Play Counts Early Education

The American Academy of Pediatrics' new report on digital ecosystems makes one thing clear: today’s media is designed to capture attention and children are growing up in it.

For young kids, that matters. Their brains are still building skills like focus, self-regulation, and learning through real-world interaction.

Screens can help, but they don’t replace relationships.

Children build resilience through everyday moments: waiting, problem-solving and learning to work through small disappointments. If screens become the default, those opportunities shrink.

And it’s not just how much media kids use. It’s what kind they're watching. Fast, short-form content used alone doesn’t support development the way shared, educational content can.

Read more of our take in Beyond the Headlines: https://bit.ly/4sE61Tr

New resource alert! EveryChild California is sharing the California Budget & Policy Center's latest ECE Chart Book, packed with downloadable tables and charts on California's publicly funded early care and education programs.

A great tool for your advocacy efforts! 👇

🔗 https://bit.ly/4emPM9O

Finland starts school at 7, protects early childhood from pressure — and leads the world.
Everything about Finland's approach to early education contradicts the instinct most modern parents and systems feel — to start earlier, push harder, and introduce academic content as soon as possible.
Finnish children don't begin formal schooling until age 7. The years before that are deliberately protected — not from learning, but from academic pressure. Instead of worksheets, drills, and structured literacy programs, early childhood in Finland centers on play, social development, emotional skills, and the kind of physical, imaginative exploration that develops the foundational cognitive architecture formal learning will later require.
This isn't idealism. It's developmental strategy.
The brain regions most critical for creativity, problem-solving, self-regulation, and sustained attention are being built in the early years — and they require appropriate stimulation to develop properly. Play, social interaction, and unstructured exploration provide that stimulation in ways that premature academic pressure doesn't. Children who reach formal schooling with strong emotional regulation, social competence, and genuine curiosity engage with learning more effectively than those who arrive already fatigued by years of inappropriate academic demand.
By the time Finnish children begin structured academics at 7, they're developmentally ready — able to focus, follow instruction, and absorb material in ways that make the learning land rather than simply pass through.
Finland's system also features shorter school days, minimal homework, and highly trained, trusted teachers — all of which protect engagement and prevent the burnout that early academic pressure routinely produces elsewhere.
The results, consistently measured across international assessments, speak clearly: stronger outcomes, measurably happier students.
Readiness matters more than speed. Building the foundation takes longer than drilling the content — and pays compounding returns across an entire educational life."

Blaming Everything But Standardized Schooling "Students are not where they need to be or where we want them to be." This is a quote from the commissioner of the National ...

Educators, parks employees, nonprofit leaders — this one’s for you. ✨

The first five years of life lay the foundation for lifelong health, learning and well-being. Regular access to nature is key to healthy development during this period. Communities around the world are taking note of the importance of nature engagement in early childhood. And yet, systemic barriers prevent early childhood care and education systems from fully embedding outdoor and nature-based practices.

The Nature in Early Childhood Toolkit offers a structured, multilayered approach to ensuring that nature is fully integrated into early childhood. Communities everywhere can follow the tools, case studies and implementation guides in this new toolkit to build long-term, sustainable nature access for the youngest members of your community.

The toolkit was developed by , a national initiative of the Children & Nature Network, National League of Cities and KABOOM!

“We created the toolkit because communities kept asking, ‘Where do we begin?’” said Vera Feeny, program manager for children and nature at the National League of Cities. “The answer is: Begin where you are, and learn from others who have walked this path.”

Check it out here: https://bit.ly/3Z9zQ1C

Modern parenting often focuses on limiting children’s screen time. However, recent research shows that parental screen use during key interactions may be more impactful than the child’s own device use.

Children learn through attention and engagement. When parents are distracted by phones, tablets, or screens during meals, play, or conversation, the quality of connection diminishes. Even short lapses can reduce responsiveness and emotional attunement.

The study emphasizes that mindful presence matters more than rigid restrictions on child devices. Parents who actively engage with children while limiting their own screen use provide stronger support for language development, social skills, and emotional bonding.

Practical strategies include setting device-free times during core interactions, focusing on eye contact, listening actively, and modeling healthy technology use. Children internalize these behaviors and learn how to manage attention and relationships effectively.

Limiting parental distraction does not eliminate the need for balanced screen time, but it underscores the importance of presence. Engaged parenting strengthens connection, encourages learning, and ensures that technology does not replace meaningful interaction.

Most of us, I hope, are outraged by the idea of arresting "babies." It's an easy, extreme thing over which to be outraged, but we should be equally outraged over children being required to ask permission to use the toilet or compelled to walk in straight lines through the hallways or to sit quietly in their seats while a teacher drones on about irrelevant things. We should be equally outraged by the assembly line mechanisms by which we process our children, standardizing them through tests and ranking them by grades. We should be equally outraged by a culture that cuts down all the tall poppies, hammers down the nails that stick up, and values classroom management over anything else.

Very useful!