Why play-based learning matters in the early years

When parents come to visit, they sometimes ask me: "But when do they actually learn?"

It's a fair question. The room is full of toys, the children are pottering between them, and there's no obvious classroom. So let me show you what's actually happening.

Play is the curriculum

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) — the framework that childminders and nurseries follow in England — is built around seven areas of learning. All seven are best supported through play in the first five years.

When a two-year-old fills a bucket with sand, tips it out, and refills it, they're building:

• Mathematical understanding — capacity, more and less, in and out.
• Physical development — grip, wrist rotation, control.
• Personal, social and emotional development — patience, persistence, satisfaction.
• Communication and language — naming what they're doing, asking for help.

That's four out of seven, in a single quiet activity.

What a week of play looks like

Across a typical week we mix child-led play (whatever the children are drawn to that day) with adult-supported activities (something I've set out with a particular skill in mind).

• Monday: Sensory tray with rice, scoops and small jars
• Tuesday: Toddler group at the Westbourne Community Centre — songs, instruments, big floor space
• Wednesday: Mark-making — chunky crayons, big paper, painting outside if dry
• Thursday: Toddler group again, then a walk to the local park
• Friday: Baking together — measuring, stirring, waiting

Underneath every activity, the same thing is happening: children learning how to learn. How to try. How to fail and try again. How to be in a room with other children.

What you can do at home

You don't need fancy toys. The best resources are the ones in every kitchen:

1. A wooden spoon, a saucepan and a few dried beans.
2. A laundry basket of soft fabrics to sort by colour.
3. A walk to the corner shop where they hold the list.

Children learn from being included. Cooking with you, sweeping with you, sorting socks with you. That's the curriculum, really.

If your child is engaged, calm and curious — they're learning. You don't need to see a worksheet to know it's happening.

If you'd like to chat through what your child is currently into, that's exactly what we cover at a visit.