In an era of packed schedules, screen time, and intense focus on school readiness, many children are playing less than in previous generations, which harms development.

Parents looking to support their children’s learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) will find no shortage of branded STEM sets, subscription science boxes, private coding ...

The Hechinger Report covers one topic: education. Sign up for our newsletters to have stories delivered to your inbox. Consider becoming a member to support our nonprofit journalism. What happens when ...

The Hechinger Report covers one topic: education. Sign up for our newsletters to have stories delivered to your inbox. Consider becoming a member to support our nonprofit journalism. This newsletter ...

The best children's museums in the country have interactive exhibits where kids want to linger, playing is encouraged, and learning is a byproduct of the fun.

When learning starts to feel like play, education stops preparing kids for the future and begins letting them practice it. By 2035, forget about the traditional classroom; learning will feel more like ...

EdSource · Sexual abuse claims threaten school district budgets, even when not accused When it comes to early childhood education, child’s play may well be serious business. Fun and games bring more ...

Today at Toy Fair ® 2026, LeapFrog ® Enterprises, Inc. introduces a new generation of educational toys designed to adapt to how children learn, play and grow by sparking curiosity and building ...

Outdoor play helps children learn skills, develop physical strength, and benefits mental well-being. Time outdoors can also provide an opportunity to make friends. Outdoor play comes in many forms. It ...

The “modified kindergarten curriculum” would remain a “curriculum that is age and developmentally appropriate,” which, according to the governor’s office, would “prioritize play as a form of learning ...

One of my earliest posts here concerned the definition of play, which I developed further in an article on “Definitions of Play” for Scholarpedia (Gray, 2013) and in my book Free to Learn. I first ...

Everyone uses their senses to understand the world around them. This is especially true for children who, after birth, rely solely on their senses for knowledge about the world and everything in it.