within 20”( Tennessee State Board of Education 2021, 3).
One of the children, Angelo, races over to the board. Last year, Angelo struggled with math and was often overwhelmed by the worksheets he had to complete. Now, though, he happily plays with the other children as they take turns rolling the dice and adding to 20.
Angelo rolls a 5 and a 4.“ Five,” he says, placing his finger on the 5 die. He then uses a counting-on strategy to arrive at the sum.“ 6, 7, 8, 9. The answer is 9!”
“ You also know the double strategy,” Mr. Ridgley reminds him.
“ Oh yeah,” Angelo says.“ I know 4 plus 4 is 8, and one more makes 9. I learned that in kindergarten.” Mr. Ridgley then asks,“ Could 5 plus 5 help you solve 5 plus 4?”
Research continues to show that play and academic instruction should work together( NASEM 2024; Guernsey 2026). Educators across the early childhood age band are tasked with promoting children’ s development and learning by providing playful experiences, materials, and interactions. In the primary grades, this includes hands-on, play-based learning opportunities that extend the ideas and concepts introduced during teacher-directed instruction( Masterson 2022).
Play allows children to practice new skills as educators observe and gently scaffold their learning( NAEYC 2020; Skene et al. 2022). This is particularly true when the play is guided: Educators prepare playful learning environments with specific instructional goals or learning objectives in mind. They then give children the agency to engage in and guide their play, providing open-ended questions and prompts as needed( Toub et al. 2016; Weisberg et al. 2016; Pyle et al. 2017; Zosh et al. 2022).
Guided play is developmentally appropriate for all children, birth to age 8( NAEYC 2020). Yet elementary schools offer limited time for play of any kind. Learning activities in grades 1 – 3 tend to include mostly whole group and teacher-directed instruction, with little time allocated for childdirected centers( Justice et al. 2022; Christopher & Nesbitt 2023). Recess— a key time for play— has been limited in some schools to just 20 to 30 minutes daily( Thompson & London 2023; Tsai et al. 2024). And many states and school districts have adopted prescribed curricula that may seem to limit educators’ agency in planning lessons, including their use of playful experiences to foster learning across content areas( Narayanan et al. 2024).
We( the authors) are educators who have worked in early childhood and primary settings for 30 years as classroom teachers, mentor teachers, and faculty to preservice educators. We work in a state( Tennessee) that has adopted standards-aligned materials, and we understand the challenges of providing meaningful opportunities for primarygrade children to engage in play and playful learning. Like in the opening vignette, we have seen how educators can strategically plan and introduce guided play activities that adhere to curricular guidelines while responding to each child’ s learning needs( Zosh et al. 2022). In this article, we show how Mr. Ridgley( the third author) incorporated guided play into his first-grade curriculum. We also offer ways that other primary-grade teachers can identify strategies for supporting guided play in their settings.
The Use of Instructional Materials
Educators, leaders, families, and policymakers continue to be concerned about children’ s literacy and math performance on state and national tests. This has led to state- and district-level changes in expectations and resources around early childhood curricula( CCSSO, n. d.; SCORE 2024). Increasingly, policymakers, schools, and educators are relying on instructional materials and related professional learning supports to determine what children should be learning and how educators should teach it( Doan et al. 2022; SCORE 2024; TNTP 2024).
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