The Benefits of Free Play

There are huge benefits to using Free Play in the Junior Infant Classroom. Social and emotional skills are developed through free play, the children are given the time and freedom to explore and play alongside their peers. This gives them a great opportunity to develop language skills by communicating and working through something on their own without adult intervention (although fully supervised, we try to only intervene when necessary). They are intrinsically motivated to choose what they interact with and for how long (we do not have a set play rotation system). They are under no pressure to move to a different station at any stage and there is no need for them to leave a particular activity if they are enjoying it.

Free play is extremely important to us as it is child-led and the children are taking charge of their own learning. The social skills developed through play are phenomenal; teamwork, listening, sharing, organising, sorting, planning, empathy, decision making, emotional regulation, confidence and conflict resolution. 

The children are also developing fine and gross motor skills and are banking a wealth of language while having fun.