In a new series, we explore the value of play and playful learning

This is a weekly newsletter. Sign up for a free subscription, and invite a friend to subscribe ([link removed]) .
View this email in your browser ([link removed])
Early Childhood
A newsletter from The Hechinger Report
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed] https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Fhechingerreport.org%2Fearly-childhood-the-power-of-play Tweet ([link removed] https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Fhechingerreport.org%2Fearly-childhood-the-power-of-play)
[link removed] Forward ([link removed])
What happens in the brain when children play?

What kind of play is most important for children?

How can schools fit more play into the day?

This week, The Hechinger Report, in partnership with MindShift, answered those questions and more in a four-part series ([link removed]) that examines the often overlooked, yet deeply consequential role of play in child development.
The Series
Part 1:


** Want resilient and well-adjusted kids? Let them play ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Senior reporter Jackie Mader spoke with some of the nation’s foremost experts on play to learn the benefits of different types of play, why it is so important to the development of young children, and what happens if children do not receive enough opportunities to engage in play.
Part 2:


** The complex world of pre-K play ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Mader visited a school in Seattle where the littlest learners spend most of their day engaged in all kinds of play. While such activity comes naturally to young children, experts have differing opinions on the types of play that are most beneficial. Play itself can be much more complex than observers realize.
Part 3:


** In elementary classrooms, demand grows for play-based learning ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

Opportunities for play in the classroom often dwindle by the time children reach third or fourth grade. Reporter Ariel Gilreath visited Oklahoma City where efforts are underway to buck that trend.
Part 4:


** Play is crucial for middle schoolers, too ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

Adolescents crave unstructured time with their friends and embrace playful learning as much as younger children, but there is often no time for play in a middle school environment. Senior editor Christina A. Samuels looks at the ways some schools are working in break time and play-based learning for older students.


**
------------------------------------------------------------
As you can see, our team of reporters found that although play is natural for children, opportunities to play in a school setting, and even outside of it, can be minimal and uneven. Hechinger reporters talked to educators across the country to discover how they overcome the many obstacles that stand in the way of increasing and improving play time.

All these stories can be found here ([link removed]) , along with other Hechinger stories on play and activity. For more essential news and research about issues affecting young children, families and schools, please invite your friends and colleagues to sign up ([link removed]) for the Hechinger Report’s early childhood newsletter. Please reach out to me with your thoughts, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

Christina A. Samuels
Deputy Managing Editor
Did you find this report to be valuable?
Now until Dec. 31 a generous donor has offered to match donations up to $50,000. So $25 becomes $50, and $150 becomes $300. An so on.
Donate today ([link removed]) !
You made it to the bottom of this free newsletter. Will you support our nonprofit newsroom with a gift? Thanks to a generous donor, donations DOUBLED until Dec. 31.
Donate Now ([link removed])
Give today ([link removed]) to make this message go away.
============================================================

** Tweet ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Our newsletters ([link removed])

Copyright © 2022 The Hechinger Report, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up at our website The Hechinger Report.

Our mailing address is:
The Hechinger Report
525 W 120th Street
Suite 127
New York, NY 10027
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.