Playful Minds, Learning Brains

Incorporating play-based learning, first in my classroom and now at home, was a total game changer! Instantly, children were more engaged, stayed focused longer, and were eager to push through challenges.  Learning isn’t just worksheets and memorization.  It can be joyful, creative, and full of exploration. In this post, I’ll share simple and effective play-based ideas that spark curiosity, build  understanding, and help children fall in love with learning!

Why PLAY Matters ✨

Kids LOVE to play and play is important!  Why not try to incorporate some intentional play, or play-based learning, to mix it up!  Play-based learning gives children the opportunity to practice skills in an engaging and intentional way all while playing.  PLAY:

• Increases Engagement: When learning is enjoyable, children are more focused.

• Strengthens Recall: Hands-on learning helps children better understand.

• Supports Multiple Learning Styles: Play naturally reaches visual, auditory, and hands-on learners, allowing all children to thrive.

  
  

Strategies for Intentional PLAY 

You truly DO NOT need a lot to create intentional play.  Whether you are at home or on the go, the following ideas below offer easy ways to support curiosity, creativity, and skill development through intentional play.

1. Use Everyday Activities as Learning Opportunities 🛒

You are already doing enough! So guess what, daily routines offer natural learning opportunities. Cooking can support not only reading and following directions, but understanding of simple measurements, while grocery shopping can be used from early counting skills to spending money. Snacktime can be used as a great learning opportunity! Using foods such as goldfish, cheez-its, cheerios, or anything else that comes in a bag can promote thinking.  Have your child guess how many are in the bag and then count the collection to see how many! 

2. Encourage Creative Expression 🎨

“What do you notice?”  “What do you wonder?”  Asking children these two questions can spark conversation.  Providing them with opportunities to share ideas and explore their imagination will amaze you!  Activities such as drawing, painting, listening to music, water-play, and role-play all provide you that opportunity for intentional play (or play-based learning).  

• What do you notice provides children the opportunity to observe with their senses.  Give some time to think.  Using their senses, children will be able to tell you what they see, how it sounds, how it feels, and when applicable how it takes and smells.  

  • Have children begin to tell you from their own thoughts.  If they are having difficulty, offer prompts – “What do you see?” “How does it feel?”  “What if I did this?”

• What do you wonder offers children the chance to explore their thinking and share their thoughts about the WHY.  Young children, especially toddlers LOVE asking WHY.  This gives them the opportunity to!  

  • Give them time to come up with their questions to share with you.  If children are having difficulty, then use prompts – “I wonder why.” “What could this..?” “What if I..?”

    
    

MY Creativity MUST-HAVES you will always see in my 🏡

• Art: dot paint, paint sticks, scented markers, stickers, oversized paper, glue, scissors

• Music: nursery rhymes, songs with repetition, songs that offer movement, play-instruments

• Sensory: old tupperware to use for bins, bins with lids, water, bubbles, kinetic sand, crushed up food 

• Role-play: puppets, doctor kit, baby stroller, play-kitchen, dress-up clothes

• Household items to keep: empty paper towel rolls, boxes, pouch caps, newspaper or flyers, restaurant menus, empty egg cartons

  
  

3. Explore the Outdoors  🥾

Who doesn’t love the GREAT outdoors?!  Outside can offer endless opportunities for intentional play!  Go to parks, gardens, or nature trails and talk about what you see or hear. can lead to meaningful learning about science, nature, and the environment around them.  A great opportunity to use “what do you notice?” “what do you wonder?”.  Take pictures! Talk about those notices and wonderings when you get home!

Take nature back home.  This is a great opportunity to build “collections” or a set of objects!  Bring plastic bags, old tupperware bins, or anything that has a seal to collect objects (acorns, rocks, sticks).  Save these objects for easy, hands-on activities such as sorting, counting, story-telling.  

4. Incorporate Games into Learning 🎲

Game night!  Board games, card games, and even educational digital games can support a wide range of skills, including vocabulary and language development, problem-solving, as well as mathematical thinking and literacy skills.  Below is a list of some games I have used.

• Board Games: Puzzles, Bingo, Chutes & Ladders, Yahztee, Trouble, Guess Who, Don’t Wake Daddy, Lucky Ducks, Bannagrams, Scrabble, Battleship, Sorry

• Card Games: Go Fish!, War (called it Top-it for child-friendly version), Black Jack (called it 21 for child-friendly version), Uno, Phase 10, Pokeno

• Digital Games: Wii Sports, GoNoodle, ABCya, Prodigy, Epic

  
  

Try it out 🧩

Give one a try!

Steps to help plan everyday activities as learning opportunities WITHOUT overloading.

1. BE PROACTIVE! Think about your week. Are you going anywhere, if so where? 

2. THINK!! What kind of experience do you want your child to work on? 

   1. Identification, early counting, sorting, matching

3. PLAN!!! Start with ONE for the week to gain comfortability and engagement.

   1. EX: Grocery store, count apples and place in bag

4. BE FLEXIBLE!!!! Honestly probably the MOST important step.  Your child may not want to participate and THAT IS OKAY.  End and try again a different day 😁.

5. DON’T FORGET TO HAVE FUN 🙃

   
   

Remember to celebrate effort and progress—big or small.  Remember to have fun and let your child spark their curiosity!