Written by Jennifer Mehlberg

A visitor walks into a preschool classroom one morning and sees several children playing in the block area. They’re working together on a large structure resembling a zoo. They’ve used a variety of blocks and other building materials to construct individual pens for different animals and several buildings, some of which have roofs on top. A path of milk bottle caps weaves between the pens. The children’s hands and bodies are busy, and they converse with each other as they organize, direct, modify, and extend their play plan.

In another area of the classroom, the visitor notices a teacher working with a group of children near a kitchen set and dramatic play area. As she gets closer, she hears a child ask the teacher for her “order.” The teacher asks what the specials of the day are and chooses one. The child writes down this order on a notepad and hands it off to another child who’s dressed in a chef hat and apron. He quickly works to gather and prepare the food. A third child promptly brings out several plates heaped with an eclectic mixture of colorful plastic food.

After taking in these play scenes, the visitor says to the teacher, “How cute! It must be so much fun to be an early childhood teacher.”

The teacher smiles and nods. It may be cute, and she certainly is having a good time. But there’s so much more going on than what might be obvious at first glance.

Let’s focus more closely on the preschoolers constructing their zoo. They first had to plan out what they were going to work on collectively. They visualized what they wanted to create and then verbalized their intentions to their peers. They demonstrated communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills as their play plan began to take form. The children then had many mathematical decisions to make. They asked themselves, “How many blocks do I need for the zebra pen? How do I get the blocks to fit on top of these walls to form a roof? How tall should I make the fence around the giraffes so they don’t escape?” Authentic math experiences abound in an active early childhood environment. These deep, critical building blocks of academic learning are internalized by children in the activity that is most meaningful to them—their own play scenarios.

Zooming in on the children playing restaurant, we see high-level play and learning as well. With the help of their teacher, each child coordinated their plans and assumed a role necessary for a restaurant to run smoothly. Taking on a role and following the “rules” assigned to that role is an important part of a child’s mature play. They’re developing their brain’s executive functions. The child who played the role of waitress recalled phrases she heard a waitress use when she was out to eat with her family. She knew to grab a pencil and a pad of paper to write the meals her customers ordered. Similarly, the chef listened intently while the waitress handed him the slip of paper and nodded as she read him the food to prepare. He busied himself by turning knobs, stirring pots, and plating the food. As the children explored the roles they were playing, they developed many skills related to the areas of speaking, listening, writing, and social problem-solving.

Throughout these intricate dramatic play scenarios, the children’s teachers intentionally supported and extended their role-playing. The teachers structured the environment to allow children to take initiative, make choices, manipulate materials, and share their thoughts. And they deepened the children’s learning through intentional interactions tailored to each child’s needs.

Children learn best through play. When asked to sit and listen to information passively, their understanding of the subject is much shallower than when they’re actively participating in their learning experience.

As the visitor said, early childhood education can indeed be cute and fun. But, much more important, children’s play provides the most effective platform to foster physical, cognitive, language, social, and emotional development. High-quality early childhood educators understand this and create an environment that fosters high-level play throughout the day.

Jennifer Mehlberg (’07) serves as a professor of education at Martin Luther College.

Re-printed from Martin Luther College’s InFocus magazine.