Memories of joyful and meaningful play experiences help bind families together emotionally, even long after children are grown.

This excerpt from Developmentally Appropriate Practice illustrates the ways in which play and learning mutually support one another and how teachers connect learning goals to children’s …

We can help families understand why play is critical for preschoolers’ learning and development—and how play sets children up for future school success.

Curiosity about the world, initiative and problem solving, and focused attention and persistence are just a few approaches to learning that children develop through play.

Play is an important vehicle for developing self-regulation as well as for promoting language, cognition, and social competence. [Play] gives [children] opportunities to develop physical …

Once children learn a specific game, they can play it independently, giving teachers the opportunity to observe and assess children’s executive function skills. For example, Simon …

Play is beneficial because it allows for more variation than many teacher-directed lessons. With children varying in their current abilities and needs cognitively, socially, emotionally, and …

When we appreciate the important role play serves in a child’s learning about self and world, we give children the time and opportunity to engage in the self-initiated play that is the surest way …

Ensuring that outdoor play is an integral part of your child care and education setting’s daily schedule supports early learning across all domains and unleashes a whole lot of joy—for you …

Observing to Interpret the Meaning in Children’s Play In your emergent inquiry classroom, the forward movement of your curriculum depends on the ways you organize—the environment, …