Learning Through Play

Why do we believe in Learning Through Play (LTP)?

By allowing children space and time to play they will show what they know, what they are capable of, and what they want to learn about. Through play, they explore and express their ideas, interests, and passions. We are then able to design richer, more authentic, interest-centred inquiries and projects where children are engaged in complex thinking, expression, and exploration across the curriculum.
Our National Curriculum identifies several values and key competencies that we strive to teach our children. Almost all of them can be developed through play-based activities: innovation, inquiry, curiosity, sustainability, respect, thinking, using language symbols and text, managing self, relating to others, participating and contributing. As well as these play offers many rich opportunities across all the curriculum areas such as Science, Social Sciences and Mathematics.
Play contributes positively to a child’s sense of well-being. It enhances a child’s natural capacity for intense and self-motivated learning. It helps build creative and critical thinkers, and lets children test social boundaries. Play produces curiosity, openness, optimism, resilience and concentration. It enhances a child’s memory skills, develops their language skills, helps regulate their behaviour, advances their social skills and encourages academic learning to take place.
Teaching through play empowers learners to have a mindset that says ‘I can grow my brain; I give it a red hot go; I persist’ (Growth Mindset - MBS Active Learner)
Play allows children time to trial several ways to solve problems that are meaningful for them and naturally occur in their play. They develop a bank of problem solving strategies to draw from.
Supports children’s transition to school by making more connections to their prior-to-school experiences from early childhood education and home.
Play has been consistently described across time as central to cognitive, language, cultural, and social development. Lev Vygotsky, 1978, said that ‘In play a child always behaves beyond his average age, above his daily behaviour; in play it is as though he were a head taller than himself. As in the focus of a magnifying glass, play contains all developmental tendencies in a condensed form and is itself a major source of development.’

For more information consider the following links: