Children’s perspectives on the (dis)connections between play and learning in kindergarten

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Early Child Development and Care on September 2016, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2016.1245190.Practitioners in play-based learning contexts face the challenge of developing developmentally appropriate practices while meeting rigorous academic curriculum standards. To date, play and academic learning have been predominantly conceptualised from an adult perspective. Considering that children are key agents in classroom play contexts, it is important to understand their views on play and learning. The purpose of this study was to explore children’s perspectives on the connectedness between play and learning and understand whether their views are related to the play types observed in their classrooms. Photo elicitation interviews were conducted with 134 kindergarten students and 10 hours of observation were held in each of the 10 classrooms. Results indicate that children’s understanding of the connectedness between play and academic learning were related to teacher presence in play and the types of play environments available in their classrooms. Implications for practitioners and researchers alike are discussed.This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada under Grant 430-2014-00926