Play & Learning
Play is essential for learning, and this page provides a wealth of resources, including videos, research articles, and practical guides, demonstrating how play supports cognitive, social, and emotional development across various age groups.
- Play Is The Way – A video from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction demonstrating that play is key to early learning.
American Academy of Pediatrics is a U.S. organization of pediatricians dedicated to children’s health through advocacy, education, and research.
- The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds – Play is crucial for children’s development, but it’s declining. This report outlines factors reducing play and offers guidelines for pediatricians to advocate for its protection.
- The Power of Play: A Pediatric Role in Enhancing Development in Young Children – Comprehensive article on play and brain development.
How Play Connects to Learning – A collection of articles and resources from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) on how to intentionally connect play and learning, ideas to share with families, and the latest research about learning and play.
Importance of Play in Early Childhood – The resource from Head Start highlights how play supports development across various domains, including building relationships and social skills, understanding concepts, problem-solving, language development, and physical movement.
Zero to Three offers videos and articles describing how and what children learn through play.
- The Power of Play – A brochure exploring how play supports all areas of children’s development. Includes age-based suggestions for playtime from birth to 3.
- Buzzwords Explained: Play-Based Learning – Explores how caregivers and professionals can encourage and promote play-based learning.
- Let’s Play: How Your Child Learns and Grows Through Play From Birth to Three
- A Year of Play – A list of seasonal play activities that promote children’s development all year.
LEGO Foundation – Promotes the power of play for learning and development and emphasizes the importance of integrating play into various environments, including homes, classrooms, and digital spaces. Offers resources and activities designed to promote playful learning for children of all ages.
- Let’s Play – Offers games using everyday items.
- Learning through play: what the science says – Explore research papers on the science of brain development and play-based learning.
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University – A hub for research, articles, videos, and other resources on early childhood development, with a strong focus on the science of brain development.
- Play in Early Childhood: The Role of Play in Any Setting – A video on how play can foster children’s resilience to hardship, and how the complex interactions involved when children play help build their brains.
- Brain-Building Activities for Infants, Toddlers, and Children – A series of handouts with suggestions for games and play-based activities based on a child’s age.
Project Zero’s Pedagogy of Play (PoP) Project – Funded by the LEGO Foundation, it explores how to cultivate school cultures that value and support learning through play. The site includes resources for educators and teacher educators, including articles, guides, and a course for pre-service teachers. A Pedagogy of Play Book
Play Video Library for Wisconsin Readiness Equity Network (WREN) – WREN is a collaboration of the four largest urban school districts in Wisconsin, DPI, and UW-Madison. The Play Library is a collection of over 100 videos, created in partnership with the WREN districts, demonstrating play-based teaching in 4K & 5K classrooms. The videos are coded for their play type, play context, play content, and instructional support. New users must complete this Google form to request access to the Play Library. All requests will be reviewed once a week. WREN is a collaboration of the four largest urban school districts in Wisconsin, DPI, and UW-Madison.
What I Learn When I Play – A handout from Child Action, Inc. that highlights what children learn while participating in various play activities.
How Play Promotes Cognitive Development – A tip sheet from the Center for Inclusive Child Care on play and cognitive development.
What is Play-Based Learning in Kindergarten? – A fact sheet from Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Northeast & Islands explaining how academic and social-emotional skills can be cultivated through play, offering examples for parents and caregivers.
Kindergarten Play-based Learning Teachers and Administrators? – A fact sheet that describes play-based learning, its developmental benefits, the role of the teacher in supporting play-based learning in the classroom, and ideas for appropriate materials, room arrangement, and questioning. It also includes Frequently Asked Questions for parents and caregivers. Although focused on kindergarten, the suggestions and guidance offered by this fact sheet are applicable from pre-K to Grade 2 and Beyond.
Play Learning Lab – Provides research, publications, printable resources, and examples of play-based activities, demonstrating different points along the play continuum.
The Power of Play – Research on the importance of play from Hechinger Report.
For Young Kids, The Power of Play-Based Learning – This Edutopia article highlights how guided play effectively enhances learning in young children, emphasizing freedom, choice, and teacher facilitation.
Make the Most of Playtime with Infants & Toddlers – This article from The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning describes the development of play skills and offers ideas on how to play with your child to support the development of social, language, and thinking skills.
Benefits of Play – Resources from the Alliance for Childhood emphasizing play’s importance for children’s cognitive, social, and physical development, including information on its decline and how to restore it.
Can guidance during play enhance children’s learning and development in educational contexts? – A systematic review and meta-analysis published in Child Development considered evidence of guided play compared to direct instruction or free play to support children’s learning and development. The review found that guided play had a greater positive effect than direct instruction on early maths skills, shape knowledge, and task switching. It also had a greater effect than free play on spatial vocabulary.
Updated 4/07/2025