Today's lesson: "...but what will they learn?"

When parents walk into a classroom and see crayons and playdough, puzzles and board games, water and sand tables, blocks and trucks...well wait...that's what I see - they see TOYS, and then you tell the parent about the classroom routine consisting of 1 hour of indoor free play and 1 hour of outdoor free play, the worried look passes over their face and inevitably the teacher is asked, "When do they learn?" What they're really asking is, "How will my child be academically successful if all they're doing is playing and when they are in circle time, all you're doing is singing? How will my child ever know their alphabet so they can become the next great American author or their numbers so they will become the next great chemist who discovers the cure for cancer or shapes so they can become the next great architect? Surely, unless they are taught these academic foundations at a desk in rote fashion using flashcards by the time they are 3, they are doomed to academic failure!"  Unfortunately, despite recent studies, many people have yet to recognize the sharp decline in academic performance has coincided with the decrease in opportunities to play. Math scores go down and recess is shortened in order to devote more time to "learning" more math and math scores go down even more.  Children learn though play. Discovery happens during free play - blocks are stacked into towers that sometimes fall and sometimes don't and children learn.  Ramps are constructed - some cars roll down, some fall off, some don't roll fast enough, adjustments are made, and children learn.  A jumble of shapes with indiscernible pictures on them fit together and come together to form a complete picture and one uniform shape, and children learn. Children scoop and pour water and sand (and sometimes the sand into the water and at other times the water into the sand) so that new textures, volumes, and viscosities are created, and children learn. Songs are made up of words...rhyming words....plays on words...words are made up of sounds, those sounds go with a specific letter, and then one day the letter F is shown and the teacher says, "F says 'ffff'" to which an excited child who has been singing Old MacDonald Had a Farm excited exclaims, "Like farm...farm starts with F!" (Much more exciting and engaging then silly flash cards, I think...and so do most 4 and 5 year olds.). Children learn.  BUT MORE IMPORTANT, every parent wants their child to succeed and there's much more to success than academic performance.  There are more important foundations beyond the academic that must be laid before academic excellence can flourish.  A child needs social and emotional competence (conflict resolution, making friendships, cooperation, communication, confidence, taking initiative, and be able to identify and communicate their emotions). Without these foundations, a child will wrestle with insecurity and doubt, and find these so overwhelming that academic success is not just a challenge, but often impossible, leaving a child susceptible to negative peer pressure, bullying, and being a bully (depending on a child's natural temperament). During free play with open ended materials that children have free access to, social and emotional competence is taught and then nurtured.  Children learn academic concepts during free play; but most important, they are laying the foundations needed for academic success - social and emotional competence. Don't forget to let your child play.