By: Beatriz Martinez
Psychologist & Early Childhood Educator
Play-Based Learning is a novel method of education by which children learn essentially through play. It comes from theories on social development, child development, neuroscience and education, that support playful experiences as means of learning.
In the latest version of the “Pedagogy of Play” book published in 2023, Playful Learning or play-based learning is described as the type of learning that occurs when “the learning goals of adults and the interests and curiosities of students align.”
For it to be considered playful learning, children must lead or direct their own learning, based on their interests, and they must find joy in what they are learning. If the child is interested and joyful, he will integrate knowledge and a more profound learning will take place.
Why educate through play?
Because play is the fundamental activity of childhood. Play is and will always be the means by which children experience the world, how they give meaning to those experiences, how they put into practice the skills that will guarantee their ability to keep on learning and relating to others successfully.
That being said, play has always been crucial to development, but in more recent years the advances in neuroscience have allowed scientists to see how the brain looks when playing and what are the benefits of play.
When a child is playing – truly playing – the brain is at its prime for learning – synaptic connections are being created and functions of the brain such as executive thinking, memory and problem solving are being stimulated.
Read the next article to find out what are the key aspects of a play-based education.