The superpower of playful learning 

(Part of Xplor Education’s ECEC Conversations series)  

 

Play is sometimes framed as less important than more formal approaches to learning. It’s an idea that sits alongside the unhelpful notion that real learning begins once children transition to school. Research on brain development and how young children learn emphasises that play is a highly effective method of learning in the first five years. Play is a superpower. It affords a transformative influence on children’s learning, development and wellbeing in their formative years.  

 

Young children are naturally motivated to play. Play is a universal expression for young children. It’s a language that enables them to form connections with others. It allows them to develop skills and knowledge across multiple developmental domains.  

 

Through play, children show us what they know and can do. Play affords children success in personally meaningful ways. It supports the development of positive dispositions for learning, including:  

 

• curiosity 

• problem-solving 

• persistence 

• risk-taking 

• confidence 

 

Different forms of play  

 

As children grow, they engage in different forms of play. From birth, babies engage in observational play. This includes cueing into sounds, colours, shapes, the contours of faces and the environment around them.  

 

Observational play is the earliest form of concentration. It occurs as babies take note of sound, movement, light, shadow and colour in their surroundings. Vocal play is a critical step in language development. It begins around four months of age as children play with sound, pitch and volume. It can include producing squeals and blowing raspberries. Early vowel sounds lead into consonants, canonical babbling, conversational babbling and the production of words.  

 

 

Across all age groups, sensory play helps to build connections in the brain. Children take in information through all five senses. It’s how they develop cognitive, physical, emotional and language skills. As children grow and learn, play takes many forms.  

 

This includes:

 

• schematic play 

• construction play 

• imaginative play 

• creative play 

• investigative play 

• digital play 

 

Long blocks of unhurried and uninterrupted time to play are critical for children’s learning and development. Beneficial forms of play are primarily child-led and contextual to children’s social worlds. Child-led play does not require predetermined outcomes. There is room for creativity, imagination and individual expression.  

 

Play mastery  

 

Mastery is the way we learn. In the first five years, play mastery takes real work. Take a four-year-old who recognises the first letter of their name in a storybook. They may be motivated to engage in emergent writing. To get here, they’ve experienced thousands of hours of shared book reading and language play with trusted adults. They’ve had opportunities for meaningful mark-making using a range of surfaces and materials.  

 

What about a five-year-old who jumps from the top of the fort with confidence? They’ve been provided repeated opportunities to test the limits of their own body in physical environments. They’ve been trusted to assess and mitigate their own risk. Protected time for child-led play enables children to develop play mastery the real work of childhood.  

 

 

To develop play mastery, children need to meet materials and concepts time and time again, in multiple modes. Repeated opportunities to meet materials and concepts help children to experience confidence. They can enjoy success in play as they learn the properties of materials and the depth of a concept.  

 

For example, the concept of “colour” is broad and deep. The colour blue has over 200 distinct shades alone. Play mastery could involve exploring the colour blue in nature. Endless examples include sky blue, sea blue, cornflower blue, the electric blue of a fairy wren and why a bower bird collects blue objects. The colour blue can be explored in countless ways, including through: 

 

• fabrics 

• textiles 

• artwork 

• architecture 

• gemstones or ochre 

 

It can also include shades of blue created by mixing paints and other materials. 

 

Exploring how blue makes us feel and how it might sound also enables deep learning about colour as a concept. In supporting children’s play mastery, educators, teachers and caregivers play a role in facilitating opportunities for children to meet materials and concepts time and time again in multiple modes.  

 

The importance of intentionality  

 

Intentionality in planning and environment design can also support play mastery. This occurs as children transfer their learning across different experiences and play spaces. Take, for example, a toddler who enjoys pouring sand from one container to another. They can be offered this experience at mealtimes by pouring water from a jug into their cup. A child who enjoys drawing can bring their representation to life through clay. They may even animate their drawing using a digital app. A child who enjoys painting can be offered different brushes and surfaces over time to learn about new styles and techniques.  

 

 

When educators and teachers are keen observers of play, their observations and genuine listening to children will provide cues about when to invite engagement with new materials and experiences in increasingly complex ways.  

 

For educators and teachers, play-based teaching and learning is the very opposite of a lazy pedagogy. Play mastery doesn’t always require adult involvement in moments of play. But a shared understanding about the various roles adults can undertake in children’s play is helpful.  

 

Various ways for educators to support playful learning  

 

Educators, teachers and caregivers can support children’s play in various roles, such as:

 

• co-player  

• facilitator 

• interested observer 

• mediator 

 

Adults can also model and demonstrate during play. This may include ways to use play materials. It can extend to scaffolding a specific skill, such as using scissors. It may take the form of modelling language use and pronunciation. Here are some different roles available to adults to support and extend children’s learning through play:

 

• As a co-player, adults can support a child’s playful intentions and play alongside to follow their lead. For example, in imaginative play, adults can take on the role of co-player. They may support the continuation of the play theme. They may also offer a provocation to complicate and extend the play.  
• As a facilitator, adults can create safe and inviting spaces for children to play. They can offer age-appropriate resources and materials. These may include open-ended materials that invite deeper thinking and negotiation around how they could be used in play.  
• As an interested observer, adults are not directly involved in children’s play. But they can verbally recognise children’s efforts, offer encouragement, ask questions and celebrate achievements in play.   
• When scaffolding, adults offer assistance until the child develops the confidence and skills to engage in the play independently or with others.  
• When modelling or demonstrating, adults explicitly show children how different play materials work. They support skill development until children can use materials independently.  
• As a mediator in children’s play, adults facilitate interactions between children. They support conflict resolution. They can act as a bridge between children’s ideas and processes for learning to support the achievement of their play intention.  

 

 

Being a keen observer of play and genuinely listening to children provides adults with cues about what role supports and extends children’s joy, engagement, and learning through play. Adult involvement in children’s play can be most beneficial when we follow the child’s lead and genuinely listen for the ideas they are exploring. Knowing children and their play preferences well provides insights into meaningful trajectories for play mastery over time.  

 

You’re invited – join us and continue the conversation on playful learning 

 

We invite you to join this discussion and hear more of Dr Melinda Miller’s thoughts and ideas on playful learning. She’ll be joining Xplor Education for ECEC Conversations on 18 September. This will be a special in-person ECEC Conversations session, part of the Xplor Horizons event. A live stream will also be available to those wishing to attend online. Registration is necessary and ensures you will receive a recording if you’re unable to attend.  

 

Previous ECEC Conversation sessions have focused on attracting and retaining top talent, and innovation and access in early learning. In this session, Dr Melinda Miller and her colleague, Rebecca Seager, will join Tracy Kilpady, Xplor Education’s Manager of Education. They’ll delve into why playful learning is such an essential part of each child’s journey.  

 

Be part of conversations that are shaping the ECEC sector. Join us on Thursday, 18 September, for The Superpower of Playful Learning, either online or in person at Xplor Horizons. Let’s come together and grow, one conversation at a time.  

 

Dr Melinda Miller is the Director of Early Learning, First Five Early Learning. She is an early childhood education and care specialist with a demonstrated history working with providers, government and higher education. Specialist areas include child development, inclusive education, sustainability education and early childhood education pedagogy. Melinda is an active member of the national and international early childhood education sector via publications, presentations, consultancy and committee membership.