The UN recognizes play as so important to human development that it’s promoting it on the world’s stage, as an issue of international interest.
What we heard from teachers and administration at after implementing Tools at
International spotlight on playful learning
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Committee search to choose the right curriculum
Selection of Tools of the Mind curriculum & professional development
Tools training and implementation for all relevant staff
Teaching and learning review and outcomes
Playful learning is catching on - and it’s not just kids who are excited about it. In June, the United Nations, with the support of 140 participating countries, recognized play globally. The UN’s first International Day of Play promoted incorporating play-based policies, training, and funding into educational settings worldwide. Their reason? That children learn best through play.
They pointed as well to the significant role of play in the positive mental health and well-being of not only children, but their parents and caregivers, too. In fact, a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly in March recognized the influence of play as even more far-reaching: “building essential and transferable physical, social, cognitive, communication and emotional life skills at all ages” and having a “positive impact on promoting tolerance and resilience and facilitating social inclusion, conflict prevention and peacebuilding.”
The growing support of play as a critical tool makes a lot of sense to Tools teachers and families. We’ve seen firsthand the many different kinds of learning children engage in when they play together with peers throughout the day. What preschoolers learn through play simply can’t be replicated through other kinds of learning opportunities. In play, children develop self-regulation, focusing their attention on the tasks at hand, strengthening their working memories, and increasing their cognitive flexibility by learning new ways of doing things. They navigate complex interactions with peers, practice communication and collaboration skills, and learn to take others’ perspectives. Crucially, play facilitates all this and supports the development of foundational academic skills.
By providing environments where children have access to developmentally appropriate play-based learning, teachers and schools increase child engagement and sustain interest in learning for all children. They set children on a path to develop socially, emotionally, and academically, organically building oral language and early literacy skills as they learn.
“We know from research that play is a critical component of healthy cognitive and social-emotional development.”
-Carly Roberts and Katelyn Fletcher, The Learning Hidden in Play
Real-life concerns about skill deficits, learning loss, and backsliding can sometimes refocus the early learning conversation on foundational academic skills without talk of the pedagogy used to develop them. When this happens, we can see less play happening in the preschool classroom or built into the kindergarten curriculum.
A recent blog post theorized that “one hypothesis for this decline is that educators feel they have to make an either/or choice: play or learning. This false dichotomy harms children and fails to see what science has long known—for young children, play is learning.” The post's authors, Overdeck Family Foundation's Carly Roberts and Katelyn Fletcher, point to Tools of the Mind as a solution, reminding readers that teachers who choose Tools get a curriculum that “emphasizes make-believe play, creativity, and collaboration in order to teach young kids both academic and self-regulation skills.”
We’re grateful for the shoutout, Carly and Katelyn, and we couldn’t agree more. We see the joy and excitement of playful learning happening every day in Tools preschool and kindergarten classrooms.
To learn more about how to make the most of play in your classroom, see Building better brains: Making the most of play.