If you are a teacher of young children you might have heard something like this from a parent: Play is fun, but when will my child be learning?
To the layperson, play and learning are mutually exclusive. To the practitioner, we know that play affords young children with a myriad opportunities to gain skills like writing. We can foster writing by providing many and varied opportunities for children to engage in mark making through their natural inclination to play.
To play-based educators, "play" is initiated, directed, and sustained by children. Children have autonomy in play and are the ones making decisions. This isn't to say teachers don't play a role, can't offer guidance, or have a plan in mind, but that teachers leave room for spontaneity and know that following the child can lead to more meaningful and connected learning, learning that 'sticks' and which leads to more learning.
Take the photo above, for example. Nobody made the child write a note to her mama. She was intrinsically motivated to do so. Similarly, the child in the next photo wrote the word 'DAD' of his own volition with a playful addition to the latter 'D'.
These two children were 4-year-olds who had ample experience scribbling and drawing before they began writing recognizable letters. This is worth noting because adults tend to want to fast-track this process because we still place a high value on getting to ABCs and 123s as the goal of early learning. Never mind that this belief really limits what children are capable of learning. Still, if this is how you are expected to operate as an educator let's at least slow down and recognize that scribbling is an integral part of getting to ABCs and 123s.
When children are allowed to scribble without being corrected they will retain their enthusiasm for drawing and writing. The last thing young children need is for their first explorations to be micromanaged by adults. Instead of correcting or belittling scribbles (even in a playful teasing way), ask the child to share their meaning. There is always a story behind the marks. Empower children by listening to and valuing their explanation of their scribbles. The young storyteller in the photo below gladly shared the meaning behind her artwork by 'reading' the scribbles and following along with her fingertip as she told me the story. She is on her way to developing the skills needed later for elementary school, but let's not rush her now.
Notice that there are already recognizable representations of hearts, butterflies, and the letters of her name along with abundant scribbles. She is playing at literacy and practicing being a writer and a reader. Support this foray into self-directed learning and allow for plenty of playful repetition and iteration of ideas. That's play and learning, learning and play.
Another example of play that supports later writing skills: drawing on unconventional surfaces and materials. We tend to think writing only develops when we are sitting at a desk with a pen and paper. A play-based educator will recognize that drawing and writing can happen anywhere and aim to remove barriers to children being able to draw and write as they wish. Are you a teacher who would allow children to draw on tree stumps and other unconventional surfaces? Can you find a way to say 'Yes' to some of the children’s unusual ideas?
Boxes are great for drawing and writing on. In an Amazon world, there are plenty of boxes to reuse for children's play. It's a classic and a favorite of children's for good reason.
This child wrote his name on his woodworking project. The letters look shaky now but they are also a testament to how far he's come in just months. A while ago he didn't even want to write his name. Invite, encourage, and give it time.
Teachers set the culture in the classroom and writing should be embedded into daily routines, for example, in your large group gatherings. Make every invitation for children to participate, but accept that some children won't be ready yet. Just continue to invite and encourage, and most of all, model your authentic enjoyment of literacy practices and show how we use writing to communicate. Oh, and remember to keep it playful. We want children to enjoy writing and not see it as a chore.
For children who are beginning to show an interest in writing, you may find that it happens almost overnight. That's 'readiness'. One way to support this interest is through an alphabet reference chart. When I do a Post Office dramatic play setup (another fun way to explore literacy) I offer a reference chart for the uppercase and lowercase letters to encourage children to write letters, in both senses of the word.
I laminate reference charts if I can so they can be more durable and travel to wherever children need them. I also use Comic Sans for the typeface (the horror!) because it has a 'true' lowercase 'a', also called a 'single story a', so children can learn to write the conventional version. There are other fonts that have this aspect.
Along with an alphabet chart I like creating themed word lists for children to reference because they likely have special interests that can spur them to want to write. Some children want words about 'Space' or 'Desserts'. They have asked me to make them a 'Pirates' list and a separate 'Mermaids' list. On the 'Pirates' list I included other words like 'treasure chest' and 'parrot'. You get the idea. These words are accompanied by images so the children can use them independently.
Some of thelists I’ve made over the years have included: Monsters, Flowers, Sports, Feelings, Office (when we had office play: phone, email, work, computer, meeting, cell phone, etc.), Vegetables, Fruits, Jobs, Zoo, Farmer's Market (or another community gathering place relevant to your context), Birthday Party (balloons, presents, party hat, cake, candles, confetti, birthday card, etc.), Numbers, and Summer (can do all the seasons, of course).
