As a teacher it has always intrigued me on how much emphasis our society places on academic achievement for one to be “successful” in learning and in life.

As a preschool teacher for many years, I “graded” my students on how well they interacted with others in a variety of social situations as opposed to how well they displayed their general intellect for facts and figures. I always felt my students were “successful” when they had mastered these simple yet effective life traits.

By teaching social skills we enable our children to be able to use their intellect and perceptions in a variety of ways rather than just merely relying on their memory skills, as they do for exams.

And the way to understanding and acquiring effective social skills is through “play.” As much as this concept is so simple that even a toddler could understand it, it still baffles me how the brains in our governmental educational departments still haven’t quite grasped it yet. Or when they do it’s some watered down version of something so half-baked and unrecognisable that even small children can’t even see the value in it. This token gesture of little kiddies “playing” seems to be a waste of their important self-inflated time and the taxpayers hard earned cash.

I really wish our world leaders would wake up and see the value of play based education. Perhaps they don’t want to see it because it may lead to an influx of better decision making on the part of the voters that could lead to a more insightful and thoughtful society. Thus the balance of power could shift dramatically.

I will always regard my years as a play based preschool teacher as my best years of learning for myself also. For me to be able to create a learning environment for my young students that really brought their best social skills to the fore was both a science and an artform.

Play based learning also follows some very simple rules that stay with you for life.

1. If it’s not yours then don’t touch it.
2. If you want a turn then wait for it.
3. If you don’t like it being done to you, then don’t do it to others.
4. If you aren’t that good at something then practice it more.
5. Listen and learn from others.

It couldn’t be more simpler than that.