The Play's the Thing: Teachers' Roles in Children's Play

Early Childhood Education

by Elizabeth Jones, Gretchen Reynolds

Responding to current debates on the place of play in schools, the authors have extensively revised their groundbreaking book. They explain how and why play is a critical part of children's development, as well as the central role adults have to promote it. This classic textbook and popular practitioner resource offers systematic descriptions and analyses of the different roles a teacher adopts to support play, including those of stage manager, mediator, player, scribe, assessor, communicator, and planner. This new edition has been expanded to include significant developments in the broadening landscape of early learning and care, such as assessment, diversity and culture, intentional teaching, inquiry, and the construction of knowledge.

New for the Second Edition are: additional theories on the relationship of teachers and children's play: current issues from media content, consumer culture, and environmental concerns; recent brain development research; how to use digital technology to make children's play visible; and more.

Genres: Teaching, Education, Professional Development

168 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1992

Reviews

[Christa]

It took awhile for me to get into this book but once I did it was very compelling. So many wonderful ideas about enhancing play and more strongly connecting children to learning through their freely chosen play. I can’t wait to share and discuss this with our teachers!

[Jodie Hopkins]

This book has some great examples, explores some play mindsets, and has a great response to several struggles teachers deal with. It could use some more hands on ideas on how to scaffold play skills for teachers who find children who struggle.

[Stacy Adams]

A great book for early childhood educators!

[April]

An excellent early childhood guide. I found the descriptions of different teacher roles really useful and especially enjoyed all the class observation and dialogue examples.

[Megan]

from recommended reading list in How Much is Enough?

[Erin McKay]

Excellent book, full of information. The book presents a whole new way to think about play and teaching.

[Diane]

Fantastic book on play and the importance of fostering play as an early childhood educator. Loved the breakdown of each teacher role and it gave me fresh ideas for my classroom.