Play! Listen! Talk!

The idea of “if you can play, you can teach” almost sounds too simple to be true. Can we really make a difference in children’s lives by playing with them? Don’t you have to be an early childhood expert, or a really dramatic storyteller to teach kids the Bible? Don’t you need to have some special training? Or be a preschool teacher?

Well, research tells us no. The biggest emphasis in research these days is the value of play in children’s learning. So, if you can play—you CAN teach. One article I read said that play is a “power boost” for early learning. Another article stated that: “Young children must move to learn.”

The big picture is that the early years are a window for development—more learning is happening in these years than in any other span of years. And it happens when children are involved and active—when they are playing. That’s why it’s often been said, “Play is the child’s work.”

In the class I’ve taught this year, here’s how we make it happen. First of all, we prepare. Each teacher prepares one of the activities in the curriculum (art and games are usually our kids’ favorites). Plus, we usually have blocks and dramatic play available. The kids move between the activities, and the teachers play and talk with them. (Yes, we resist the temptation to be talking to each other or to other people who pass by our classroom.) But more than just playing, we are connecting the child’s activity to the lesson’s Bible story or verse. We use the comments and questions right in the curriculum.

I sometimes fall in the trap of thinking that the time when children learn the most is when I’m telling the Bible story. But in reality children are learning during the entire session. From the time they walk through the door to the time they leave, they are learning. What an opportunity!