Once the children knew they could ask to make such lists, they had endless ideas and enthusiasm. They were writing all over the school and writing stories to tell one another using these lists.
Another authentic and playful reason for writing, as opposed to rote work, is to create lists for various purposes. Maybe the children can create a grocery list for playing 'grocery store' and a recipe book for cooking projects. Children have also been motivated to write when adding their name to a list to wait for a turn. The list below kept track of who would be next on the swing. Notice that there are many kinds of marks showing children at different levels of development. All are honored and welcomed.
Another way to foster a love of writing is through having a class penpal. One year, we exchanged drawings and letters with a class of kindergartners in Taiwan. I can't tell you how excited the children were to receive a package and how adorable and hysterical the drawings and messages were. They mostly asked about what each liked to play and eat and what school is like where they lived. The children's genuine curiosity led the way and the teachers gladly facilitated this exchange.
Another year, a classmate moved away so we kept in touch through mail. The children knew that if they were missing their friend they could write him a note (with a teacher's help when needed) or draw him a picture to feel more connected to their faraway pal. Not sure how to get a pen pal? Try connecting with another school to partner up.
Writing is a wonderful outlet for expressing feelings, have you noticed? When children are missing mom or dad I encourage them to write how they feel. The ones who are not yet writing will dictate words for the teacher to write down. The act of writing one's feelings is in itself very effective in helping some children to move through sad feelings. I offer another list with commonly asked for words and phrases for this purpose.
Have you created an inviting environment for children to engage with writing? Part of the challenge in getting children to write is fostering an atmosphere where they will want to write. Aim to remove hurry and stress from these experiences. Check out the photo below for one teacher's way of creating a cozy and relaxed mood for scribbling and writing. Dim the lights and add some battery operated 'candles'. One could play some soft music in the background, too. Don't put on a timer. Just...flow.
There are many other ways to foster writing skills through play. The small muscles of the hand need to gain dexterity before being asked to grasp a pencil. Keep offering play dough, beading, and other manipulatives for little hands to touch, squeeze, poke, connect, and pick up. Young children's bodies also require regular and varied movement before we can expect them to have the strength and stability to sit down at a table to write. Play chase, climb, and jump. That's what children naturally do anyway. The smart thing to do is to let them.
Literacy also doesn't happen in a vacuum so there is no need to compartmentalize time for this endeavor. Offer writing opportunities anywhere and everywhere with various kinds of paper and line tools both indoors and outdoors. Offer vertical and horizontal surfaces to draw and write on. Provide traveling materials in a basket or on clipboards. Have books anywhere and everywhere for easy access. Read the same favorite book over and over again. Offer different kinds of books to fit every child. Read often as a group, one-on-one, and independently. Each person will form their own relationship with books so let's give each of them reasons to love reading. Let's make sure we are also modeling our own love of reading books.
While the world remains hyper-focused on ABCs and 123s (largely based on prior generations' personal experiences in school), let's expand our perception of the learning path. If our own early schooling left us feeling less than inspired then we must examine why and find other ways to engage children in writing. I've never met a child who didn't eventually want to write, but I have witnessed adults squashing children's motivation by insisting writing happens in a certain way.
Play is enough. Play is nature's way of supporting early development and it is up to us to uphold this evolutionary imperative and work WITH nature.
Because a love of school often wanes in the later years we must question the current mainstream methods of teaching and assessing learning. We entered this field to impart a love of learning to our students so let's keep that intention at the forefront. Let's continue to educate others on what learning looks like in the first years and show that we value and celebrate all of the baby steps children take on that path.
Be the teacher who has the courage to stand up to developmentally-inappropriate practices that are fear-based and do a disservice to children, teachers, and parents. Be the teacher who inspires instead of forces learning.
There is no perfect timeline for when to learn something, and everyone is different. We know this.
Let them draw.
Let them scribble.
Put too many lines on an uppercase 'E'.
Make an 'M' with too many humps.
Write letters in reverse. (For a while, my son 'Jude' was 'Jube' on paper. I cherish that memory now.)
Let them be little. Let them try their way. Let them take charge of their own learning. And let us all walk away with a new perspective of what teachers do.
More photos below.
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