More Play, Please - The Perspective of Kindergarten Teachers on Play in the Classroom

Oct 15, 2026

Research documents that children benefit from learning through play, yet American kindergarten classrooms show a steady decline in play time. This article compares findings from a netnographic study of seventy-eight kindergarten teachers’ message board discussions with more traditional studies. Results align with prior research and show that teachers feel pressures from peers, principals, and school policies to prioritize academic goals, leading them to limit play. The author calls for research to develop effective strategies that help teachers include play, supported by a netnographic approach.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages24

Reading Time1 h 0 min

AccessFree to download

Play in American Kindergartens

Teachers’ reported pressures and policy influences

Educational accountability and standardized testing impacts

More Play, Please The Perspective of Kindergarten Teacherson Play in the Classroom • Meghan Lynch 􀂆e past decade has seen an increase in research documenting the bene􀂇ts of children learning through play. However, the amount of play in American kindergarten classes remains on a steady decline. 􀂆is article compares the 􀂇ndings from a netnographic study of seventy-eight kindergarten teachers’ message board discussions about play in kindergarten with those of more traditional studies and 􀂇nds the teachers’ discussions in broad agreement with past research. 􀂆e results further demonstrate that kindergarten teachers feel pressures from other teachers, principals, and school policies to focus on academic goals and that these pressures lead them to limit play. 􀂆e author argues for further research to develop e􀂈ective strategies to help teachers include play in kindergartens rather than merely increasing teacher awareness of the bene􀂇ts of play. She details how a netnographic approach can complement traditional methods for understanding how teachers treat play in their classrooms. Key words: kindergarten; netnography; No Child Le! Behind Act (NCLB); play-based teaching; Social Ecological 􀂆eory (SET) Play in American Kindergartens In the past decade, play research has witnessed a rise in two seemingly contradictory trends. First, the research increasingly shows that play expeditesa variety of social, cognitive, motor, and linguistic improvements (Eberle 2011; Fisher et al. 2011). Social play allows children to become more creative and more adept at explaining meaning verbally, more successful at manipulating di􀂈erent symbol systems, and more con􀂇dent when experimenting with new activities (Bjorklund and Gardiner 2011; Eberle 2011; Pellegini 2009) . In school settings, teachers gently guide play, using play-based teaching and learning activities to promote curricular goals while maintaining the critically important aspects of play—such as children’s intrinsic motivation to engage in play (Bordova, Germeroth, and Leong 2013; Eberle 2014; Fisher et al. 2011) . Whether free or guided play (and, unless I state otherwise, I refer to all play that occurs during 347 American Journal of Play, volume 7, number 3 © 􀂆e Strong [Contact Meghan Lynch at meghan.lynch@mail.utoronto.ca](Contact Meghan Lynch at meghan.lynch@mail.utoronto.ca) kindergarten class time collectively as “play” throughout this article), play in the classroom fosters improvements in such subjects as mathematics, language, early literacy, and socio-emotional skills, and it does so for children from both low-and higher-income environments (Duncan et al. 2007) . In addition to such speci􀂇c subject skills, researchers contend that, as a major outcome, play helps children learn to cooperate with others and engage in socially appropriate behavior (Bordova et al. 2013; Eberle 2011). In time, these social competencies developed through play transfer to children’s everyday behaviors (Elias and Berk 2002). Because play’s bene􀂇ts are so extensive, play has been asserted as an evolutionary and developmentally important activity (Bateson and Martin 2000; Eberle 2011, 2014). Researchers have posited that play enables developments in the prefrontal cortexes of mammals, including humans (Pellis, Pellis, and Himmler 2014). 􀂆e premise that play serves a serious purpose of acquiring skills and experience needed in adulthood has long been a central feature in play research (Bateson 1987) . Consequently, play should be viewed as a valuable classroom activity that enables children to develop a wide variety of social and academic skills (Copple and Bredekamp 2009; Fisher et al. 2011) . Second, and paradoxically, in spite of the many bene􀂇ts of play recognized by academics, recent years have seen a steady decrease in the amount of time kindergarten classes devoted to play (Brownson et al. 2010; Frost 2008; Meiselsand Shonko􀂈 2000). Past research has well documented the challenges Ame

FAQs

What does the article aim to compare about play in kindergarten?

It compares results from a netnographic study of seventy-eight kindergarten teachers’ message board discussions with findings from more traditional studies about play.

How do kindergarten teachers explain why play time is limited?

Teachers report pressures from other teachers, principals, and school policies to focus on academic goals, and these pressures lead them to limit play.

What role does the article assign to NCLB in kindergarten play time?

Although NCLB does not apply directly to kindergartens, the article describes how its effects trickle down, reducing time afforded for play as schools emphasize standardized test preparation and meeting standards.

Oct 15, 2026

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