Learning Literacy Through Play

With the increasing focus on testing and preparing for tests, children are given less and less time to play. As Dr. Karen Wohlwend suggests in Playing Their Way into Literacies: Reading, Writing, and Belonging in the Early Childhood Classroom, given the high-stakes nature of standardized testing, many teachers "opt for the defensible approach and focus on discrete skills instruction that closely matches test content." It may be hard to blame them. While play may be increasingly viewed as "frivolous,"  Dr. Wohlwend argues that these kinds of activities are a vital part of children's learning.

Through play, children model activities, take on the roles of more experienced readers, and cooperate in literacy activities that are important for their learning. As Dr. Wohlwend puts it, "Through play, children can mediate print texts for themselves and others by pretending to be more experienced readers who use more complex literacy practices, allowing them to play the expert within the classroom community."

Another point that stands out is that play can aid children in developing skills that are necessary in navigating the increasingly diverse nature of modern literacies. As Dr. Wohlwend discussed in a 2009 Voice of Literacy podcast, "We have lots of different ways that children and adults are communicating that don't involve these traditional interactions with the page." In other words, "The definition of literacy is evolving." It is very important that young students are prepared to use modern forms of communication and be able respond to the inevitable changes that will occur in numerous forms of literacy. By allowing children to experiment and work together through play, we can ensure that they develop the literacy skills that they will need.