PARENTING ADVICE - The Benefits of Play-Based Learning
While parents tend to focus on traditional academic skills like literacy and numeracy, play is an equally important, and often overlooked, component of a child’s early education. “Parents often think that learning and play can’t be the same thing,” says Fay Kindergarten teacher Anne Canada, “but when you find ways for learning to feel like play, then you get real buy-in from the students. Parents should understand the value of play as a learning tool.”
Click on the button below to learn about a few of the skills that children build and practice through play. You may also see below for ideas for a pizza shop dramatic play (also called pretend or imaginative play) theme that you can introduce to your child. However, know that with dramatic play, it is best to guide and not direct your child. “Children have their own ideas, and they have to follow where those ideas are taking them,”says Fay Kindergarten teacher Lee Bogaert. Allowing children to direct their play builds imagination, storytelling, and language skills, while allowing them to explore the aspects of each activity that interests them most. If your child is not interested in pizza, you can alter the ideas below by helping them create a doctor's office, bakery, or anything else they can imagine.
