Beyond Free Play in Kindergarten

Some people might ask, "Is play the ONLY thing Kindergarten children do all day long?". It is a loaded question and one that requires the complexity of play to be unpacked. 

A previous blog attempts to explore what play involves. Many interpretations are based on the idea that it is child-initiated so choice, motivation and self-direction are all key ingredients. Some refer to this type of play as free play, and then go on to categorise other types of play. The danger of this is that some adult-led "activities" are then classified as some form of play, and then anything and everything could be placed along a continuum or mind-map of play. 

Children in my Kindergarten class have opportunities to play indoors and outdoors each day - two to three hours every day to make their own choices in their play (not simply select from options I present). 

What do Kindergarten children do for the rest of the time?

They are playful. They are engaged in thinking and the process of learning. They are exploring rich, open-ended tasks that are full of possibilities. Some might refer to such opportunities as "low floor-high ceiling" that allow all children access to the learning, without placing limits on how deep the learning might reach. These engagements are adult-initiated, and might be referred to as invitations or provocations. These investigations often take on an inquiry stance in an attempt to arouse intrigue, wonder and curiosity in the children. These learning experiences are very intentional in targeting specific understandings, skills, strategies and/or knowledge. Some of these are structured routines. Some people might argue that such learning is "guided play". 

We have been in school for nine days in 2022. Here are some examples of playful learning from this time:

Patterns

We walked around the neighbourhood to look for patterns on structures. Children started to notice different patterns on car wheels and back in class, Kindergarten students were asked to create their own designs using pattern blocks to extend children's beyond linear patterns. 

Morning Routine

As part of the morning routine, children are given a number as the answer to an equation and they have to think of different ways to make the number. In nine days, the process has already explored multiple addends, the use of zero, mixed operations, subtracting large consecutive numbers to have 1 as part of the question, and the use of brackets. 

Morning Message

The morning message is a wonderful opportunity to provoke children's thinking, build further connections and think back to children's wonderings and theories that have been documented. These sometimes link to events in the children's lives, units of inquiry or experiences from their play. 

Read Alouds

Each day, we read aloud to Kindergarten. We focus on different reading strategies. Right now, our focus is on visualising. The children close their eyes as they listen to a story and then describe the images they have created in their minds, explaining the words that helped paint these pictures. 

Phonemic Awareness 

We are helping children make connections between letters and sounds. One routine we have is for children to draw pictures of words with a given sound. Open-ended tasks like this encourage children to be playful with sounds, make connections and develop vocabulary, as well as discriminate between similar sounds and letters. 

Unit of Inquiry

We have intentionally crafted conceptual units of inquiry that link authentically with many disciplines so that children can explore big ideas using a range of contexts. Our current unit of inquiry is based on the design of structures. Concepts offer complexity and possibility. Kindergarten have been fascinated with viewing towers and bridges and designing their own dens, marble chutes, castles and models of the Corona virus. This week, we have been looking at structures from the children's home countries that parents have sent in and identifying similarities and differences between the structures. These discussions have included design, materials, purpose, location, size and age. 

Reflection

Each day, we engage in reflection. We have documented children's thinking through quotes, observations and photographs. This month, we have looked back at photographs of the structures we have seen on field trips and local walks as well as the structures the children have designed. We have considered the question: 'What choices were made when this structure was designed?" 

Important to note is that playful learning from more adult-initiated experiences often inspires, provokes or nourishes children’s choices in their free play. They often trigger curiosity that children choose to pursue further or open new windows of opportunity with resources or possibilities that children may not have previously considered. 

Reflection Questions:

How do you name and describe different types of play?

How do you balance play with other ways of learning?

What is it you're still figuring out?