Best Practice

Keeping play alive in the classroom: Six approaches

Teaching and Learning
Play-based learning is often pushed out of the primary school classroom as children get older. But it has a role and can have impact. Emmanuel Awoyelu offers some ideas
Image: Adobe Stock

“We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.”
Psychologist Charles Schaefer

 

One of the saddest sights to see as an educator is how play has lost its importance within our teaching and learning. When we think about our truly happiest moments, it is likely when we were engaged in some form of play.

Whether we are outdoors with the children in the garden or playing a competitive sport with friends, these are the times we learn the most about ourselves, the people around us, and the complexities of the world.

More importantly, perhaps, it is the element of fun that helps us to re-engage with either our work or our day-to-day activities.

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