Children Learn Best in Meaningful Contexts
We hope that you have begun 2019 by playing and laughing with your children! If you have, we know that you already have a head start in understanding Kathy Hirsh-Pasek’s
Learning Principle #4: Children Learn Best in Meaningful Contexts. In other words, children learn best when they are
playing in natural environments, whether at home, at school, or at the neighborhood playground.
Studies have shown that children learn richer vocabulary in playful learning than they do in direct instruction methods that are not meaningful. An example of playful learning would be interacting with a child while he is eating his favorite snack or playing "baker" in the kitchen area as your child pretends to bake a birthday cake. An example of direct instruction would be using flashcards to learn letters or sight words or completing an activity sheet that the teacher or parent has chosen to do.
Two studies determined that four year olds learned shapes, colors, and spatial terms much better by playing with blocks than by other direct instruction methods (Fisher, Hirsh-Pasek, Newcomb and Golinkoff, 2011, 2013). Telling a child to "put the
yellow block
under the
green block” or “put the
triangle
next to the
circle” is more meaningful if you are saying it while sitting on the floor playing with the blocks together. Try adding a little more fun by turning the directions into a song or rhyme. Sue Palmer, writer and broadcaster says, “What adults can add to that [playful learning] are the things that human brains crave in the early years: songs, music, stories…lots of them.”
For more information from experts on the importance of play in language development, please watch the video below.
