Why Play?

 Welcome to Kindergarten, Where Our Work is Play! 

What is Play?

Play is the ultimate vehicle for learning! The Kindergarten Program believes that play allows for children to draw on their natural curiosities, own ideas and experiences to begin to make meaning of the world around them through sharing their perspectives with others. Whether indoors or outdoors, students will be engaged in intentional play-based learning that directly relates to the four frames of learning (belonging & contributing, problem-solving & innovating, self-regulation & well-being, and demonstrating literacy and mathematics behaviours).

What Are the Benefits of Play-Based Learning? 

There are many benefits to the use of play-based learning as the catalyst to drive student learning.

• Play allows for students to learn in an environment that is comfortable and familiar to them. The more comfortable students are, the more receptive they become!
  
  
• Play-based learning nurtures the natural curiosities that children possess, leading to higher-order thinking.
  
  
• Learning-through-play is one of the main contributors to emotional, social, physical, language and cognitive development. Neural pathways are advanced through play, developing students’ academic, emotional and social skills.
  
  
• Students become active participants and knowledge builders in their own learning, vs. passive recipients of knowledge!

Play-Based Learning In Action!

Within each of the four frames of the Kindergarten Program, there is a lot of playing and learning to be done! Here are some examples of what students may be doing throughout each of the four frames:

Belonging and Contributing:

• Sharing feelings and thoughts
  
  
• Building a positive self-image
  
  
• Developing social skills
  
  
• Caring and showing respect for self, others and the environment
  
  
• Exploring all forms of art

Problem-Solving and Innovating:

• Creating and Designing
  
  
• Hands-on exploration, observation and investigation into areas of student interest
  
  
• Sharing, ideas, opinions, questions and learnings with one another.

Self-Regulation and Well-Being:

• Developing self-regulation skills through collaboration and sharing
  
  
• Using and developing social skills in dramatic play
  
  
• Exploring movement
  
  
• Learning about health and well-being through the use of The Zones of Regulation

Demonstrating Literacy and Mathematics Behaviours:

• Number recognition
  
  
• Counting
  
  
• Matching
  
  
• Sorting/Classifying
  
  
• Shapes
  
  
• Patterning
  
  
• Letters and sounds
  
  
• Continuing to develop printing and fine-motor skills
  
  
• Developing early reading and writing skills
  
  
• Oral language development
  
  
• Rhyming recognition

Keep your eyes peeled for our next post on how play is assessed by educators within the Kindergarten classroom!

References:


​​CMEC. CMEC Statement on Play-Based Learning. (n.d.). Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. Retrieved from https://www.cmec.ca/Publications/Lists/Publications/Attachments/282/play-based-learning_statement_EN.pdf


Ontario Ministry of Education. (2016). The Kindergarten Program 2016. Retrieved from https://www.ontario.ca/document/kindergarten-program-2016


Student Achievement Division. (2013). Capacity Building Series: Inquiry-Based Learning.
Retrieved from https://lms.brocku.ca/access/content/group/f6bb4b50-0aeb-4f5d-a34e-b867e8ccbe9d/Course%20Materials/Inquiry-Based%20Learning.pdf