Play = Writing

Making meaningful marks on paper

Communicating your own ideas

Making plans, organizing thoughts, telling what you know

Check out these posts:

It's Our Plan

Writing Center

Writing to Communicate

Dry Erase Boards

White Boards Again

I'm Making My Own Map

Purposeful Writing

Writing with Bamboo Pens

Painting with Oil

Drawing Together

Clipboards in the Blocks Center

I Like Wot evr this is

Play = Math

Sorting, matching, grouping, classifying

Counting, moving spaces, patterning

Exploring symmetry, exploring volume, exploring shape

Check out these posts:
Hands-on Graphing
Math Play
How Many Blocks Long?
Rocks and Scale
Add a Little Math
Lids as Counters
Life Sized Board Game
I Detect a Pattern

Play = Engineering

Creating a plan and executing that plan

Experimenting and exploring to solve problems

Building, creating, failing, trying again


Check out these posts:
It's Our Plan
Cube Blocks and Free Play
I Watched a Builder
Expand the Possibilities
A Cube Out of Cubes
Legos on the Table
Lids Usage 2
Heavy Duty Problem Solving
Competence and Confidence
Anything Is a Possibility

Play = Self Expression

The freedom to explore and express their own ideas

The freedom to use materials in their own ways

Drawing, writing, building, moving as they choose

Check out these posts for more ideas about self-expression:

Walk Upside Down

Cube Blocks and Free Play

Practicing Punching Holes

Wasting Paper

Anything Is a Possibility

Individualized Learning