Play and Learning

It is through play that much of children’s early learning is achieved. The physical, socio-emotional and intellectual development of children is dependent upon activity. Therefore, opportunity for play is a key aspect of the Kindergarten program. The program builds on, rather than detracts from, this natural approach to learning. 

Through touching, manipulating, exploring and testing, children find out about the world around them. Through interacting with other children and adults, they find out about themselves and their relationship to others. Through play, children imitate adults and experiment with what it means to be a caregiver, a fisher, a firefighter, a doctor and so on. Through play, they learn how to solve problems and work cooperatively with others.

Children engage in different types of play depending upon circumstances and particular needs. Types of play range from inactive observation to participation in group play requiring planning and cooperation. Kindergartens encourage several types of play. Associative play, occurs when children play with each other, sharing similar materials and activities in an unorganized way. Cooperative play requires organization for a purpose. In solitary play, children play alone and independently, following their own interest without reference to others. Children who watch other children playing, ask questions and make suggestions, but do not enter into the play are said to be engaging in onlooker play. Children who simply play beside each other with similar materials are engaged in parallel play.

There are stages of complexity of play. The first stage of play is simple exploration or manipulation of the play material. Examples of such play are scribbling with crayons, pouring water back and forth, feeling sand or ringing a bell. As children begin to use objects as symbols for something else, we say they are engaged in symbolic play. For instance, a child may cross two blocks to make an “airplane” or may use interlocking blocks to make a “boat”. This is the stage of play used by many Kindergarten children, who are, as Piaget labels it, in the preoperational stage. As children become able to play cooperatively, they begin to play games in which they devise rules. These rules change frequently, and normally the players can shift with little effort while adults are puzzled by flexibility in the rules. Most Kindergarten students are not ready for the complex level of play where game rules are rigid.

Spontaneous play in an activity-centred environment is characteristic of effective Kindergarten programs. After preparing a rich environment, the teacher has a role in extending play by observing the children, interacting with them, giving further information, adding or changing materials as appropriate and, in some instances, providing a sense of direction. This aspect of the teacher’s role is dealt with in more detail in the section of this guide regarding the role of the teacher. (See Teaching Kindergarten(Personal Qualities and Competencies of the Kindergarten Teacher or Using a Variety of Instructional Approaches).

According to Piaget, it is through play that children construct a sense of order and meaning out of their environment. They are constantly organizing and reorganizing new information and experiences. This process of altering previously established patterns of organization (schemas) is what Piaget calls learning. It is not the same kind of learning as simple recall of names or facts.

Experience has an effect upon children’s play. In a Kindergarten classroom, there may be some children who do not know how to play constructively and imaginatively. They engage in physical activities such as climbing, running or swinging, but are not able to concentrate very long or develop an idea through several levels of play. These children may be used to more passive activities such as watching television. Their natural tendencies to investigate and ask questions may not have been encouraged. For this reason, teachers need to help children develop ideas and, in some instances, provide a model for children by assuming a child’s role and entering into the play. It may not be sufficient simply to provide interesting and suitable play materials.

Children come to Kindergarten having had very different sorts of experiences at home, and in nursery schools, play groups or day- care centres. Therefore, their responses to the Kindergarten program vary. Some preschool and day-care programs encourage self-directed, self-initiated play. Others place more emphasis on teacher-directed activities and step-by-step crafts. These programs often face the difficult task of managing large numbers of children in settings and facilities not designed for children and with inadequate materials. Just as parents/caregivers vary in the way they set limits and manage their children, preschools and day-care centres also employ different methods of managing children in groups. When children enter Kindergarten they sometimes need help in:

• using play as a means of developing confidence in themselves and their ability to learn
• acquiring appropriate social skills
• becoming self-directed persons.

Children who have achieved a degree of self-confidence, appropriate social skills and self-direction are ready to engage in the kind of sustained play which enables significant growth in knowledge and understanding. A well-planned Kindergarten program provides suitably challenging activities and materials for each child.