Growing Through Play

Why play matters for learning, development and the growing brain. 

There is a phrase we hear all the time:

“They’re just playing.”

But spend a little time watching children play and there is very rarely anything just about it.

A tower falls down and they change the design. Someone changes the rules and a negotiation begins. A cardboard box becomes a shop, then a spaceship, then something that apparently has no name but makes complete sense to the children inside it.

Underneath all of this, children are thinking, communicating, remembering, adapting, imagining and learning.

That has been the focus at iSEND this week: Growing Through Play.

And although our posts have deliberately kept the message practical, there is a substantial body of developmental research sitting behind it.

Play is serious learning

The evidence around play reaches across cognitive, physical, social, emotional and language development.

A major American Academy of Pediatrics clinical report describes developmentally appropriate play as an important opportunity for children to develop social-emotional, cognitive, language and self-regulation skills. It also highlights its relationship with executive functioning - the mental processes that help us focus, remember information, control impulses, solve problems and adapt our thinking. The report was reaffirmed by the AAP in January 2025. 

This is important because executive function isn’t simply about doing well at school.

Think of everything a child has to do when building something from blocks.

They have an idea.

They hold that idea in mind.

They choose what they need.

They ignore distractions.

They realise something isn’t working.

They change their approach.

They manage the frustration of it falling over.

And then they start again.

That seemingly simple game is asking quite a lot of a developing brain.

The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard describes executive function and self-regulation as being rather like an air traffic control system for the brain — helping us manage information, make decisions, plan, focus and switch between demands. Importantly, these abilities aren’t simply something children either have or don’t have. They develop through experience and practice. 

And play provides plenty of practice.

More than one kind of development

One of the reasons play is so powerful is that development doesn’t happen in neat little subject boxes.

Take a pretend café.

There might be writing as somebody makes a menu.

Early maths appears when prices are invented and money changes hands.

Language develops through ordering, questioning and conversation.

Social understanding is needed to decide who is serving and whose turn comes next.

Memory is involved in remembering the rules everyone has just created.

And imagination holds the whole thing together.

Nobody needed to announce a learning objective.

The learning emerged from the experience.

UNICEF’s recently published global work on play similarly emphasises its contribution across physical, social, emotional and cognitive development. Its 2026 report also makes the useful point that valuable play does not necessarily require expensive resources: ordinary household objects, books, drawing materials and natural objects can all become useful materials for imagination and learning. 

That feels particularly relevant to this week’s iSEND message.

Good play doesn’t need to be complicated.

What about language and communication?

Play gives communication a reason to exist.

Children explain what they’re doing. They assign roles. They ask questions. They disagree. They persuade someone to accept a new rule. They tell stories and listen to somebody else’s ideas.

For some children, communicating within an interesting shared activity can feel quite different from being directly asked a question by an adult.

And communication isn’t limited to spoken language. Gesture, facial expression, movement, shared attention, symbols and actions can all become part of the interaction.

That matters when we think inclusively about play.

Not every child will play in the same way, communicate in the same way or enjoy the same type of interaction.

The goal shouldn’t be to create one version of what “good play” looks like.

It should be to create opportunities in which different children can explore, participate and connect in ways that work for them.

The emotional work happening underneath

Play also gives children repeated, relatively safe experiences of things not going exactly as planned.

Waiting.

Losing.

Someone saying no.

A tower collapsing.

Having to share an idea.

Changing the rules.

Not getting the role they wanted.

Trying something that doesn’t work.

These are small experiences, but the skills involved in navigating them are significant.

The American Academy of Pediatrics highlights play’s relationship with self-regulation and social-emotional development, while Harvard’s work identifies games and playful activities as opportunities to practise attention, working memory and self-control. 

That doesn’t mean adults should deliberately make play frustrating.

It means we don’t always need to remove every small difficulty immediately.

Sometimes there is valuable learning in giving children enough time to work something out.

And that brings us to the adults…

This might be the most difficult part.

We don’t always need to lead.

Adults are very good at improving things.

We suggest the next block.

We explain how the game could work.

We correct the rules.

We show children the “proper” way.

Usually, it comes from a good place.

But sometimes our most useful role is simply to provide time, space, interesting materials and a sense of safety — and then watch.

There is an important distinction here between supporting play and taking it over.

For younger children, responsive interaction with adults is enormously valuable. As children develop, there are also opportunities for adults gradually to step back and allow greater independence and peer-led play. Harvard’s age-based play guidance reflects exactly this progression. 

We can join when invited.

We can model something when genuinely needed.

We can help when a child is stuck.

But we don’t have to turn every game into a lesson.

Lola’s Monday Tip

Lola started our week with a very simple message:

Playing is one of the best ways to learn.

That might mean building, drawing, pretending, exploring outside or making something from whatever happens to be nearby.

The important bit isn’t making play look educational.

It’s recognising how much learning is already happening.

Milo’s Wednesday Challenge

Milo then handed the decisions over to the children:

Invent a brand-new game today.

Make up the name.

Decide what you need.

Create the rules.

Teach somebody else how to play.

And, importantly, decide what happens when somebody inevitably wants to change the rules halfway through.

It sounds like fun — because it is.

But look underneath and you’ve got creativity, planning, sequencing, communication, flexible thinking, negotiation and problem-solving all working together.

Not bad for a game that didn’t exist that morning.

One useful thought to take away

Perhaps we don’t need to ask:

“How can I make this play educational?”

Quite so often.

A better question might be:

“What learning can I already see happening here?”

That small change in perspective matters.

Because once we start looking properly, play is full of learning.

This doesn’t mean worksheets are bad. It doesn’t mean direct teaching isn’t important. And it certainly doesn’t mean children should be expected to discover everything for themselves.

Children benefit from explicit teaching, modelling, practice and opportunities to play.

It isn’t an either/or argument.

It’s about recognising that development is broader than completing a task on paper.

This week’s iSEND reminder

Children don’t necessarily need elaborate toys, carefully curated activities or adults entertaining them every minute.

Sometimes they need a few blocks.

A cardboard box.

Some pens and paper.

A garden.

A made-up game.

Another child.

An interested adult who knows when to join in — and when to step back.

Because play isn’t simply preparation for some more important learning that happens later.

Play is learning.

Ian Edwards
Founder | iSEND Specialist

Supporting families. Supporting schools. Supporting every child.

Research behind this week’s issue

For anyone who would like to explore the evidence in more depth, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ The Power of Play provides an excellent overview of play, development and executive functioning; Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child has practical resources on brain-building through play and executive function; and UNICEF published a new global overview of the evidence around children’s access to and experiences of play in 2026. 

American Academy of Pediatrics - The Power of Play⁠
Harvard - Brain-Building Through Play⁠
UNICEF - The Power of Play⁠