What Are the Benefits of Play-Based Learning in Early Childhood?

If you want to justify play-based learning in your classroom, the first step is to understand the benefits of play-based learning so that you feel confident communicating the research to administration, parents, support staff, and beyond.

By the time you are done reading this article, you will have a toolkit of practical ways you can explain the benefits of play-based learning to both adults and the children in your classroom.  Each idea shared here is a tried-and-true strategy that I have personally found to be effective in our 4K classroom.

In this article, we will cover:

• some of the most powerful benefits of play-based learning, focusing on…
  • brain development,
  • mental health, and
  • soft skills.
• how to explain the benefits of play-based learning to:
  • administration,
  • parents, and
  • the children in your classroom.

This is a true story. When I was hired as a 4K teacher, I was thrilled to support my school district with their mission to launch a play-based program.  However, in full transparency, I was pretty clueless about the benefits of play-based learning at that time.

Fast forward to years later, after reading countless research articles and professional learning books, watching endless videos, attending many virtual conferences and webinars, I have become far more knowledgeable about the benefits of play-based learning.  My new challenge was to synthesize the abundance of information on play in a way that others could also digest.

Here’s what I’ve learned:  It is important to choose and focus on just a handful of key benefits.  In other words, if you try to take in all the information about play-based learning, you risk being overwhelmed and possibly remembering very little.  This is not helpful when you are put on the spot and need to justify play-based learning in your classroom.

On the other hand, if you commit to deeply understanding a few important benefits of play-based learning, you are far more likely to confidently speak to the power of play in those moments when it becomes necessary.

As a public school 4K teacher, I have selected to focus on 1) brain development and learning, 2) mental health, and 3) soft skills.  These are benefits of play-based learning that are most likely to be valued in the public school setting and, therefore, make the most sense for me to understand deeply and communicate to others.

Additionally, the methods I use to communicate the benefits of play-based learning depends on my audience.  In other words, how I talk with administration is different from how I talk with parents.  The resources I pass off to my principal and colleagues, for example, are different from the resources I share with my students’ families.  We will get into these different strategies later in this article.

Perhaps these benefits of play-based learning also make the most sense for you as well.  Perhaps instead you will focus your attention on other benefits, like executive functioning skills, physical development, or satisfying the human need for play.

How does play-based learning benefit early childhood development?

Benefits of Play-Based Learning on Brain Development

Play has shown to have many benefits for the brain because it not only promotes cognitive development, but it also removes barriers.

Amanda Morgan (early childhood speaker, author, consultant, and play advocate) beautifully summarizes why play matters so much to brain development and learning in Chapter 5 of her book, Not Just Cute: How Powerful Play Drives Development in Early Childhood.  Amanda synthesizes what the research reveals into three key reasons:

1. Play changes the brain chemistry to promote learning and growth.
2. Play and curiosity drive meaningful learning.
3. Play leads to long-term results and less fadeout.

Play Changes Brain Chemistry

Play has been shown to have both direct and indirect effects on brain structure and functioning.  

A clinical report from The American Academy of Pediatrics, The Power of Play: A Pediatric Role in Enhancing Development in Young Children, pulls together a wide range of research about brain development.  These studies give us important evidence about how play affects the brain by supporting the development of neural connections, self-regulation, adaptability, and learning.

If you want to get into the actual neuroscience, check out this Edutopia article by Judy Willis – teacher, neurologist, and authority on brain research regarding learning and the brain.  If you are wondering what the neuroscience looks like in early childhood classrooms, the author (Judy Willis) also shares practical activities that support brain development in this Edutopia article.

Play and Curiosity Drive Learning

Curiosity has been proven to be an essential key in order to unlock learning for children.  Read more on that in this article from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.  Since play boosts and sustains a child’s curiosity, we can then confidently say that play is critical to meaningful learning.

Dr. Michael Yogman et al. shares evidence showing that curiosity, which is one of the most important parts of play, helps children learn and remember information by activating the brain’s motivation and memory systems.

Play Leads to Long-Term Results

When it comes to longitudinal studies of Pre-K programs, Dr. Dale Farran is a lead researcher.  In a nutshell, she has discovered something critically important: programs that do not prioritize play-based learning may be able to produce positive short-term learning results, but those same results are typically nowhere to be found years later.  In fact, children who did not experience the benefits of play-based learning during their early childhood years often show negative learning results in the long run.

If you want to read the actual research, check out this article, Effects of a Statewide Pre-Kindergarten Program on Children’s Achievement and Behavior Through Sixth Grade, by Dr. Dale Farran et al.  This same research is summarized really well in this NPR article, A Top Researcher Says It’s Time to Rethink Our Entire Approach to Preschool, by Anya Kamenetz.

Before we move on to the next big benefit of play-based learning, take a peek at this excellent TED-Ed Educator Talks video, How Play Helps a Kid’s Brain Grow, by Jesse Ilhardt.

