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"Where Do The Bears Go?" The Value Of Child-Directed Play, Genan Anderson, Anita Spainhower, Ann Sharp

Genan Anderson

This article uses the socio-dramatic play of pre-K children to reinforce the rich learning that occurs in child-directed play. The teacher’s role in supporting the play through adapting the environment with props and space as well as intentional teaching through the use of open-ended questions, suggestions, modeling, and providing additional information is made explicit. The authors voice strong support for the importance of play in early childhood classrooms to build competence in common core standards and to assist in the development of executive functioning, problem solving, and self-regulation.