What might play look like across the levels?

Before I Start

When using play as a pedagogy, the hardest dilemma is in fact what the play may look like and be provided for as children progress through the levels. It is one schools wonder about most often and one reason that play may be used effectively in the first year, but not beyond. This makes it difficult for the children who have flourished in a play based environment to then fit into a more prescribed, directed room. Often leading to frustration and stress for not only the children, but the teacher as well. Relationships in a classroom that uses play as its primary pedagogy are something that come to the fore. Play allows us a deep understanding of interests, urges and strengths, which in turn gives us a way in with children. This is more difficult in a traditional, teacher directed room where children are more likely to go unseen.

While this will differ from school to school depending on philosophies and values I want to attempt to capture what it may look like, how it will be provided for and what else needs to be included as children become developmentally ready and interested. I will write from what I know, which is from the point of view of our school and where I would ultimately like to see us working. We have not got there quite yet, but are working towards this. For me, it is all about relationships. Using developmentally appropriate practice does not mean children are left to their own devices, what it does mean is that as teachers we learn to meet them where they are at, rather than expecting them to meet us.

Firstly let me say that the it is important not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but in fact to just reframe the ‘academic’ learning through a lens of authenticity, student voice and purpose within an approach that honors playfulness, the powerful importance of strong relationships and developmentally appropriate teaching and learning.


Secondly we need to address the purpose of levels...they are a means of grouping children with their peers, but if we are to look at this from a developmental perspective, they fall down. Just because children are a similar age, does not mean they have similar needs, nor should a ‘higher’ level be used to indicate that a child is further on in their development as this simply may not be the case. We all know those children who are incredibly mature at six or seven and those that leave school socially and emotionally very similar to how we would expect a five or six year old to be. Does this mean they won’t do well, not at all, it just means that age is a number and if we are to engage deeply with children and actually understand them as individuals we have to appreciate the stages of development and the rate that some progress through these. I feel Piaget’s stages of development are relevant here, and it is very important to note the ages that have been tagged to these stages of development. This is a useful article here. Obviously this is not the be all and end all for development, and within each stage there will be a spectrum of behaviours and dispositions that we see developing, or not developing yet.


I believe that mixed levels as a compromise are an effective way of grouping children, children learn from and with each other as they play and engage in more directed tasks, so a range of children, not just grouped by age is a useful way to ensure this happens as naturally as possible. In an ideal world we would not group children in this way at all, but that is a huge area for exploration at a much later date.

Play in the first 18 months (at least)

In this time play needs to take precedence. Play should permeate through the whole day and be the mode of inquiry that teachers are working with. The children are the curriculum and so coverage comes out of the interests and urges as they are noticed and responded to. Te Whāriki is seen as the key guiding document for learning. During this time developmentally appropriate practice allows us to engage individually with children introducing them to more formal ‘academic’ learning as an when we know they are interested and ready. Writing should happen through storytelling initially, with specific phonics teaching being part of listening to and having fun with words, appreciating the importance of hearing sounds and understanding that words are made up of sounds. The teacher should have time to pull out children individually to work with them if they are ready for learning such as guided reading. Dispositional learning is seen as the most important thing and children should be actively learning social and emotional skills through authentic situations which are then noticed by the teacher, reflected on and responded to as appropriate. Kindness, empathy, respect and growth mindset are actively taught in fun and interesting ways that appeal to children, like song, drama, video and picture books. Children are introduced to all areas of literacy and numeracy, encouraged to have a go in a relaxed way, with oral language development and rich discussion being of paramount importance. Play is not teacher directed. It is not planned for and any planning is backward in nature. There is no timetable or structure to the day and this is guided by the children and their play. There are no ‘filler’ activities that are designed for teacher control, play is the mode of working in the day when children are not together with the teacher. The environment is key, it must inspire curiosity, play and investigation, there is an appreciation that the environment is not only the inside of the classroom, but the outside as well, where many will spend a lot of their time. The teachers use of space is important, mingling within the play, observing and not remaining located in one space. Thinking about their positioning in the play is vital. Learning is captured in clever and reflective ways, maybe via still image, picture, video etc and is used to guide reflective learning discussions that may or may not provoke further thought or investigation. Talk is paramount, a high level of vocabulary is used and explained. Children actively lead learning discussions and there is never an assumption that they don’t know. In an environment based on play a child’s prior knowledge is used widely and they are seen as the experts. Their questions, wonderings, noticings, big ideas very much guide each day.

