Blogs Caesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer, emphatically reminds us that “Birds fly, fish swim, dogs walk” and, I’d add, “kids play!” We want our students to be successful, and to do that we must include play in our curriculum. Physically speaking, play teaches children’s bodies automaticity--more commonly known as muscle memory.
In addition, play teaches:
- to use one’s imagination
- that it’s ok to make mistakes
- confidence
- how to navigate friendships
- ways to work cooperatively
- language skills
- and much, much more!
Most importantly, play teaches our students that learning is fun!
Check out this video blog to learn how play can enhance learning for your students.
Video Transcript
Hi.
I’m Susanne with Learners Edge. And I’m here to talk to you about play.
What do you think of when you think of the word “play”?
For young children, the research says play is imperative for them, in order to develop the things that they need to succeed in life.
One such thing is automaticity. We need our children, the young children, to learn automaticity. It’s also known as muscle memory. Muscle memory helps lay the foundation for later learning, like reading, writing, and arithmetic.
Free play is a wonderful thing to incorporate into your curriculum, because it helps with automaticity. Free play also teaches how to use one’s imagination, leadership, cooperation, that it’s OK to make mistakes, language, confidence, friendships, and, of course, that learning is fun.
For more information, check out our Chalk Blog at learnersedgeinc.com.
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If you’d like to explore more about the importance of play in the classroom, access our webinar on Play – we know you’ll enjoy it!!
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