Planning for Guided Play: A Step-by-Step Guide
Margi Bhansali, Alli Bizon, and Erean Mei
Editors’ Note: As NAEYC’ s position statement on developmentally appropriate practice( DAP) explains,
Play is often viewed as being at odds with the demands of formal schooling, especially for children growing up in under-resourced communities. In fact, the highly didactic... curriculum found in many kindergarten [ s ]... is unlikely to be engaging or meaningful for children; it is also unlikely to build the broad knowledge and vocabulary needed for reading comprehension.... [ P ] layful learning, skillfully supported by early childhood educators, build [ s ] academic language, deepen [ s ] conceptual development, and support [ s ] reflective and intentional approaches to learning.( 2020, 10)
In an excerpt from Chapter 22 in NAEYC’ s recently published Focus on Developmentally Appropriate Practice: Equitable and Joyful Learning in Kindergarten, Margi Bhansali, Alli Bizon, and Erean Mei describe practical steps to incorporate guided and student-directed play into the kindergarten classroom.
“ So what do we know about the ocean?” I( Alli) ask my group of kindergartners from the West Side of Chicago. We are about to learn about marine life in the district-mandated literacy curriculum, and I want to gauge my students’ background knowledge.“ I dunno. I’ ve never been to the ocean... not even the lake,” Tyler says, referring to Lake Michigan, located just a few miles from our school. The other children nod in agreement. My school serves 95 percent low-income families, and this is not the first time the content we are studying has had little connection to the children’ s prior experiences and knowledge. It is clear to me at this moment that what my students need is to get a sense of the deep blue sea through hands-on exploration. What better way to do this than through play?
Kindergarten teachers must teach the curriculum and lessons the school has selected, as Alli in the opening vignette did with the marine life curriculum. However, we believe that all curriculum and lessons can be adapted to a play-based learning approach to help students develop their knowledge in a meaningful and joyful way through developmentally appropriate practices. Here we share steps you can take to adapt a lesson to a more play-based learning approach.
1. Analyze the Standard and Assessment Practices Associated with the Lesson
Before beginning a lesson, think about what students are being asked to learn. Identify the overall standard. If there are formal or informal assessment practices associated with the lesson or standard, think about the key objectives and takeaways. Are they procedural or conceptual? To identify procedural knowledge, think about the skills students need to complete a task. What must students be able to do? How will they show you the skill? Conceptual refers to the factual knowledge and comprehension of the ideas necessary to complete a skill. What must the students know and why?
Here is an example of what analyzing the lesson standard and assessment looks like, using the marine life lesson introduced in the opening vignette. We’ ll begin by identifying both the standard, drawn from the Common Core State Standards( CCSS) in English language arts( ELA) and the suggested formal assessment associated with this lesson.
24 Young Children
Summer 2025