Assessment is seen as working for learning, it is done as appropriate and used to gauge developmental progress initially. The majority of this happens dynamically throughout the day, individually and is shared with the child and whānau.

Play in Year 2 and 3

Play will continue to permeate throughout the day and be the sole method of inquiry, using children’s interests and urges to guide discussions and further learning. Play is not confined to one section of the day or week, but carefully managed and provided for throughout most of the day. If children are not involved in teacher directed learning, they should be playing. A rich environment is vital where children can have the opportunity to deepen their play. A focus on creativity, problem solving and investigation will allow authentic and purposeful learning. The teacher needs to become skilled at recognising and providing for these. Dispositions should still guide a lot of what is happening and deliberate teaching needs to happen around aspects of kindness, respect and empathy. This is vital as children become better at understanding that others have feelings and that the choices we make have a negative or positive affect. This teaching could be done through song, drama, animations, picture book or photos/videos taken throughout the day. There will be an appreciation that some children in this learning area (particularly those not yet 7) will not yet be developmentally ready for more academic learning and a balance for these children needs to be found, it is vital they are not stressed by activities that are beyond them. Writing, reading and maths will find their ways into classrooms in more directed, but also playful ways, happening each day, these sessions will be short and valuable in terms of growth for the children. These sessions may be inspired by the play that is going on in the room. Storytelling continues to be very important at this level, with a focus on children’s writing being their own, based on what they want to write about and expectations set around what the teacher knows about that child. Children may still be being engaged with on an individual level while others play, particularly in goal setting and areas like reading where it may be appropriate for them to be working on their own with the teacher. The timetable will remain fluid, but it does become important that children are taking part in more directed teaching as well that could flow from their play. However it is absolutely vital that this directed teaching is relevant for the needs and stages of the children.

The teachers use of space is important, mingling within the play, observing and not remaining located in one space. Thinking about their positioning in the play is vital. Positioning allows the teacher to notice what is going on and not only actively recognise and respond to the play, but to also actively recognise and respond to individual needs. Positioning allows us to be open when children need to be seen and heard. Relationships should always be of paramount importance. Student voice is gathered and actively listened to. Vocabulary remains elevated and talk continues to be of vital importance as oral language is a way into further learning. Growth mindset teaching is of great importance as children begin to understand how to reflect and respond to their own learning. Assessment should be for learning and summative assessment is only used if it is useful. Curriculum continues to be captured and recorded through play and used to reflect on, respond to and provoke further investigation. At this level the teacher will have in their head the ‘must’ get to elements of their day, however is open to the play taking them a completely different way. The teacher needs an effective system to record the learning so that the ‘curriculum’ is captured. It is vital the teacher has exemplary curriculum knowledge, particularly around the competencies, but also has a good working understanding of Te Whāriki as some children could still be working from here. Mantle of the expert may begin to be woven through in mini mantles as appropriate to the needs of the class at the time. It is vital that the playfulness and dramatic aspects of the mantle takes paramount importance here.

Play in Year 4 and Beyond

Firstly it is vial that we acknowledge here that although these children are older, their urge to play is still as strong as their more junior counterparts. It is also important to understand that in terms of development children at this level still may be operating where we would perhaps expect a 7 year old to be developmentally, once again, this needs to guide how we interact and what we expect.

It is vital that playfulness, authentic and purposeful learning situations permeate the day. Student voice is huge and wherever possible this should guide learning. Children also still need opportunities to free play without teacher direction and the environment can play a key role here. The NZ curriculum will guide learning direction, with the competencies being the most important consideration. Quality literacy and maths will be provided for and a lot of integration will happen through Mantle of the Expert. Assessment is seen as being for learning and it is vital children are an active part of this process. Learning goals and next steps are vital within this process and narratives used should share these with parents. Creativity, problem solving, flexible thinking, innovation and imagination should continue to be drivers for learning. Dispositions remain a focus, with growth mindset teaching being very important. Strong relationships form the basis of success. Timetables should be fluid with opportunities to follow interests and wonderings.