What Play-Based Learning Looks Like in a Palm Harbor Preschool

Play-based learning means children build early academic and social skills by doing: building, painting, sorting, pretending and moving, with teachers who set up the materials and step in to stretch the thinking. From the doorway it can look like simple fun, but a train track or a tray of paint is often where children practice planning, counting, new words and cooperation. Here is what that can look like in a preschool classroom, what teachers watch for, and one idea to try at home.

Why play and learning go together

Young children learn through their senses and their hands. When they test an idea, such as whether the track will reach the shelf or what happens when blue paint meets yellow, they are predicting, trying and checking the result. That cycle is the root of later math and science thinking. When they play alongside other children, they also practice language, taking turns and handling frustration.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children has a helpful article on talking with parents about play and learning, written to help teachers explain how purposeful play connects to the skills families care about. It is worth reading if you have ever wondered what your child is really getting out of a morning of blocks and paint. For a closer look at the idea behind it, see What is hands-on learning?

Moments like these

Photos from New Horizons classrooms show moments like these. They are snapshots, not a lesson plan, but each one shows real skills at work.

Laying a train track across an alphabet rug

In one photo, children are laying a toy train track across a rug printed with letters. Building a track together asks a lot of a 3- or 4-year-old:

• Planning and problem-solving: choosing a route, then fixing it when two pieces will not connect.
• Fine motor control: lining up small connectors takes steady fingers.
• Spatial thinking: curves, straight pieces, longer and shorter, over and around.
• Cooperation: sharing pieces, agreeing where the station goes and taking turns with the train.

The letters underfoot add something too. When print is part of a child's surroundings, children start to notice letters, especially the ones in their own names. In the same photo, labeled bins sit on low shelves, which lets children find materials and put them back on their own and quietly links a written word to the thing it names.

Finger-painting with a teacher close by

Another photo shows a teacher sitting beside a young child who is finger-painting at a table. Finger paint is a full sensory experience: cool, slippery and a little messy. It builds hand and finger strength that children later use to hold a crayon or pencil, and it teaches cause and effect as colors swirl and mix.

An adult sitting at the child's level can add words to the experience ("You made a long, wavy line"), ask open questions ("What do you think will happen if you add more yellow?") and help with the steps of cleaning up. Sitting close also tells a child that their work matters.

Sorting colorful pieces into a basket

A third photo shows a teacher with children sorting colorful pieces into a basket. Sorting is early math. Children classify by color or shape, match, count and compare which group has more. A teacher can stretch the activity with a simple question: "Can you find all the red ones?" or "Which pile is bigger?" Even putting materials away becomes a small sorting task.

Outside under the pavilion

The school's photos also show a covered outdoor pavilion with tall shade trees where children ride tricycles. Pedaling and steering build leg strength, balance and coordination, and sharing a limited number of trikes gives children plenty of practice waiting and taking turns. Shade makes outdoor play more comfortable in the Florida heat.

What teachers watch for during play

In play-based classrooms, the teacher's role is active even when children are choosing what to do. Teachers commonly:

• set up materials with a purpose and change them as children's interests grow
• watch and note what each child can do, such as counting a set of objects, holding a crayon or joining a group game
• ask open-ended questions and introduce new vocabulary during play
• help children work through disagreements using words
• use what they observe to plan next steps and to share progress with families

When you tour any preschool, ask the teachers what they look for while children play and how they share those observations with parents. Their answers will tell you a lot about how intentional the play is.

A safety note on sensory materials

Sensory bins and art trays are a big part of play-based learning, but the materials need to match the child's age. For children under 3, skip small items that can be choking hazards, such as dry beans, rice, small beads, marbles and coins, and keep scented oils and extracts away from play materials. Adults should supervise any activity that uses scissors, small parts or messy materials.

Water beads, the tiny gel balls sometimes sold for sensory play, are not included in any activity here. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) urges parents and caregivers to remove them from any environment with children, because they can expand after being swallowed and cause serious internal injury. The CPSC Water Beads Information Center has more detail.

Try this at home: a sorting basket

This works well for preschoolers ages 3 to 5 and takes only a few minutes.

1. Fill a basket with large household items in a few colors: clean socks, big plastic lids, wooden blocks or toy cars. Choose items too big to fit in a child's mouth, especially if a younger sibling is nearby.
2. Ask your child to sort them into piles by color.
3. Count each pile together and ask which has the most and which has the fewest.
4. Mix everything up and ask your child to invent a new rule, such as big and small, or soft and hard. Ask, "How did you decide?"
5. Finish by sorting everything back into the basket.

Stay with your child while they play, follow their lead and let mistakes stand for a moment. Noticing that a blue sock landed in the red pile is part of the learning.

See play-based learning at New Horizons

New Horizons Country Day School, on Nebraska Avenue in Palm Harbor, offers preschool and Florida VPK. The school describes its aim as caring for the whole child through hands-on learning, individualized attention and a safe, caring environment.

You can learn about our preschool learning approach online, or call (727) 785-8591 to ask questions. The best way to understand play-based learning is to watch it happen, so you are welcome to see a classroom in person.