Playful Teaching and Learning

Every early years practitioner should be able to captivate and maintain the interest of young children in their setting, through the provision of a playful learning experience.

Covering age ranges 3-8 years, this textbook explores the importance of infusing playfulness throughout the entire early years day, and includes chapters that:

• establish the core principles underpinning playful teaching and learning
• help students and practitioners understand how playfulness can be applied to all aspects of the early years curriculum including mathematics, literacy, outdoor environments, science & technology, and ICT
• explore core issues in early years provision including observing, planning & assessment, and how they relate to playful learning
• emphasise the role and qualities of the playful professional.

This is a fantastic resource for any student or practitioner looking to enrich the lives of young children through meaningful playful learning experiences.

Glenda Walsh is Head of Early Years Education and principal lecturer at Stranmillis University College, a College of Queen’s University Belfast. Her research interests centre on quality issues in Early Childhood Education, particularly in the field of pedagogy and curriculum. Her PhD thesis focused on an evaluation of play versus formal experiences for 4-5 year old children in Denmark and Northern Ireland and for the purposes of her doctoral study, she designed an observation tool, known as the Quality Learning Instrument. Subsequently she has been involved in many major research projects such as the longitudinal evaluation of the Early Years Enriched Curriculum Project in Northern Ireland and she also headed a major project on examining pedagogy in Early Childhood Education for the Department of Education in the Republic of Ireland. Her publications reflect her interest in curriculum and pedagogy, focusing in particular on resolving the dilemmas associated with play as learning and teaching in practice.  

Dorothy McMillan was, until recently, a senior lecturer in Early Childhood Education at Stranmillis University College, Belfast, teaching on the PGCE (Early Years), BA and MA in Early Childhood Studies degree programmes. She has wide experience of working with children, as a former primary school teacher, nursery school principal and playgroup leader, and has also been involved in setting up and running parent and toddler groups. Her doctoral thesis centred on the conceptual notion of ‘educare’ in preschool settings and its implications for early years training. Her research interests are focused on training and early years professionalism issues, including management and leadership. Dorothy recently moved to live in The Netherlands where she has joined the staff team at the International Baptist Theological Study Centre in Amsterdam. 

Carol McGuinness is Professor Emerita at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland. Her research interests are in the application of cognitive and developmental psychology to classroom learning, specifically, how teachers can promote the development of children’s thinking skills. She authored the influential Department of Education (then DfEE) report From Thinking Skills to Thinking Classrooms (1999), and directed the Activating Children’s Thinking Skills (ACTS) project, funded by the ESRC’s Teaching and Learning Research Programme (2002-2005). Working with Glenda Walsh and colleagues, she led the longitudinal evaluation of the play-based curriculum in the early years of primary school in Northern Ireland, the Enriched Curriculum (2000-2009). Both these strands of research have had significant influence on education policy in Northern Ireland and elsewhere. More recently, with Robert Swartz (Center for Teaching Thinking, Boston), she is advising the International Baccalaureate on the development of thinking in their curriculum (2014-2016).