Tips for Balancing Structure and Play in Early Childhood Education

Posted On October 22,2024

If you don’t start a child off right with a strong early childhood education experience, they can struggle in the classroom for years. Parents, developmental experts, and politicians are all concerned with making sure that even the youngest students are learning in a measurable way. While the motivation behind this philosophy is good – we all want to see children set up for success – it is very easy to push too hard and expect an early childhood classroom to be far more rigorous than it needs to be.

Children learn through play, and unstructured play is an important part of the day in an early childhood classroom. However, children do also need structure in their day to help them develop routines and give them the direct instruction they need. In an early childhood classroom, it’s important to find that balance.

Understand that Structure Provides Stability

When young students don’t know what to do, where to go, or what to expect, they struggle to navigate their day. While freedom and flexibility are wonderful learning tools during free play, an entire environment that is open is typically overwhelming. As young children learn to navigate their world, they grab onto certain constants that help them feel secure, such as “we play until Miss X plays the xylophone, and then we come to the carpet for calendar” can help guide their day.

Know that Free Play Allows Flexibility for Creative Exploration

Even structured activities such as crafts can look like play in an early childhood education classroom, but it’s crucial to allow for free, creative, and unstructured play. One of the biggest mistakes many new teachers make is trying to guide the play to lead the students to a lesson. It’s important for the teacher to take the role of narrator or observer, rather than the leader, in these situations. For example, a teacher may make comments on the height or stability of a block tower, note what role a student has taken on in dramatic play, or mention that a student used a certain color, but refrain from offering too many suggestions or guidance, allowing the student to discover things on their own.

Understanding the Difference Between Child-Led and Teacher-Led Activities

Sometimes an activity looks like play, but is actually being directed by the teacher. This certainly has a place in an early childhood classroom, but it’s important not to confuse it with child-led free play. There are a few examples of teacher-led activities that can look like play:

• A child is stacking blocks, while the teacher encourages them to “find a triangle to put on top” or “see how tall you can make that tower”.
• A child is doing a craft as the teacher gives instructions about where to color, cut, and paste.
• Children acting out characters while role-playing different social skills, with suggestions from the teacher about appropriate responses.

Guided or teacher-led play is a great way to engage young children and lead them toward learning objectives. A student who is resistant to shape matching activities but loves stacking blocks may finally make a connection while doing something they enjoy. Students can develop fine motor skills in cutting and pasting. Students learn about conversation and social skills when a teacher participates in dramatic play. 

Create a Balanced Classroom Environment

Great early childhood educators set up their classrooms thoughtfully. When you set up your room, take the time to see it through the eyes of your students. Setting up “invitations to play” is one of the most effective ways to cultivate an environment ready for unstructured play. This may look like:

• Theming a dramatic play area to be a café, grocery store, house, doctor or vet’s office, post office, police or fire station, or anything else that your students may be interested in. There is no official direction with “how” to play, but by setting up the area, students can be inspired to create their own scene.
• Setting up a sensory table or bin with sand, water, paper, or any other tactile material (that is age appropriate and safe) and adding in toys or objects from nature that can be used with the material.
• Placing blocks or other building materials in an accessible space. Some teachers may begin a structure and purposely leave it “unfinished” so students are inspired to complete the creation as they see fit.

If you want the students to be able to use something to play, it should be easily accessible. 

While these free play invitation spaces can change daily, weekly, or monthly, other spaces in the classroom should be structured and consistent so the students have stability and a sense of routine. When the students come to the calendar area, they will be prepared for a lesson. When they come to the reading corner, they’ll be ready for a read aloud. When they enter the classroom, they know where to hang their coat, where to put their bag, and where to sit. 

Find a Routine that Works

One of the best ways to provide structure is to find a routine that works for you and your students. That routine should start with an organized way for children to enter the room, store their things, and get ready to start the day. Some teachers find that beginning the day with more structure – such as a coloring sheet done at their seats – can set the tone for the day, but other classroom teachers may like to offer students the chance to choose their own activity before starting the day. Once everyone has arrived and settled, many teachers will have a standard morning routine that may involve a greeting, looking at the weather and calendar, going through the day’s schedule and any special times, and other routines. The schedule can then bounce between teacher-led activities that are more structured, and time spent exploring creative ways to play. Whatever routine you find works best for you and your students, it’s important to make sure that the children know what to expect, and the day has the right balance in it.

Early childhood classrooms are rich learning environments, both during teacher-led activities with plenty of structure, and opportunities for students to play and explore. By finding the right balance, you can create the ideal classroom for your students to grow.  To learn more about how to get trained for a career in early childhood education, contact Athena Career Academy today.