Play Advocates – Talking about the importance of play!

We love to talk about Play and show the world how important it is for everyone to allow their children unstructured and free play.

Edx Education has been designing and producing innovative educational products and materials for more than 25 years, and are passionate about the ‘learning through play’ movement.

This has long been recognized as a highly successful method of teaching in early years education both in the classroom and at home: it is fun and engaging, also a tactile and visual form of learning which aids concentration, helps develop fine motor skills and supports early mathematical understanding, such as counting and sorting techniques.

However we have been going behind the scenes and chatting with Play Advocates from around the world to share their research and advice on why Play based Learning is important for children.

So excited to share ‘Learning Through Play Series – 1;

Jessica Stanford, IG: @teachersfollowteachers

Emma Meyer, IG: @play_at_home_mummy

Lucy Baker, IG: @findthelittlemind

Claire Giblin; IG: @thegiblins

Erin Shumacher, IG: @racing_to_play

 

Jessica Stanford – As a primary educator and mother of two, I can’t stress enough how important play is because as we all know, play is learning and in the early years, you can’t get enough.

Emma Meyer – Here at our house, it’s really important to have a healthy, balanced diet, prepared, playful environment and to follow the lead of our children through interspace and childhood play.

Lucy Baker – As a mom of two, I am very passionate about play-based learning because I’ve seen how my own kids have benefited from it. They approach new situations with more confidence. They enjoy the collaborative play. They show a desire to learn more through exploration and questioning. But most importantly, they genuinely love to learn. So for me, those are key qualities for future success, not only in education but also in life in general.

Claire Giblins – Play naturally provides so many opportunities for children to learn and to practice life skills and to build their brains and their bodies and their characters, the very best learning happens through unstructured and uninterrupted play when children are given the time and the autonomy.

Erin Shumacher – Play is fundamental to child development as artist brain, they crave it, it’s wired into the brain, how it works and how it thrives. We as parents and educators need to take a step back, take on the role of observer and trust our children to take the lead role in their own educational journeys.

They engage and learn through play. Having this freedom to learn through play allows children to take responsibility for what they choose to learn and allows us to truly see what inspires that play and how the individual learning starts to develop.

Posted by Heather Welch, International Brand Manager, Edx Education