Academics from the University of Cambridge found that teaching younger children through guided play can support key aspects of their learning and development at least as well, and sometimes better, than traditional, direct instruction.
The study, which claims to be the first to examine the effects of guided play, suggests that guided play can be just as effective in developing key skills such as literacy, numeracy, social skills and executive functions.
It also suggests that this type of play can be more effective in helping children master skills in maths than through adult-led instruction.
What is guided play?
Guided play refers to playful educational activities, which although gently steered by an adult, give children the freedom to explore a learning goal in their own way.
It could involve, for example, creating imagination-based games which require children to read, write or use maths, or that incorporate simple early learning skills – such as counting - into play.
For the research, academics from the Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL) Centre at the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Education, gathered and assessed data from a number of studies and information sources that documented the impact of guided play on the learning of around 3,800 children aged three to eight.
They found 39 studies undertaken between 1977 and 2020 that included information about guided play compared with free play or direct instruction.
Findings
By measuring the effect of guided play on children’s learning outcomes, they found that this type of play had a greater positive impact on some areas of children’s numeracy than direct instruction.
There was also evidence that guided play better supports the development of children’s cognitive ability to switch between tasks. And, that guided playful activities, tend to produce roughly the same learning benefits as more traditional, teacher-led approaches.
The researchers offer various possible explanations about why guided play may improve numeracy in particular. One possibility is that the gentle prompting that guided play entails may be a particularly effective way of teaching children to work through the logical steps that maths-based tasks often involve, they say. Another explanation they give is that guided play often involves hands-on learning and maths concepts can be easier to understand when used in an imaginary game or playful context.
They also suggest that guided play may influence other characteristics which have a positive, knock-on effect on educational progress, such as enhancing children’s motivation, persistence, creativity and confidence.
'If children are given the freedom to explore, but with some gentle guidance, it can be very good for their education'.
Elizabeth Byrne, a co-author of the study, said, ‘It’s only recently that researchers have started to conceptualise learning through play as something that exists on a spectrum. At one end you have free play, where children decide what to do with minimal adult involvement; at the other is traditional, direct instruction, where an adult tells a child what to do and controls the learning activity.
‘Guided play falls somewhere in between. It describes playful activities which are scaffolded around a learning goal, but allow children to try things out for themselves. If children are given the freedom to explore, but with some gentle guidance, it can be very good for their education – perhaps in some cases better than direct instruction.’
- The research, 'Can guidance during play enhance children's learning and development in educational contexts' is published in the Child Development journal
