We Love to Play!

5/5/2025

A few summers ago I had the absolute delight of volunteering in Teacher Tom's classroom at the Woodland Park Cooperative School in Seattle, Washington. Teacher Tom has long been one of my early childhood heroes (he even wears a cape!) through his insightful blog Teacher Tom and various trainings we have attended with the Pedagogy of Play conference

As the co-founder and co-teacher at the Children's Garden Learning Community (an experiential, play-based learning environment for early childhood), I often find myself defending children's play to adults and explaining how and why we learn through play. As Teacher Tom says "The idea that play is the opposite of learning is just too well embedded in our collective psyche".

Questions that often come up are:

So what does a 'play-based curriculum' even mean?

Does that mean the children just play all day with no structure or learning? How will they transition to traditional school?

What are children actually learning when they play?

"Play is the highest form of research" - Albert Einstein

After spending my childhood attending various Montessori, Steiner, and Democratic schools in the 1970's and 1980's (thanks Mom and Dad!) I have devoted my adult life to understanding early childhood growth and development (birth through age 8) from an integrated and holistic perspective. I am fascinated with how children learn and feel grateful for the calling to co-create the most healthy and joyful learning environment I can with the local community around me, as well as the global community of inspiring educators around the world.
Having been an educator in many types of schools there are a few principles that I have seen integral in supporting young children's growth and learning across the board:

Longer stretches of time with the freedom to play, explore, and discover in a natural yet stimulating learning environment that engages all the senses, alternated with an offering of shorter segments of meaningful hands on, experiential projects that foster new skills and encourage mastery.
A small group size of mixed age children, more like an extended family than a large classroom, to play with and learn together.
Fun, inspired, and loving adults who focus on empowering the child with inquiry-based learning, modelling self regulation tools, and creating a physically and emotionally safe environment.
Ample outdoor play and exploration that allows nature to be a powerful learning experience filled with wonder and reverence.
Open ended and natural play materials that encourage creative imagination and the discovery of innovative solutions.
Open ended, process-based art and creative activities that are set up as an invitation to explore and express.
Predictable rhythms through the day, week and year that create a natural structure and provide security with a sense of the interrelationships and wholeness of life.

All of these principles can be woven together to create a strong foundation and love of learning in a healthy, balanced, and experiential play-based environment. There is argument among some educators that to be truly play-based there would be no adult guided projects. However in my experience as long as they are offered as a creative invitation with freedom of choice rather than a demand for every child to sit down and perform an activity only in the way the teacher dictates, and when these guided activities are sandwiched with longer times of free play, then meaningful hands-on projects are a wonderful inclusion in a play-based curriculum!

"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood." - Fred Rogers

"We can best help children learn, not by deciding what we think they should learn and thinking of ingenious ways to teach it to them, but by making the world, as far as we can, accessible to them, paying serious attention to what they do, answering their questions - if they have any - and helping them to explore the things they are most interested in." - John Holt

One of the most fascinating aspects of children's play is to observe how much they are naturally learning about language, reading, math, science, culture, social skills and more. I encourage parents to research all the educational benefits and foundation for healthy learning that play provides from Harvard University to the high academic performance of play-based schools in Finland to the most current research by the NAEYC. All of this is important information, but as an educator and parent myself, what I am most inspired by is the growth and development of the whole child, not the ability to regurgitate information and perform on current academic testing methods.

Children are born to learn. The human experience is designed to learn about life in a natural unfolding rather than a rote exposure to dry activities that lack a sense of meaning or connection to them. Children love to play because it's fun and it feels natural to them! Play is their true state of flow. When children are allowed ample time to play they intrinsically make the connection that learning is fun, they discover what truly makes their hearts sing, and they develop the power and inspiration to follow their bliss.

"Almost all creativity involves purposeful play." - Abraham Maslow

Teacher Tom says it beautifully "I invite you to imagine for a moment "schools" in which children are free to discover and pursue their passions while marinated in community. Imagine that transformation, then imagine how all those free and motivated minds will transform their world."

In the alternative education community this transformation is a reality with a growing number of holistic and experiential play-based learning environments across the globe. It is a profound honor to be a part of that transformation and the lives of the thriving children in our community.

"Creative people are curious, flexible, and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play" - Henri Matisse

This article was originally published in October 2019 at AltEdAustin: https://www.altedaustin.com/blog/why-we-love-to-play

We love to play AND we love projects.

Herb Weaving with our fresh garden herbs :)

Experimenting with Art: What happens to the colors when you use droppers with diffusion paper?

Bilateral Symmetry using a simple paper printing press!

We love making birds with natural cotton, we made a whole flock!

These guys are so cute, we had to see it twice!

Making muffins for our kindness party!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Cupcakes:

4 small bananas mashed
6 tablespoons maple syrup
1.5 cups sunflower seed butter
2 large egg
2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cups cacao powder
1/4 cup dried coconut flakes for sprinkles

Frosting:

4 sticks butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup cacao powder
3 teaspoons vanilla

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°
Mix together banana, maple syrup, sunflower seed butter, egg, vanilla, baking soda, and cacao powder.
Scoop into the muffin pan and top with the chocolate chips. Bake for 7 minutes.
Mix together butter, honey, cacao, and vanilla for frosting
Frost cupcakes once cool and top with dried coconut flake sprinkles