The Play's the Thing: Teachers' Roles in Children's Play

By Elizabeth Jones and Gretchen Reynolds

Book Overview

" The Play's the Thing provides an excellent summary of theories related to the importance of children's play and illustrates the six roles teachers can use to put these theories into practice." --Harvard Educational Review

Responding to current debates on the place of play in schools, the authors have extensively revised their groundbreaking book. They explain how and why play is a critical part of children's development, as well as the central role adults have to promote it.

This classic textbook and popular practitioner resource offers systematic descriptions and analyses of the different roles a teacher adopts to support play, including those of stage manager, mediator, player, scribe, assessor, communicator, and planner.

This new edition has been expanded to include significant developments in the broadening landscape of early learning and care, such as assessment, diversity and culture, intentional teaching, inquiry, and the construction of knowledge.

New for the Second Edition of The Play's the Thing

Additional theories on the relationship of teachers and children's play (e.g., Vygotsky and the role of imaginary play and Reggio Emilia's image of the competent child). Current issues from media content, consumer culture, and environmental concerns. Standards and testing in preschool and kindergarten. Bridging the cultural gap between home and school. Using digital technology to make children's play visible. Recent brain development research. And much more

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080775241X
• ISBN13: 9780807752418
• Release Date: September 2011
• Publisher: Teachers College Press
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.6" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Examination of the roles adults could (and should) play

This Jones and Reynolds book has become a classic in early childhood circles. It examines the various roles adults should take as they support children's play. The authors first describe what play is, and what we need to know to be able to support it. Written in a conversational style, they offer many specific examples of children's play followed by their wise analyses of what was occurring for the child as well as what the adult was (or wasn't) doing to support, extend and nurture the play and learning.There are other books that spend more time describing play - this one gets right to the heart of their sub-title "Teachers' Roles in Children's Play". I've read and re-read it, and shared it with many pre-service Early Childhood Development students to help them see the range of possibilities that they can employ in their work with young children.