PsychCrunch Ep 24: How Children Learn Through Play
13 snips
Apr 13, 2021 
Suzanne Egan, a University of Limerick lecturer who studied how COVID changed children's play. Marilyn Fleer, a Monash Laureate Professor who developed the Conceptual PlayWorld model for curriculum-rich imaginative play. They discuss imaginative play as a route to abstract thinking, using PlayWorlds to link curriculum and everyday life, pandemic-shaped play themes, and practical ways families and schools support learning through play.
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Play Builds Abstract Conceptual Thought
- Play develops children's capacity to imagine abstract concepts and work with them mentally.
- Marilyn Fleer explains a stick becoming a ruler leads children to engage in measurement and mathematical ideas through imaginative play.
Use Conceptual PlayWorlds To Teach Curriculum Ideas
- Use the Conceptual PlayWorld model to align curriculum concepts with imaginative story-based play.
- Marilyn Fleer describes five steps: pick an engaging story, design the imaginary situation, define entry/exit rituals, introduce a solvable problem, and assign adult/child roles.
Purposeful Play Deepens Domain Learning
- Integrating curriculum topics into play gives children a purpose to investigate and deepens learning.
- Fleer notes children will research mapping, GPS and symbols to help a character in a play story, linking big-picture to small details.
