Does playtime enhance classroom learning?
Hassie Walker
2025-07-24 00:38:48
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When children have more opportunities to move, create, and experiment, they actually learn better. Studies show that recess enhances attention, classroom behavior, and overall academic performance. Decades of research confirm that unstructured, imaginative play fuels cognitive, social, and emotional growth. Play is not a break from learning—it is learning. Every tower they build, every imaginary adventure they create strengthens neural pathways, enhancing their ability to think, move, and adapt. Play Powers the Brain and Body. Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child highlights how play enhances problem-solving, adaptability, and decision-making, all of which are crucial for academic success. Research also confirms that physical play builds fine and gross motor skills, which are critical for later academic success.
Jailyn King
2025-07-23 23:48:29
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Play provides endless opportunities for children to hear and explore the power of their voice, and practice using new and familiar sounds and words. Play stimulates cognitive development; it supports language development, enhances problem-solving skills and encourages creativity. Play enables children to practice, revisit and embed deeper learning through experimentation and repetition. Play facilitates natural curiosity, enabling children to make connections, understand what is seen, heard, and experienced in their world. Play fosters a love for learning, develops imagination, and helps children grasp concepts in a fun and engaging way. Children’s learning is optimal when they are engaged in self-chosen, self-directed and satisfying play.
Maximilian Mertz
2025-07-23 22:02:44
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Learning through play is powerful. We’ve seen the evidence that children thrive on play, developing lifelong skills and boosting their achievements in the classroom. It’s official: play belongs in school. Why children should play throughout the school day. Learning through play is already part of some primary school teaching.
Makenna Thiel
2025-07-23 21:42:22
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Play keeps children fit, too. A study by Nicola D Ridgers at Deakin University in Australia found that longer playtimes were associated with higher levels of physical activity. Research by Edward Fisher also found that play can enhance early development by anything from 33% to 67% by increasing adjustment, improving language skills and reducing social and emotional problems. This has positive implications for both educational development and everyday intellectual life. In 2012, a review of more than 40 studies highlighted the relationship between play and creative problem-solving, cooperation and logical thinking. But we must recognise that play is a learning process in itself. Play needs to be preserved in the school routine, so that children can appreciate it as part of the learning experience. Getting together outside of the classroom also enables young people to develop social skills. Children establish a sense of self through play which is particularly important at a time when “value” in primary education is increasingly being determined by test scores rather than personal development. A balance of work and letting off steam is necessary for a healthy educational environment.
Janie Bradtke
2025-07-23 21:11:35
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Learning is helped by experiences that are playful — that are joyful, meaningful, actively engaging, iterative, and socially interactive. When playful learning is embraced in schools, students are given opportunities to explore the unknown and to find wonder — to be curious and to find meaning in their learning. They can lead their own learning, make choices, and have ownership and empowerment. Students can find joy in their learning, and experience feelings of enjoyment and delight. Play should be used with a purpose and help with learning goals. The researchers suggest creating group norms for any comments such as “Be kind, be specific, and be helpful” to encourage a culture of feedback in the classroom. There’s a lot of learning that comes out of trying things, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes and moving forward. Pose questions that encourage curiosity and wonder. Engage the senses and the body. Design joyful learning experiences, introducing an element of surprise to investigate complex issues.
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