I believe play IS the curriculum of early childhood education. The role of the educator is to facilitate the child’s play and take it to new learning levels as dictated by the child.

I have been privileged in my career to have worked with play enthusiasts in all my roles. Currently I have been editing just how much to intervene in a child’s activities and to determine exactly what that interruption might look like. It might be a quiet addition of another material. It could be just sitting near the play as a sign of quiet support, it might be adding language to the child’s activity.  It is a difficult self-reflective task to find a balance between interrupting play and letting it carry out. I am looking to notice if play is ever NOT educational.

Families understand the importance of play if we assign it as important. Play is documented as learning and presented in many ways (daily sheets, anecdotal record, verbally, documentation boards) to the parents. At the infant/toddler level this is generally understood.

In the preschool classroom the struggle is more difficult as it appears that families want more documentation of “traditional” learning. Here I define “traditional” as teacher directed activity. This is where I see cultural expectation and perspective is important. Culturally, society lumps play into the category of recreational and not educational. The importance of play is seen as a release or outlet and not a learning mode. Play is important but not as a learning mode. Taking this thought into perspective defines for the educator a more difficult role of making the connection between play and education seamless. It can be done by making learning during play evident to the family.