What Is Playful Learning and Why Does It Matter?
Research shows that play is critical to children’s development and learning, especially throughout their early childhood years. Unfortunately, play has gradually been pushed out of classrooms to make time for more teacher-directed learning experiences. Playful learning is often described as having six characteristics—learning that is active, engaging, meaningful, socially interactive, iterative, and joyful. When used as an instructional strategy, play has been found to improve children’s academic outcomes in language, literacy, and math. Play is also critical for children’s social and emotional development.
The Playful Learning Institute
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s (MA DESE) Playful Learning Institute (PLI) joined First 10 at our December Network Meeting to highlight the ways in which pilot sites in MA are implementing playful learning practices and the student outcomes they are seeing. The Institute is designed for district and school administrators, PreK–3 inclusive classroom educators, and Out-of-School Time (OST) program staff and administrators. PLI participants are provided with tools and strategies to embed playful learning strategies into their daily instruction. Participation in the Institute includes both in-person and virtual professional development (PD) for school teams. District educators and leaders create an action plan for each team that is focused on the implementation of playful learning instructional practices.
Implementing Playful Learning Practices
PLI shared six playful learning practices that educators can incorporate into their instruction (listed below). As part of the PLI pilot initiative, educators implement at least two of the playful learning practices within their daily classroom instruction. PLI provides resources related to each instructional strategy for educators interested in implementing the practices in their classrooms.
Providing a variety of learning experiences and leveraging different instructional approaches, including intentional play, can help enhance children’s learning in and outside of school. With proper supports in place, intentionally integrating playful learning into classroom practice can be a powerful way in which educators in First 10 and other communities can improve student engagement and deepen learning.