Play and the Curriculum

Play Centers and Spatial Arrangement

• Types of Play (Learning) Centers

– Logical Arrangement of Space and Materials. This has been found to increase
the frequency of play and enhance learning when engaged in play. Blocks, dramatic
play, and motor play are typically held in similar proximity as opposed to learning
centers being distant.

– A Modified Open Plan Design. This design usually divide areas using shelves,
bulletin boards, etc. However, they allow easy access and vision to the other areas.

– Stimulus Shelters. A space for children to be alone and to enjoy a brief respite
from active classroom life.

Balance of Play Materials

• It is important to provide a balance of both complex versus simple materials and
open-ended versus closed ones in play centers. This is associated with greater play.
– Complex materials. Those with many uses (e.g., sculpting, clay)
– Simple materials. Materials with limited purposes (e.g., books)

– Open-ended materials. Those with which children are able to express themselves
freely and creatively (e.g., hardwood blocks)
– Closed materials. Those with only a single use (e.g., an ordering game in which
objects are arranged by size)

• It is also important to have a balance of realistic and nonrealistic materials (e.g.,

boxes, cardboard pieces, rubber shapes) to balance and enhance play.
– For young children (2-3yrs), realistic toys help to facilitate language and symbolic
development

– For children (5-6yrs), nonrealistic materials were more instrumental towards the
development of language and symbolic development.

• In many play based centers, it is important to note that the process of learning and
expression through play is what is most important—not the end product.
– Art based play
– Socio-dramatic play
– Musical play
– Curriculum based play (mathematics)

• Open-ended play activities have been found to be related to ideational fluency—

an ability to generate many and varied ideas in writing, language interactions, and art.
• Play has been found to lead to more effective problem solving, because play
experiences enable children to generate more solutions to challenging problems.
Schedule of the Day
• It is important to provide and follow a consistent schedule throughout the day.
This schedule should also include a balance between active and quiet experiences.
– At least an hour is recommended for free play in younger children.

– However, it has been noted that some children spend 45 min-1hr planning their
play—designing play sets, negotiating roles, and discussing themes.

Variations in Approaches to Play

• Reward Approach. Teachers sometimes use play as an incentive for focus or
task management/ completion.
– Illicit Play. Children sometimes engage in spontaneous play as an alternative to
engaging in tasks that are difficult or boring.
• Hands-Off Play Approach. Teachers sometimes provide opportunities for
unstructured free play and observe interactions from a distance.
– Psychoanalytic perspective. Children sometimes use play to work through issues
and facilitate greater understanding.
• Narrowly Focused Play Intervention. Teachers sometime observing the play
dynamics and enhance children’s play by participating in unintrusive ways.

Broadly Focused Developmental Approach

• The teacher intervenes regularly and vigorously to promote a broad range of
concepts and skills.

• Assumption. Teacher intervention is influential to the play setting to facilitate

greater learning.
Non-Play Curriculum Models
• Assumptions:
– Play and learning are distinct and mutually exclusive
– Learning is more important than play and should be the ultimate goal of education

• Limitations on play in the classroom were based on the works of B. F. Skinner

and other behaviorists.
– Direct Instruction model (Distar). No play at all

The benefits have been found to be short lived in many young children.

They fail to develop nonacademic areas that are essential. Studies have noted that
preschoolers who were in these programs were found to be more likely, as adolescents, to
engage in delinquent behavior

Diadactic Public School Programs

• Many schools (inner city) have attempted to deal with the rise in poor scores by
eliminating play in the school.
• Practices that hinder play opportunities:
– Children are not allowed to use play centers until after their abstract “seat work”
is completed
– Children who do not finish workbook pages or dittos are not allowed to go out for
recess
– Children are required to play very quietly
– The number of children allowed in a given center is restricted to two or three
– Children are not provided with adequate space or a long enough time block to
engage in meaningful play

• Gains are often short-lived

• May create stress levels, especially among at-risk kids
• Will not effectively promote social skills (conflict resolution)

Smilansky’s Sociodramatic Play Intervention

• Intervention program designed to enhance sociodramatic play. This is make-
believe role playing in which children assume pretend roles of other persons, animals, or
even objects and play out imaginative situations that hold personal meaning. Based on
four assumptions:

• Sociodramatic play is related to social and cognitive development and school

success.

• Not all children engage in sociodramatic play; some are less engaged and less
social, & imaginative.

• Absence of socio play abilities among low socioeconomic kids may explain
academic difficulties in later childhood

• Adult intervention can increase the quantity and quality of sociodramatic play and
enhance overall cognitive development
Isenberg and Jalongo’s Creative Drama for the Primary Grades
• Proposed a program to enhance creative drama (pp.315)