Benefits of Play-Based Learning on Mental Health

Peter Gray is a psychologist and well-respected researcher in the world of play.  He has repeatedly stressed the important role that play has on mental well-being.  For example, in his interview with Jill Anderson out of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Gray emphasized three key benefits of play-based learning on the mental health of children, including:

1. Play reduces anxiety and depression.
2. Play builds confidence and resilience.
3. Play supports emotional regulation and stress management.

Play Reduces Anxiety

There is a deep connection between play and children’s happiness and emotional well-being.  Peter Gray explains that when children lose opportunities for real play, rates of anxiety and depression increase because they are missing an important natural outlet for joy, creativity, and emotional release.

Play Builds Resilience

When children play, they learn how to solve problems, work through disagreements, take risks, and recover from setbacks.  These valuable experiences help children develop what psychologists call their “internal locus of control.”  This is the belief that they are capable, they have control over their circumstances, and they can handle challenges.  This sense of competence is strongly connected to lower anxiety levels and better long-term mental health.

Play Supports Emotional Regulation

Play gives children opportunities to practice managing emotions in real-life situations.  Whether they are working through frustration during a game, compromising with classmates, or handling uncertainty during pretend play, children strengthen their ability to regulate their emotions and cope with stress.  

Benefits of Play-Based Learning on Soft Skills

The benefits of play-based learning on children’s social development are far-reaching and influence so many important parts of growth and emotional regulation.  Through play, children naturally learn how to interact with others in meaningful ways.  They practice cooperation, problem-solving, negotiation, and conflict resolution as they share materials, take turns, and work through the ups and downs of playing together.

Play also helps children build friendships, develop a sense of belonging, and grow in their social confidence.  It creates authentic opportunities to learn the language and behaviors connected to winning, losing, compromise, and teamwork.  At the same time, play strengthens communication skills like listening, speaking, and understanding nonverbal cues. 

Okay, now that you have an understanding of some critical benefits of play-based learning (ie: brain development and learning, mental health, and soft skills), now let’s turn our attention to how you can communicate these benefits as a way to justify play-based learning in your classroom.

How to Explain the Benefits of Play-Based Learning to Administration

Share Research About the Benefits of Play

Whether you are talking about the benefits of play-based learning with your principal, director of curriculum, coach for staff, or superintendent, they will value what the research has to say about play.  This is the group of people that we can speak with on a more academic level.  In other words, you can feel confident speaking about the science of play and trusting they will follow along.

Maybe you can forward an interesting article about the benefits of play-based learning via email.  Perhaps you can suggest a professional learning text about play for your next grade-level book study.  Or maybe you can print off a research article, highlight key points, scribble your thoughts in the margins, then hand the print-out off.  The method does not matter so much, as long as you are sharing research about the benefits of play-based learning with administration and colleagues.

Here are a few resources that your administration may be especially interested in:

• A Pedagogy of Play: Supporting Playful Learning in Classrooms and Schools (Baker, Krechevsky, Liu-Constant, Mardell, Oxman-Ryan, Schulz)
• The Science of Play (National Institute for Play)
• Time Spent Playing Predicts Early Reading and Math Skills through Associations with Self-Regulation (Bachman, Betancur, Coulanges, Kammerzell, Libertus, Miller, and Votruba-Drzal)

Show Evidence That Children Are Learning Through Play

While every teaching situation is different, chances are that you are required to collect some sort of literacy and math data that demonstrates your students’ academic growth.  That type of information can be insightful, but it is only one small part of the whole child.

For this reason, when you are showing evidence that the children in your classroom are learning, do not focus on literacy and math only.  Additionally, emphasize the “whole child” skills that your students have learned through play experiences – even if nobody is asking for that information.

Here’s an example of what that conversation might sound like in a team meeting:

“Mason is currently able to identify 20 out of 26 uppercase letters, 18 out of 26 lowercase letters, and 21 out of 26 sounds.  He has recently demonstrated the ability to rote count up to 19 and he can count objects in a group with one-to-one correspondence up to 10.”

“Additionally, Mason has shown tremendous growth in his ability to manage his emotions.  For example, just yesterday during Play Workshop, he was playing a brain game with a partner in the Games Center.  The boys were having difficulty with the game.  Earlier in the school year, this sort of challenge would have resulted in a meltdown.  However, I observed Mason as he took some deep breaths and gave his partner some encouraging words.  I was so proud of the resilience and perseverance that Mason showed in this situation.  The time he has spent playing and practicing these types of essential skills is really paying off.”

Keep Play-Based Learning at the Heart of Conversations

In education, topics that we give our time, attention, and energy to are those that get prioritized in the classroom.  With that in mind, it is wise for those of us who understand the benefits of play-based learning to regularly bring play into the conversation.

