Cindy Page: I am often asked what children do in our program, and whether they just play all day. I always respond with an emphatic "YES!" Children in our program play all afternoon because I believe that that's precisely what children should do in our program. At all quality early childhood programs there is a lot of play, and there should be.

Years of research on children's learning and development document the many benefits of play for intellectual, social, emotional, physical, and communication development. Children at play are actively involved in creating themes, exploring and establishing environments, solving problems, and developing shared understandings. Play touches on every aspect of development and learning.

Research theory about how young children learn shows us that play contributes to learning and cognitive maturity in a number of ways:

• Play provides the opportunity for children to practice new skills and functions. As they master these activities, they can integrate or reorganize them into other task-oriented sequences. 
   
• Play offers numerous opportunities for children to act on objects and experience events. Each field trip, each friendship built with children and adults, each experience in building with blocks develops understanding of the world.
   
• Play is an active form of learning that unites the mind, body, and spirit. Watch how intense children are when they paint at an easel, work on a puzzle, or gaze into each others eyes.
   
• Play enables children to transform reality into symbolic representations of the world. For example, when we go bowling, some decide to keep count of how many pins each child knocks down.
   
• Through play, children can consolidate previous learning. Much of what we learn cannot be taught directly but must be constructed through our experiences. We all know the feeling of "Ah ha!" when something finally clicks.
   
• As they play, children can retain their playful attitude--learning set that contributes to flexibility in problem solving. They are amazingly inventive in solving problems.
  
• Creativity and aesthetic appreciation develop through play. When children see how difficult it is to work with clay, they can appreciate the efforts involved in sculpture and pottery. As they play with words, they develop a sense for the rhythm of poetry and prose.
  
• Play enables children to learn about learning--through curiosity, invention, persistence, and a host of other factors. Children's attention spans are incredibly long when they are interested. Just watch them as they assemble a puzzle, study an anthill, or pretend with a friend.

Parents ask me how all of this happens. Do we just bring the children together and say "play"? The Extended Day staff supports children's play by providing space, opportunity, and materials. We set up areas where kids can play without fear of damaging furniture or injuring themselves. We make sure that they have the time to choose and become engaged in their own play activities. And when we provide them with simple, interesting materials, children take it from there.