically to learn these things that we may lack in,
like negotiation or sharing or resolving conflicts.
So last thing I kind of wanted to touch on before we talk about real world applications
is learning through play versus the traditional desk learning.
I'll call it traditional desk learning, but like I'm talking classrooms sitting at desks,
teachers barking at the students, no offense, and students having to grasp and understanding
from that perspective.
Research actually shows that children learn more effectively through play compared to
these traditional desk methods and a landmark study published in the Journal of Early Childhood
Research Quarterly found that children who engage in play-based learning demonstrated
higher levels of engagement and better retention of the knowledge compared to those who learn
in a more conventional classroom setting.
Active experimental learning allows children to connect concept to real life situations,
making the learning process more meaningful and enjoyable.
Think about when you're learning something new at your job or at work.
It's hard getting told what to do rather than getting shown, being shown.
It's hard to be explained to or talked to to be taught.
It's so much easier if you're enjoying it.
I remember as a kid trying to make fun games or do fun songs when I had to memorize stuff
for tests.
I hate tests.
Tests is another topic that we can talk about another day.
I don't think tests are valuable at all, but it's fine.
Another day, another topic.
But the point is that we learn better when it's enjoyable.
We learn better when it's made for us, when it's fun, when we have an interest.
I want to stress that children have to be interested in what we're showing them and
there's ways.
We are creative people.
We are so smart.
Early childhood educators are literally geniuses because we know how to get down.
We know how to connect to the children in ways that others don't.
And by making those connections, by learning and watching and observing on what children
are interested in and then creating games and activities that not only teach some math
concepts or language concepts or science concepts or creative concepts, we do that just by observing
children.
We just watch and see and then create these crazy things to help them.
That's incredible.
We're incredible.
You, you right now listening to me, you are incredible.
All right, I'm going to explain how we can harness the power of play into our educational
settings a little bit.
So stay tuned for some practical tips.
Obviously, first, creating a play friendly environment.
So you're ensuring your spaces are safe and conducive to various types of play.
Science should promote exploration, foster creativity and holistic learning.
I know that one of the challenging things of before and after school programs is the
spaces.
Utilize what you can to set up the space.
If you can get functional trolleys that can be used for more than one thing, that's great.
Like carrying your supplies, but also as a tabletop.
Or if you can utilize floor space or if you're in a library, if you can utilize the tables
for tabletop games, there's all these sorts of things you can do.
It just, it takes work and you know what else it takes?
It takes community by talking to each other and seeing what each other is doing.
And this is what I want to build so much with the Forgotten ECE is that we have a community
of educators that can bounce ideas off each other.
We are the experts, us in it.
So the educators that are in it every day are the experts and there's no better person
to learn from than each other.
I also want you to put a focus on imaginative play.
Provide diverse props and materials that inspire creativity.
Simple items like cardboard boxes can become anything like a spaceship or a house or even
a castle.
And this kind of play we know enhances cognitive and social development.
So it's important.
And I know we get to a certain age where we're like, do children really want to dress up
or where are we going to put this stuff or we have no room for it.
But it's such a vital part of it.
Play is building these imaginations.
I can speak from personal experience that my imagination is dwindling.
I used to be so creative and I used to be so enlightened by creativity, I would say.
And then we get things like Pinterest or chat GPT or CPT chat.
It's GPT, right?
Anyways, and all of these ideas that you can find online.
I don't have to think for myself at all, hardly.
Sometimes I do, but there's so many things out there to help us.
And it's important that children have these creativity because that's how they'll become
these out of the box thinkers that we need in the world today.
I also want to end on being an active participant.
I know it's hard as a before and after school educator to actually engage and play with
the children because sometimes they don't want you to play.
Sometimes they have their own thing going and you don't want to interrupt.
But it's important to join in because studies show that adult involvement can enhance learning
experience by asking open ended questions, by encouraging children to elaborate on their
ideas and strategies.
All of these things contribute to children thinking and being more creative and engaging
more in the play that's happening around them.
In conclusion, play is an essential aspect of childhood development that supports multiple
domain.
And as educators and caregivers, we should be celebrating and nurturing this powerful
tool.
Prioritize play because we're not just allowing children to have fun, we're helping them grow
into well-rounded, capable, competent individuals.
Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of The Forgotten ECE.
I hope you've gained some valuable insight into the vital role of play.
And if you've enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe and share it with others who might
benefit.
Until next time, remember, happy learning, advocate for yourself and embrace the power
of play.
Thanks everyone.
Thank you.
Amazing listeners for your support.
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Again, thank you so much and happy learning.