For example, if your grade level team is planning a book study, recommend a professional learning book that emphasizes the benefits of play-based learning.  If you need to write a professional goal, choose one that prioritizes play-based learning.  If your district is requiring the implementation of a boxed curriculum, share methods in which the content can be taught through more playful approaches.

How to Explain the Benefits of Play-Based Learning to Parents

Show Parents How Children Are Learning Through Play

In my years as a play-based educator, when I tell families that we have a play-based program in our school district, the most common question parents ask sounds something like this, “But when will my child learn?”  Most parents see play and learning as separate entities.  Part of our job is to help them see that play and learning are not mutually exclusive.  Play is the method and learning is the outcome.

Here are just a few methods that I use to show parents how their children learn:

• post photos – I post photos of my students playing with short captions on our school-to-home platform (Parent Square) every school day.  In this way, I am consistently reminding my students’ families that their children are learning and growing – all through the power of play.
• family conferences – It can be easy for us teachers to get lost in sharing assessment data, talking about behaviors, and similar activities during parent-teacher conferences.  In order to avoid this, I prepare documents and evidence in advance that demonstrate how their children are learning through play.  This can be as simple as a photo of the child and some key points in relation to required standards and skills that the child is building.
• field trips – My grade level colleague and I are intentional with the field trip locations that we choose.  For example, we always go to Betty Brinn Children’s Museum in the winter, as it is a goldmine for purposeful play.
• involve parents in play – When the seasons change, we host a Winter Solstice Celebration as well as a Spring Celebration.  During the event, we set up play invitations in our classroom, the 4K classroom next door, as well as the cafeteria across the hall.  Our 4K friends rotate between the stations, which have an intentional focus (ie: big body play, process art, collaborative STEM activity, etc).  We invite family members to volunteer by helping out at a station.  In this way, they see the kids learning through play in action.

Share Parent-Friendly Resources About the Benefits of Play

Most parents are not aware of the decades of research on play.  It is not often that I come across a parent that understands the benefits of play-based learning.  The truth is that we cannot expect them to just know.  It is our responsibility to inform parents about the science of play, but we have to do it in a way that is digestible for families.

Over the years, I have curated parent-friendly resources that I have gathered in a Google Doc.  I have a recurring reminder on my work calendar, so that I remember to continually share these resources.  I have pulled a few from my collection to help you get started.

Here are some of the resources that I share with my students’ families via our school-to-home platform called Parent Square:

• 6 Benefits of Play by The Genius of Play
• 7 Active Games that Develop Early Reading Skills by Alicia Betz (Active for Life)
• Brain-Building Through Play by Harvard University (The Center on the Developing Child)
• Children Learn Best Through Play, by The LEGO Foundation (video)
• The 5-Minute Daily Playtime Ritual that Can Get Your Kids to Listen Better by Life Kit (NPR)
• The Power of Play with Your Child by Jesse Ilhardt via TEDx (YouTube video)

Share Practical Tips for Playing at Home

Parents appreciate specific learning through play examples to get them started.  No idea is too basic!  Remember this: As a play-based teacher, learning through play comes more naturally to you than the average adult.  So what might seem common sense to you might be the perfect springboard for someone else.

Below are some simple ideas that will help your students’ families get started with play at home:

• Create play opportunities.  Provide your children with time and space for unstructured play.  This could be as simple as allowing them to tinker with everyday household items, like buttons, boxes, and plastic cups.
• Participate in play.  Engage in play with your child.  Whether you are building a fort or playing a board game, your involvement shows that play is valuable.
• Encourage exploration and curiosity.  Support your child’s interests and encourage them to ask questions and seek out answers.  A stroll through the woods or the park can spark a meaningful conversation.
• Play with words.  Even when you are driving, play is possible!  Invite your child to play a rhyming game (example – “Do these words rhyme?  dog / frog”) or a beginning sounds game (“I will say some words that have the same beginning sound, then you will say some more words:  top, table, tuck.)
• Prepare for play opportunities.  Keep items in your purse, bag, or sling that can be used for playful games in those minutes when your child needs to wait at the restaurant or doctor’s office.  For example, you only need 3 or more small objects to play the game, “What’s Missing?” Set the objects in front of your child and prompt them to study the objects.  Tell your child to close their eyes, then hide one object.  Then, tell your child to open their eyes and name the missing object.

How to Explain the Benefits of Play-Based Learning to Children

Read Together About the Benefits of Play

In my years as a play-based 4K teacher, I have listened to countless podcasts, read a ridiculous number of books, research, articles, and blog posts, and consumed endless social media posts all about the benefits of play-based learning.  Professors, teachers, psychologists, speech pathologists, researchers, parents, and other adults were all part of these conversations.

