October 4, 2024 The Value of Play for Young Children About Play-based learning isn’t just about letting children do what they want. It’s about adults guiding and evaluating the play to engage them more deeply with the learning process. Learn More Learn more about the value of play-based learning and how play is essential for brain development in this piece by First Five Years.
How Culturally Rich Dramatic Play Supports Language Development About Listen to children’s everyday talk to identify culturally relevant themes. Culturally relevant dramatic play centers let young children draw from their experiences to enhance their play. Children reenact activities and observations from family life and share common events in their cultures. Learn More Read this NAEYC report on supporting language through culturally rich dramatic play to learn more about how authentic dramatic play leads to children’s meaningful learning – especially in language and vocabulary.
How Block Play Contributes to Spatial and Mathematical Skills About Research on block play supports a strong relationship between building skills and spatial and mathematical skills. A study by the Journal of Cognition and Development examines whether 3-year-olds’ block-building behaviors and structural complexity during structured block play related to overall accuracy on the building task and predicted spatial or mathematical skills at ages 4 and 5 above and beyond accuracy on the block-building task. Learn More Learn more by reading the study, Associations of 3-Year-Olds’ Block-Building Complexity with Later Spatial and Mathematical Skills.
