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đź’™Motherđź’™Teacherđź’™Learnerđź’™Advocate for Child Led Playđź’™Combining Environment, Materials & Interactionsđź’™Play Builds Brainsđź’™Let Them Play
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06/07/2026
Entertainment captures attention. Engagement develops the brain.
Of course, there is a place for entertainment. Entertainment is enjoyable, restorative, social, and even educational at times.
But the distinction matters because entertainment and engagement are not the same thing.
This is especially important when it comes to screens. Many apps, videos, and games are designed to capture attention. They may keep a child focused on a screen, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are building focus.
This helps explain why some children can attend to a screen for two hours, yet struggle to attend to a book for two minutes.
Fast-paced, highly stimulating, constantly novel experiences provide frequent rewards and can shape what the brain expects from an activity. Over time, slower-paced activities may feel less interesting, less rewarding, and more difficult to sustain. In other words, the brain begins to expect a higher level of stimulation, making activities that require effort, patience, and persistence harder to engage with.
What develops the brain is play, movement, exploration, curiosity, conversation, creativity, imagination, problem-solving, experimentation, risk-taking, responsibility, persistence, boredom, struggle, and meaningful human connection. These experiences require children to actively participate in the world around them rather than simply consume it.
So when it comes to screens, think screen time smart. Choose intentional over constant. Choose a shared screen over an individual device whenever possible. Choose movies and shows with sequence, storyline, and depth over short-form, fast-paced videos designed to rapidly capture attention.
And perhaps most importantly, let children be bored.
Boredom is not a problem to solve. It is often the starting point for curiosity, creativity, problem-solving, play, and true engagement. If we constantly entertain children, we may unintentionally rob them of the very experiences that help their brains grow.
05/06/2026
đź’™How you show up during play matters just as much as the play itself.
💙 The adult role isn’t director — it’s observer, narrator, mirror, co-player.
💙Vygotsky’s research on child development reminds us that the adult role is to support the learning, not lead it.
đź’™That means being present without taking over.
đź’™Staying quiet when every instinct tells you to jump in.
💙Trusting the child to figure it out. That’s not passive — that’s intentional.
💙Interactions are child-led or they’re not interactions — they’re interruptions.
💙Let’s talk about how adults show up during play — because this one is hard and most of us were never taught to do it well.
đź’™As adults we tend to want to fix, guide, redirect, or improve what a child is doing.
💙It feels helpful. It’s usually not.
💙The research is clear — when adults dominate play interactions, children lose ownership of their learning.
💙Vygotsky’s work on the zone of proximal development tells us adults have a role, but that role is to support, not steer.
💙You can be an observer, a narrator, a mirror, or a co-player — all valuable, all very different from being the director.
đź’™The hardest skill to develop is being fully present without interrupting.
đź’™Sitting on your hands, staying quiet, and trusting the child to lead.
💙That discomfort you feel watching a child struggle or go “off script”. That’s where their best learning is happening.
💙Interactions are child-led or they’re not interactions — they’re interruptions. 💙
đź’™Blocks. Recyclables. Loose parts. Natural materials.
💙The best play materials have one thing in common — they don’t tell the child what to do with them. 🧱🍂
💙Open-ended materials hand the control to the child, and that’s exactly where learning happens.
💙Simon Nicholson’s loose parts theory and decades of early childhood research confirm it — when children direct their own exploration, their brains are doing the heavy lifting.
💙You don’t need a lot. You need the right kind.
đź’™Invite the play.
đź’™Then step back.
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11/26/2025
Cant wait to dive into this much-needed resource!
I dont know Heather super well, but what I do know for sure is she is a thorough researcher.
The majority of my knowledge of schema play comes from a blog post I read in 2014, a fantastic resource by Michelle Thornhill and my own observations of child-led play.
That knowledge has led to me to believe, with every ounce of my being, scheme play is a vital key to understanding children and what they do when allowed to LEAD.
Environments for children should be set with grand attention to the most common play schemes and definitely for the play schemes you observe your current group of children ORGANICALLY exploring in their play.
Again, I am THRILLED there is a trustworthy, well-researched source of info for us all!!!
****DONT MISS THE BLACK FRIDAY SPECIAL on my upcoming "Art of Empowering Children Certification"
There is an entire module all about creating environments that meet each child's scheme play needs.
https://listen-to-the-children-academy.teachable.com/p/the-art-of-empowering-children-certification-2025-111
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