Play Based Curricula

Inspirational pioneers of early childhood who discuss relationships and play include Friedrich Froebel, Maria Montessori and Rudolf Steiner. Tina Bruce explores the pedagogical tools of play and relationships within her 2nd edition of ‘Ten Principles of Early Childhood Education’ also.

Play-based learning is described as a “context for learning through which children organise and make sense of their social worlds, as they actively engage with people, objects and representations” (EYLF 2009, p. 46). Headstart Early Learning Centre has a strong emphasis on play-based learning as they believe it is the best vehicle for a child’s learning as it provides the most appropriate stimulus for their brain development.

The terms “play”, “learn” and “teach” are commonly used in the early childhood sector. This essay attempts to define and interconnect these terms to produce a holistic understanding of how play can be used as a medium to help children learn.

Head Start promotes the idea of learning through adult lead instruction and play along with exposure to the concepts of literacy, math and science.

The names are familiar to most parents: No Child Left Behind, Common Core State Standards, Race to the Top. These initiatives and others signify the importance of education in the United States and the many ways in which the standards have been set throughout the last couple of decades. The early childhood education community has felt the pressure to meet benchmarks set forth by these initiatives just as much as elementary, middle school, and high school teachers have, often times struggling to maintain a balance between play based learning and the high-stakes assessments that are now required. So, how do the United States Early Childhood Education programs begin preparing

These studies resulted in several very interesting cognitive outcomes. Head Start children, especially those who had also participated in Early Head Start, showed significant cognitive improvements while in still in Head Start. Their scores on various developmental tests were above those of the control group, though still below average According to the Third Grade Follow-Up, at the end of the Head Start year, the 4-year-old cohort showed strong improvements in language and literacy skills, compared to the control group, in six different tests:

Early childhood is a time of curiosity, a time for play, and a time of rapid development. Every child is unique and deserving of an early childhood education that facilitates academic, social, and developmental growth through a variety of enjoyable experiences. Differentiated instruction adapts content, products and processes to meet the diverse learning needs and preferences of students (Thousand, Villa, & Nevin, 2007). Friedrich Froebel, the creator of Kindergarten, believed that children grow and learn as they play (Bruno, 2009). Play-based instruction not only enables young learners to have fun, but it also encourages interactive and cooperative learning, passion for discovery, and a foundation for later learning experiences

First of all, I hold a Ph.D. in Human Development from Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, and I have been a professor of Early Childhood Education for the last nine ten years. My research in the area of children’s development began in graduate school in 2000. Since then, it has been presented at national and international conferences. Moreover, at this time, I have published twelve research articles in peer-reviewed journals, and in the last year I have presented five more articles for publication that are now in the process of being reviewed.

In early childhood, play diverges, contingent on an immense amount of intricacies and has been predisposed through the years by numerous theories in early childhood development. Consideration needs to be taken as to if play is free and simple or not.

Children dont have to go to a legit child care facility to get an early education. Early childhood education comes in many forms most of the learning starts at home. “Playing with your child helps keep your child engaged in the kind of play where learning occurs. Your interest, questions, and comments as you play alongside will help your child use toys productively,”(How to Support Children’s Approaches to Learning?). In saying that children learn best through play based experiences they learn from things they experience or items they can touch and hold. Children learn from the comments thier parents give, they pick up on the little things. Children who don’t participate in some type of quality education programs are 50 percent more likely to be placed in special education. Children are also 25 percent more like to dropout of school and are 60 percent more likely to never attend college. 40 percent are more likely to become teen parents ,and finally 70 percent more likely to become a teen parent.

More than 15 million children in the United States younger than 18 years live in poverty.1 These children experience disparities in education, health care, and socioeconomic resources.2–6 Children living in poverty may also be deprived of the benefits of safe and creative playtime and access to age-appropriate extracurricular activities. The implications of play deprivation may be substantial, because play is essential to the social, emotional, cognitive, and physical well-being of children beginning in early childhood.7 In addition, play offers an opportunity for parents to view the world from their child’s perspective as they engage fully with their children during playtime; all families deserve ready access to this bonding opportunity. Even before the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights cited play as a right of every child, philosophers and psychologists, such as Plato, Piaget, and Friedrich Froebel, recognized the importance of play in healthy child development.8–10

The caregiver is accountable for providing a safe and enjoyable play-based educational Curriculum. In planning for such experience, we must take into account the children’s capability, needs, and what interests them. These plans must be developmentally appropriate and adaptable. Integrated curriculum takes particular attention to the children's interests and able to change the plans based on their needs. Such curriculum would provide and facilitates play-based experiences and perceives the children's interactions in the process of developing play-based educational content areas “This process is described as curriculum-generated play and play-generated curriculum” (Van Hoorn et al., 2011) (Saracho, 2012, P. 71) (2). Contents that take into

“Play is developmentally appropriate for primary-age children and can provide them with opportunities that enrich the learning experience” (Copple & Bredekamp 2009). Early childhood education holds two main focuses; a child-based focus and a family-based focus. Early childhood education has positive outcomes on the child through their learning experiences, and their growth and development. Based on the family, the results of early education happen through the communication that the family has with the educators and by the encouragement they get from within themselves, and also from the educators.

Preschool is very important for the developmental process and growth of young children and should be mandatory to attend. Preschool is best defined as, an Early Childhood Education Program, in which children combine learning with play in a program run by professionally trained adults. Preschoolers are typically three to six years old. A popular misconception behind Early Childhood Education programs is that it’s not teaching children but rather simply babysitting them but that is not the case. Preschool teachers use direct and indirect learning experiences to further the process of development and growth. A direct learning experience is planned out with a specific goal in mind and an indirect learning experience occurs at the spur of

For parents whose child might be in a more academic preschool or transitional kindergarten class, Dee suggests talking with the teacher or principal to point out what the “extensive body of research seems to indicate about the role of play.”