This piece, which is an excerpt from Chapter 5 in Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth Through Age 8, Fourth Edition (NAEYC 2022), suggests that defining play on a spectrum (Zosh et al. Newer research, however, allows us to reframe the debate as learning via play-as playful learning. And, in part, it is motivated by older perceptions of play and learning.
In part, the persistent belief that learning must be rigid and teacher directed-the opposite of play-is motivated by the lack of a clear definition of what constitutes playful learning (Zosh et al. Play versus learning represents a false dichotomy in education (e.g., Hirsh-Pasek & Golinkoff 2008).
