February 4, 2025Dr Sue Allingham
How often has someone said to you ‘all you do is play’? And how often have you felt belittled by this comment because the speaker clearly does not understand how important play is and how crucial it is to enable and facilitate play.
We all know that play is a crucial part of learning, but it is all too easy to forget this when we are amongst people who are not able to see it. How do we explain it, and demonstrate that playing is more than just a fun time filler between episodes of ‘learning’.
A while back a teacher I was working with said, “We know how important play is, but we forget how important it is!” And she was right, but why is that?
There are many reasons why we forget the importance of play, and why so many are not even aware of how important it is. It is within these reasons that the ‘problem with play’ exists.
The fundamental reasons are these:
It is worth starting with the final point on this list. It is common to have an opinion on what is meant by ‘play’; what it looks like, when it happens, who is involved.
A dictionary definition of ‘play’ reads –
“engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose.”
This tends to be the definition that many accept as the only one. Added to this we often hear the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child quoted to support why play is important –
Article 31 1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.
Whilst this adds more substance to the, rather bland, definition, it still does not reflect the research and rigour that actually defines ‘play’ when applied to teaching and learning in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), which I always define as extending at least into Key Stage One. After all, even adults play with things to understand them, don’t they?
In my recent Kinderly webinar on play, we reflected on what play looks like and why it is important that we enable it. What does playful learning look like, what is involved and whose agenda is it?
Whilst researching for this piece on the Harvard Centre for the Developing Child website I came across this quote from Jack Shonkoff –
“Play is one of the most important ways in which children learn.”
(Learning Through Play – Education does not stop when recess begins. By Emily DeRuy)
We must enable other, less informed, observers to understand that play is not a problem, it is a powerful, purposeful and a pedagogical necessity.
About the author
Dr Sue Allingham started her career as a teacher and an Early Years Lead before becoming a Local Authority Early Years Adviser. Moving into research, Sue gained an MA then a Doctorate, both in Early Childhood Education. She is now an Independent Consultant, Author and Trainer, with publications on Transitions in the Early Years and Emotional Literacy in the Early Years.
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