In the last year or so there has been an ever increasing number of reports and articles on play and its value for children (and adults too) coming across our desks, many of which we have referenced in this and other Newsletters. For those of us who have had long experience in early childhood the value of play is not news. But it is news to many others in education! We have heard personally (or heard reports of) senior bureaucrats in all sectors of education asking for references to the importance of play to be made clearly evident in early childhood policy and documents. We also notice renewed interest and enthusiasm amongst early childhood professionals themselves about play at the very same time they are feeling pressured from other directions to focus on activities that are antithetical to play. This tension is not new. There have always been those who have denigrated the value of play, but we now have a plethora of research from the neurosciences, especially brain research, and new studies of child development, to support a position that previously was held primarily on the basis of professional observation. We also have a policy climate that is taking this research seriously – so we should not let this opportunity pass us by.

For many years we have urged early childhood professionals to take the lead in promoting the importance of play.....