Learning Opportunities

Educators recognize play as being the essential pedagogy for maximizing growth of all domains of early childhood development. Through play, children gain experiences needed to make discoveries and connections essential for developing and deepening cognitive, social and emotional abilities. Play is a natural process that when fostered, provides the experiences necessary for healthy early development leading to greater success when children begin formal schooling.

This session is designed to help you gain insights into the importance of play and its relevance as the key pedagogical approach to teaching young children. We will look at how play in the early years impacts success in the years beyond kindergarten. This session will also unpack an educational definition of play and establish its relationship to how young children learn.

We will discuss 12 distinct forms of play and examine their relevance to a child’s early development.  We will then take a practical look at ways these forms of play can be facilitated in early childhood classrooms. Teachers will come away with tools and ideas designed to facilitate play based learning in their planning and teaching. Some teacher “take aways” include:

• Tools to help teachers think about centres, learning spaces and opportunities that promote learning through the 12 types of play
• Resources that deepen understanding of the 12 types of play including essential classrooms contemplations needed to facilitate a play based learning environment
• Observation guides that focus on understanding and creating play based classrooms
• Ideas for making and using “play posters” as part of documentation of learning