Learning Through Play
Understanding how children learn through doing, exploring and discovering
What Do We Mean by Learning Through Play?
Learning through play doesn't mean giving children a box of toys and hoping they'll somehow teach themselves everything they need to know.
And it doesn't mean children never need structured teaching.
It means recognising that children learn powerfully when they are actively involved in what they're learning.
They might be:
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building and making
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talking and asking questions
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imagining and storytelling
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experimenting and investigating
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drawing and designing
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solving problems
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practising something they've recently learned
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making mistakes, changing their ideas and trying again
Sometimes this happens during play the child has chosen. Sometimes an adult creates an activity with a particular purpose. And sometimes an adult teaches something directly and then gives the child an opportunity to use that new knowledge.
All of these can belong together.
What might that look like?
Imagine a child building a den for a toy dragon.
They work out how large the doorway needs to be. The roof falls down, so they try another way of building it. They make a sign saying BEWARE OF THE DRAGON. They decide why the dragon needs a den and begin telling you what happened to him yesterday.
It looks like play.
But underneath it there could be
problem-solving, measuring, designing, speaking, listening,
vocabulary, writing and storytelling.
The important thing isn't to turn every moment of the dragon game
into a lesson.
It's to notice the learning that's already happening and recognise
when a little help, question or new idea might take it further.
Want to see what this can look like in practice?
Explore our Exploring Through Play ideas, where imagination, making, problem-solving and discovery become part of everyday learning.
Where does the adult come in?
Adults still have an important role in learning through play.
Sometimes we watch and listen.
Sometimes we ask:
“What do you think would happen if...?”
Sometimes we introduce an interesting word or provide a new material.
Sometimes we help a child notice something they hadn't spotted.
And sometimes we simply say:
“Would you like me to show you how to do that?”
There are also times when children need direct teaching, explanation and practice.
Learning through play isn't about removing structure.
It's about using structure thoughtfully.
What does research tell us?
Research into children's literacy and learning increasingly recognises that children can make meaning in many ways — through conversation, stories, movement, drawing, building, materials, imaginative worlds and digital experiences as well as through conventional reading and writing.
Researchers studying playful literacies have encouraged educators to look not only at how play can be used to teach literacy, but at the literacy that may already be happening within children's play.
That doesn't mean every game is secretly an English lesson.
It means that when children explain, negotiate, invent, represent ideas, tell stories, use symbols or communicate meaning, important foundations for learning may already be developing.
Play and teaching are not opposites
Perhaps this is the most important part.
You don't have to choose between:
play OR teaching
child-led OR adult-led
fun OR learning
Different moments call for different approaches.
A child might discover something through play today, need you to explain part of it tomorrow and practise the new skill with you later in the week.
Learning doesn't have to stay inside separate boxes.
What can I do at home?
You don't need to turn everything your child enjoys into an educational activity.
Instead, become curious about what is already happening.
Every now and then, ask yourself:
What is my child doing here?
Are they planning? Explaining? Reading? Comparing? Designing? Remembering? Negotiating? Measuring? Writing? Imagining? Solving a problem?
Then ask:
Is there anything useful I can add — or is the best thing I can do right now simply let them carry on?
Sometimes the answer will be to help.
Sometimes it will be to teach.
And sometimes it will be to make a cup of tea and leave the dragon den alone.
All three can be perfectly good educational decisions.
Want to explore this further?
Read Isn't Play Just Playing? What Learning Through Play Really Means for a longer everyday example and a closer look at the research behind these ideas.
Research behind this article:
Kumpulainen, K. & Kervin, L. — Playful literacies: Reimagining early childhood literacies, Journal of Early Childhood Literacy.
Ready to try it?
Visit Explore Through Play for practical ideas and resources designed to give children something interesting to do, discover and make their own.