As parents, we know how important play is for young children. For the young child, play and learning are one and the same. Through play, children try out their ideas and develop new capacities at their own pace and in their own timing.  It's been said that the most effective way for a young child to be educated is to let them learn through play at their own pace. - To let them learn when they are ready and interested.  The types of play that I’ll focus on is based on research that was used as a tool for assessing whether play in early childhood programs was providing adequate opportunities and materials for all types of play. Although this research came out of this need, it’s also a useful tool for us as parents to know if we are providing the variety of play that our child needs and if they have access to different types of play in the program they attend. Listen to learn more! Here are a links to Alliance for Childhood articles Crisis in the Kindergarten - Why Children Need to Play in School https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d24bb215f3e850001630a72/t/5d389f785f713d0001a33797/1563991929109/Summary+Crisis+in+Kindergarten_8-page_summary.pdf Alliance for Childhood - Importance of Play https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED485734.pdf 12 Key Types of Play https://images.shulcloud.com/1039/uploads/docs/Resource-Bank/Parent-Resource-Bank/Twelve-Key-Types-of-Play.pdf