Inquiry Through Play- Playing IS Learning!

What do children enjoy doing the most?  PLAYING of course!  Play is the most important learning tool that children can use in Kindergarten, because it helps them to discover, think, reflect, self-regulate, and LEARN.   Children’s natural curiosity to play and explore their environment should not be overlooked. Play-based learning has been researched and proven to be developmentally beneficial to children’s cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development.  When children are playing in an integrated learning environment, they are creating, comparing, communicating, problem-solving, investigating, imaging, sharing, role-playing, and experimenting.  In addition, play-based inquiry allows children to improve and build on their literacy, numeracy, and oral communication skills in an environment that is meaningful for children and takes into consideration individual interests, learning needs, and the developmental continuum.  Inquiry-based learning in Kindergarten is not one-sized fits all learning!

In this picture students are digging for dinosaur fossils and strengthening their fine motor skills at the same time!