have two choices. They can hit or push Johnny, or the adult can be brilliant and say,“ Count to 15, and then you get the swing and then Johnny gets it again after the next 15.” That’ s how we learn these skills. Games like Simon Says or Red Light, Green Light teach what we call executive function skills. They help children build attention and memory and flexibility, which is so important, and to learn how to have impulse control.( See the Summer 2024 Young Children cluster Self- Regulation and Executive Function: Responsive and Informed Practices for Early Childhood.) And it turns out that these are some of the best predictors of how a child will learn when they enter formal schooling.
Michelle: Such a great example! As you know, NAEYC defines developmentally appropriate practice as“ methods that promote each child’ s optimal development and learning through a strengths-based, play-based approach.” How does this focus on learning through play support a child’ s development, and what does this look like in early learning settings? Can you give some examples?
Kathy: Let me start with the biggest issue, and that is, as adults, sometimes we lose that childhood ability to see what’ s really going on right before our eyes. For example, your child likes to go out and gather leaves. You’ re worried you’ ll be late for school if they spend time gathering leaves. So put the clothes out the night before, and go out 10 minutes early. Let them gather the leaves. They’ re doing a math experiment. They’ re learning about the patterns of different kinds of leaves. And then sometimes they sort the patterns, and they sort those leaves into leaves from a spruce tree and leaves from a birch tree. That categorization, creating sets of objects, is preparing them for learning about sets and numbers. They are learning math.
If you really want to know how much math a child knows, go with a 3-year-old and their 7-year-old sibling to an ice cream shop. If the older child gets two scoops of ice cream and the younger child gets one, I assure you, the 3-year-old will let you know they know about addition, subtraction, and math.
Michelle: So when we say children learn best through play, what do you think is most misunderstood about that phrase?
Kathy: I believe people think of play as frivolity. They do not think of play as the way human brains learn. We can help people see that’ s a human brain at work.
Let me give you an example from Colombia that was so powerful. I went to visit a school there. It was in somebody’ s house, and there were chickens outside, and there were ladies picking bananas. The school was inside, with one amazing teacher.
As adults, sometimes we lose that childhood ability to see what’ s really going on right before our eyes.
And she wanted the children, who were around 4 or 5 years old, to learn about numbers. I said,“ Do you have a piece of paper?” She said,“ Oh, no. Our school doesn’ t have paper.” She gave me chalk, and I drew a number line from 1 to 10 on the ground, which was hardened mud. I drew 10 little boxes, and then I stopped. I stood up and watched to see what the children would do. They went into the number line and started to jump. The first one said,“ I jumped farther than you did.” Well, how would you know? Only if you know that two is greater than one.
Then a group of children went out and started collecting rocks and leaves, and they put four leaves in the“ four” box and five rocks in the“ five” box, and I thought,“ Look at the number skills these children have!” The teacher’ s job was to highlight it and say,“ Look what you did!”
8 Young Children
Fall 2026