Play isn’t just fun — it’s the foundation of how children learn best. From building towers with blocks to inventing stories in the garden, every playful moment can spark creativity, problem-solving, and confidence. In this crash course, we’ll explore how to turn everyday play into powerful learning — showing you simple, practical ways to guide your child’s curiosity, nurture their skills, and make learning feel natural, joyful, and deeply rewarding.
With the rise of ‘unschooling’ – meaning zero schooling for an increasing number of parents – its a good time to define exactly what learning through play means and what it doesn’t or shouldn’t mean.
First what is play and what is the difference between an activity chosen by a child and that chosen by an adult if they are both ‘fun’?
Play is any activity done for the sheer enjoyment of it. The reason the activity is chosen is intrinsic motivation. In other words it is what the child or adult wants to do because they have decided it from within themselves.
Let’s focus in on children’s play.
Most children will engage in some form of play throughout their day, this might look like the obvious things such as colouring, teddies, building blocks and games; to the not so obvious like pulling pots out of cupboards or dropping eggs from the fridge to see what happens – have you remembered to move them up higher as your little one grows?!
When left to their own devices a child’s play is usually unstructured particularly under the age of around 4 and then slowly as they mature it gets more thought out and structured.
This type of play is hugely important for a child’s development, it is how they learn to socialise (yes, playing on their own does help them socialise, but I will cover that in a different post) problem solve, learn cause and effect and also helps them develop their interests and get into the habit of exploring and learning by doing.
This type of play should not be interrupted unless necessary (like saving the eggs!).
Lately there has been a lot of advocacy for more outdoor play for children of all ages, which I do agree with, however we also need to understand that whilst more outdoor play has massive benefits, academic learning, like reading and writing will not just happen by itself.
This is where us adults need to start using the power of play and combining it with academic skills so that children can learn in the way that they enjoy the most.
Using play in learning to read and write:
Most children (particularly in the UK) start school the same year that they turn 5.
The average class size has 25 – 30 students, with one or two adults.
It is very difficult to give every child the attention they deserve.
There are also differing ages as children in the same class can vary in age by several months.
This means that the approach to learning to read and write is based on standards and there is little room for flexible or different approaches to learning.
If you are homeschooling, you have the advantage of creating different games and trying lots of different methods of introducing words.
Here are some ideas (please comment below if you have some more)
Scrabble tiles (or similar: a lot of fun for children as it allows them to physically hold the letters and make their own words
A4 Card: Write one word or letter per card and let your child build their own words and sentences. Because the cards are large they will need to move around using floor space as well, it makes it really fun and engaging for them.
Car licence plates: ‘How many letter A can we find today’ when you are out and about, you can do the same with words on signs
Outdoor Chalk: In the garden or the park, tell each other stories and write down words and pictures on the floor
Matching: Match up words and pictures, you can make this game yourself using card and markers or these are available to buy.
As long as it feels like a fun game for your child, they will be willing to play and will learn lots. You can add in some child led learning principles here, for example, if they get tired after forming a couple of sentences, that’s absolutely fine. Let them stop and come back to it another time.
The more it feels like their choice, the more often they will play and the faster they will learn.
Using play in Maths:
Whilst I would recommend spending more time on reading first, its a good idea to also introduce maths and number concepts regularly.
This can be done using similar games and objects for learning to count and understanding the concepts of adding and subtracting.
Its amazing how much maths can be learnt by involving your child/children in your everyday tasks, like counting out fruit for a fruit salad, counting spoons needed for the dining table etc.
Workbooks: Some children absolutely love workbooks (its so cute watching them do these as well!) until they learn to read however, they will need you to help them work through the questions, which is a great way to bond and giggle during their learning time.
At what age does learning through play change?
The activities above work great for children up to the age of around 5 or 6.
The key is to keep an open mind towards your child’s education, in other words don’t confine education to being sat at a desk reading a textbook (in fact that’s one of the worst ways to learn when its all of the time).
So what happens after age 6?
By this point children are usually much more independent and are ready to keep exploring concepts more through problem solving.
After the age of 6 is a great time to start introducing STEM kits, Robotics activities and project based learning.
I will be diving into these concepts in part 2 of this crash course.