The Power of Play-Based Learning

Ask a young child what they did at nursery and they will almost certainly say “I played.” Ask a skilled early years practitioner what those same children were doing and they will describe the same session in terms of language development, mathematical thinking, social negotiation and physical challenge. Both are correct. Play is how young children make sense of the world, and the EYFS statutory framework is built on this understanding.

The idea that play and learning are separate (that children should finish playing and then start learning) is not supported by developmental science and does not reflect how children actually develop. In the early years, play is not a break from learning; it is the mechanism through which learning happens. Settings that sacrifice child-initiated play to increase adult-directed instruction for young children typically produce worse outcomes, not better ones.

What Neuroscience Tells Us

Brain imaging research over the past two decades has transformed our understanding of early childhood development. The first five years of life represent a period of extraordinary neural plasticity – more new synaptic connections are formed in this period than at any other point in human development. Play, particularly imaginative and social play, is one of the primary drivers of this neural growth. It stimulates the prefrontal cortex, builds executive function and develops the neural architecture that underpins language, self-regulation and problem-solving.

Adversely, children who are deprived of adequate play (particularly free, unstructured play) show measurable differences in brain development and in the development of executive function skills. Executive function, which includes working memory, flexible thinking and inhibitory control, is one of the strongest predictors of educational attainment and adult life outcomes. Play is not a luxury in early childhood; it is a developmental necessity.

Types of Play and What They Develop

Not all play looks the same or serves the same developmental purpose. Researchers have identified several types, each supporting different domains of development:

• Exploratory play: touching, tasting, investigating materials and objects – develops scientific thinking, sensory awareness and early mathematical concepts such as weight, volume and texture
• Constructive play: building with blocks, junk modelling, stacking – develops spatial reasoning, planning, fine motor skills and understanding of cause and effect
• Symbolic and role play: dressing up, home corner, small-world play – develops language, narrative understanding, empathy, perspective-taking and emotional processing
• Physical play: running, climbing, balancing, rough-and-tumble – develops gross motor coordination, risk assessment, emotional regulation and resilience
• Games with rules: board games, playground games, card games – develops turn-taking, strategic thinking, accepting disappointment and understanding social conventions

High-quality settings provide opportunities for all these types of play, both indoors and outdoors, throughout the day. The mix of provision is planned thoughtfully, with practitioners observing what interests children and introducing new materials and provocations to extend their thinking.

Child-Initiated and Adult-Led Activity

The EYFS requires a balance between child-initiated and adult-led activity. This does not mean an equal split in time; for the youngest children, the proportion of child-initiated play should be higher. What matters is that both are present and purposeful. Adult-led activities (group phonics sessions, a maths game, a cooking activity) are most effective when they are brief, well-paced and connected to children’s existing interests. Child-initiated play is where children consolidate, extend and practise what they have encountered in adult-led time.

The practitioner’s role during child-initiated play is not passive. Skilled practitioners observe carefully, identify when to intervene and when to step back, use open questions to deepen thinking and introduce new vocabulary in context. This sensitive, responsive involvement (sometimes called “sustained shared thinking”) is one of the strongest predictors of positive early years outcomes identified in the landmark EPPE research study.

The Role of Risk and Challenge

British childcare has developed, over the past two decades, an overly cautious attitude to risk in play – one that developmental researchers, Ofsted and the Health and Safety Executive have all criticised. Children need manageable risk and challenge in their play: the wobble of a climbing frame, the possibility of a scraped knee, the experience of navigating a disagreement with a peer. These experiences build the neural pathways associated with risk assessment, resilience and emotional regulation.

The EYFS explicitly requires settings to provide both indoor and outdoor play, and the outdoor environment should offer genuine challenge. Forest School approaches, loose parts play and adventure playgrounds all reflect the evidence base for risk-positive play. Parents can support this by resisting the urge to intervene too quickly when children encounter difficulty, frustration or minor physical risk.

Screen Time and Play

Screen-based activity is not equivalent to play in the developmental sense. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health both recommend avoiding screen use for children under 18 months (other than video calls), limiting it to one hour per day for children aged 2–5 and ensuring that older children’s screen time does not displace physical activity, sleep or face-to-face interaction. The concern is not that screens are inherently harmful but that excessive screen time crowds out the types of active, social, embodied play that drive development.

Settings registered under the EYFS must demonstrate that their provision is not dominated by screen-based activity and that children have plentiful opportunities for creative, physical and social play. Parents should be wary of any early years setting that uses screens as a primary activity or a behaviour management tool for young children.

Extending Play-Based Learning at Home

You do not need expensive toys to support play-based learning at home. A cardboard box, natural objects gathered on a walk, a bowl of water with containers, a roll of masking tape on the floor – these offer more open-ended learning potential than most commercially packaged toys. The key is to provide materials that invite exploration and creativity rather than prescribe a particular outcome.

Follow your child’s lead, join their play on their terms, show genuine curiosity in what they create and resist the impulse to direct or correct. The shared moments of attention and delight that happen when an adult genuinely engages with a child’s play (not to teach, but to wonder alongside them) are where some of the most powerful learning happens.