Importance of Play in Childcare

Kindergarten and play have been equivalent since the beginning of Kindergarten. Play in Kindergarten has been happening well over a century ago. We know fast forward to the current century and philosophical battles are happening today. The question is, is there to much play in kindergarten or not enough play. Today’s teachers are feeling the pressures from their principles and state boards that they need to focus on academic goals. And because the academic goals are so much and it takes time to teach the students, that they are unable to let the children have as much playtime as in the past. There are several benefits to play based Kindergarten, these benefits include the enhancement of cognitive learning, social and emotional regulation with the help of social interactions and a sense of self-worth. Some major benefits of play are helping with fine and gross motor skills, health and the quality of life for the young children. “Consequently, play should be viewed as a valuable classroom activity that enables children to develop a wide variety of social and academic skills.” (Copple and Bredekamp, 2009)

The year of 2001, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was created to make public schools more accountable for the American education system. The act was aimed at improving learning opportunities for all children from the grade of Kindergarten to the 12 grades. The pressures of this act has young children sitting at their desks and working on worksheets instead of playing. Young children are forced to take test and be able to pass the state mandated test to be able to advance into the first grade.  The emphasis of playtime disappearing, and more class work started to appear in the 1980 and continues today. This is called pushdown curriculum. Pushdown practices are traditionally not encountered by children until first grade or later in the students’ academic years. This involves long periods of whole class instruction, written instruction out of workbook work and teachers giving out letter grads to the students.  Several teachers have stressed that children are

being hurried into functioning in ways that do not match their natural modes of learning. Since this pressure to meet the academic standards, will not go away.  It is important to incorporate play and learning together.  The kindergarten classroom should be a playful room with the focus on learning. Teachers will engage in guided learning with rich and exper