Then one day it hit me:  “Why are KIDS not included in any of these conversations?”  I wanted to change that, so I wrote and published a children’s picture book, Play Is Our Superpower!  Through my book, children learn:

1) their play is important,

2) play is good for their brains and bodies,

3) they have a right to play, and

4) how to advocate for themselves and their right to play. 

Talk About the Benefits of Play

Play Is Our Superpower! is perfect for launching a conversation about the benefits of play-based learning with the children in your classroom.  The book does all the explaining for you!  The illustrator, Filza Amalina, added her beautiful illustrations that help to emphasize the message that is shared through simple (yet powerful), kid-friendly language.

Play Is Our Superpower! will help the students in your classroom understand what happens to their brains when they play:  “Our brains light up when we play.  That’s not pretend – it’s real science!”  The information is shared in a developmentally-appropriate way through the perspective of scientists that study the effects of play on the brain.

When you read Play Is Our Superpower! to your students, they will begin to understand what doctors know about the benefits of play-based learning.  The book explains that “Doctors know that play helps our minds feel safe, our thoughts feel calm, and our hearts feel happy.”  Specific and relatable play scenarios in the book help to emphasize this message.

Children see themselves reflected in the book because the narrators are kids, just like your students, who play together in a classroom.  The narrators point out that “Teachers know that play helps us learn how to be good friends.”  The examples provided in Play Is Our Superpower! (like having a disagreement at the sensory table, then working it out) will be familiar to the kids in your classroom.

The book helps children begin to see the benefits of play-based learning because it explains how researchers have been studying kids and play for decades.  An important part of Play Is Our Superpower! says, “Researchers know that play helps kids feel whole – like every part of us is learning, growing, and working together.”  Your students will be proud and excited to play after reading and chatting about this book together.

Validate Their Play Experiences

One of the easiest, yet most impactful ways that teachers can help their students understand that their play is important is to provide opportunities that validate their play experiences.  In our 4K classroom, we accomplish this primarily through our Group Share at the end of our daily Play Workshop.

During the Group Share, my role as the teacher is to help guide my students to reflect on and share about their play experiences.  We use this anchor chart below to facilitate those discussions.

The methods that we use to reflect and share vary, depending on where we are in the school year.  Here are a few Group Share strategies that we consistently use:

• Share Chair – We choose 3 students (using our “pick me” sticks) to sit in our Share Chair, hold our karaoke microphone, and tell the class about their play experience.
• Share Bear – We sit around our carpet, pass Share Bear (teddy bear) around the circle, and each child quickly shares where they played and one thing they did in that play center.
• share via teacher photos – I project photos that I snapped during play time on our interactive board.  I invite the students in the photos to talk about their play experience.
• share via student photos – Our 4K friends are always invited to grab a tablet and snap a photo of their work via the Seesaw app.  During our Group Share, I project the most recent photos on our interactive board and invite the students who took the photos to share about their play experience.
• read aloud Letters of Learning – Sometimes during play, I choose a student to observe and I write him or her a letter.  It is written like an informal note to the child, but it highlights the skills the child demonstrated while they played.  During the Group Share, I read the letter aloud to the student, but the whole class gets to hear it, of course.

Conclusion

In the end, the benefits of play-based learning go far beyond keeping children busy or entertained. Play supports brain development and strengthens mental health. Play helps children build the soft skills they need to succeed both in school and in life. When children play, they are learning how to think, problem-solve, and communicate. It is through play that kids learn to regulate emotions, build relationships, and develop confidence in themselves as learners.

As play-based educators, it is our responsibility to provide meaningful play opportunities. We also need to confidently communicate why play matters. Whether you are talking with administration, supporting families, or helping children understand the value of their own play experiences, your voice matters. The more clearly we can explain the research and real-life impact of play-based learning, the more we can advocate for classrooms. This is how children are allowed to learn in ways that are developmentally appropriate, engaging, and joyful.

You do not need to memorize every research study or become an expert in every area of child development. Instead, focus on a few powerful benefits of play-based learning that resonate most with your teaching philosophy and school setting. When you understand those core ideas, you will be more prepared to speak about the importance of play whenever those conversations arise.

We grow as educators by taking one small step at a time.  With that in mind, what is the next step you will take to help others understand the benefits of play-based learning?  Respond with your action step in the comments below.

If you are feeling overwhelmed or stuck, try one of these ideas:

• Read the children’s picture book, Play Is Our Superpower! to your students and use it as an anchor for a discussion around the importance of play.
• Put up a bulletin board display that communicates to the adults in your building what children learn through play.  (If you purchase my picture book, I would be happy to share the bulletin board we use with you for FREE!  Simply email me a screenshot of your order to Amber@creamcityteacher.com.)

Remember that you do not need to do everything all at once.  Take one simple step at a time and in the long run, you will help your administration, families, and students understand the benefits of play-based learning.