Monday, April 15, 2019

Play-Based Learning: Why is it Critical?

An authentic Montessori daycare and preschool applies play-based learning as a fundamental part of the educational process. It is an experience based process where children learn by doing, giving them firsthand knowledge of the concepts they are absorbing as they undertake new activities and rediscover older explorations.


Natural Learning

A child’s Montessori preschool teaches practical life lessons through fun and exciting activities. It is the most natural way for children to absorb information, with roots stretching back into the farthest reaches of human history. Through play, children gain confidence in themselves, control over their muscles, and knowledge about their world.

Experience is the Best Teacher

Learning by doing is how people learn faster and better. When children become immersed in interesting projects and games, they learn more easily and comfortably. From spatial concepts to historic discoveries, the things they encounter during playtime gives them an incentive to continue the process of investigation. Where traditional education systems rely on memorization of information, learning through play provides direct experience that can be applied to many different fields of study.

Discovering the Value of Self

Learning through play instills and encourages a sense of self-worth. Children investigate and discover things in their own ways and often without realizing that they are learning at all. It teaches them that they can be a master of their own actions and helps them learn valuable intellectual and social skills. Even an activity as enjoyable as climbing has the underlying value of teaching her that she can accomplish what she sets her mind to achieve.

Merging Activity with Education

In a play-based learning environment, children are free to move about, spending a little time at one activity and then moving on to a different one which sparks their curiosity. They are exercising their bodies and minds in unison, allowing both to develop as a single entity. Play-based learning is holistic, meaning that it involves the entire child rather than focusing only on mental skills at the expense of physical and social interaction.

Play-based learning is the foundation of early education. It is the cornerstone of children’s games, toddler toys, and lies at the heart of most children’s books, movies, and storytelling. Learning through play is an ancient educational tool that is vital to learning everything from coordination to music.