Meet Jessica Farmer, a former preschool teacher and current curriculum creator and Nashville improv comedy performer. We explore the importance of play -- for early childhood and for every day life -- in this episode. Full Show Notes

*Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org

[03:44] Childhood ambitions -- Jessica  wanted to be an actress from a very young age -- although she did consider running for US President in 8th grade.

[06:44] Why is play important? A number of studies support the importance of play in early childhood learning:

• A New Path to Education Reform: Playful Learning Promotes 21st Century Skills in Schools and Beyond (2020).  Dr. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Dr. Helen Hadani 
• The Power of Playful Learning in the Early Childhood Setting (NAEYC 2022). 
• Learning through ‘guided’ play can be as effective as adult-led instruction up to at least age eight:  University of Cambridge. (2022, January 12). ScienceDaily. 

Examples of Connecting Play and Learning in the Early Childhood Classroom

12:04: Guided play (connecting literacy, writing, drama, math, and science) through Goldilocks and the Three Bears

14:04:  Gingerbread Manfuels writing

[21:07} Validating STEM/STEAM in early childhood classrooms/as a partner for guided play

[22:32] Gingerbread Man and spatial reasoning/map making

[24:07] STEAM engineering/creating a real house for the  Gingerbread Baby, plus other variations of the stories (Gingerbread Girl, The Musubi Man, The Gurabia Man, The Runaway Wok) for compare/contrast

[26:44] Jessica'stop 3 takeaways  for  successful learning through play. 

[34:27] Guided Play In Action -- Building connections with poetry, engineering, blocks, drama, “I Made a Mechanical Dragon” (The Dragons are Singing Tonight)

37:06 Building Connections Through STEM/STEAM with Eric Carle's  The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, The Very Quiet Cricket,  &  The Grouchy Ladybug.)

[38:

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