Learning through play

The National Educational Policy 2020 states that 'learning in the preparatory class shall be based primarily on play-based learning with a focus on developing cognitive, affective, and psychomotor abilities and early literacy and numeracy.'

Early childhood is a period characterised by crucial brain and personality development. Often, this is taken to mean early literacy and numeracy. But, as studies have shown us, the early years are a period for cognitive development too. And cognitive development is best enhanced by playing.

There was a time when people felt that the ‘play and learn’ model is frivolous and cannot add value to learning. However, it has been observed that exposure to play-based early literacy system results in considerable improvement in literacy outcomes, children became more confident and interested in learning, and they begin to develop skills like alphabet knowledge, word decoding, spelling, and even digital knowledge.

Teaching children via play-based activities serve to strengthen their retention because of active engagement, leading to a better learning experience. The five kinds of play include: Sorting and classifying, sequencing, puzzles and memory games, role-playing and free play.

Play-based learning is especially useful in:

Task persistence: It is known that children who persist more at a certain activity accomplish more. Children's active participation is also because many learning games focus on positive reinforcement that rewards effort and perseverance — the child might have to play multiple times to get it right and be rewarded or to move to the next level. This creates a perfect non-threatening environment, allowing children to fail 'safely' without fear of repercussions.

Emotional health: The interactive instructions of the play-based learning method, along with the physical aspects involved, help raise a child's critical thinking skills, reasoning power and hand-eye coordination, alongside developing their fine and gross motor skills. Initial success with these skills not only improves children's confidence and self-esteem but their emotional health too.

Sensory involvement: Play-based learning is a great alternative to passive digital learning. Instead of simply staring at a screen, children introduced to learning games can actively engage with the content and game, thereby increasing their interest.

Performance: A study showed that low-performing learners who participated in a thinking skills intervention delivered via guided discovery activities and play-based integrated pedagogy improved thinking skills, mathematics, reading comprehension and fluency at the end of the intervention.

(The author is an educationist)