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A child’s play is not simply a reproduction of what he has experienced, but a creative reworking of the impressions he has acquired. — Lev Vygotsky, 2004. My six-year-old niece started kindergarten this year. She was thrilled! But then, within the first few days, something terrible happened. She was no longer the happy child who was enthusiastic about learning. She cried at the drop of a hat and refused to go back. When asked why, she told her parents, “It’s too much work. The day is too long. I’m too tired.” She also told them that she couldn't play anymore. Sadly, this is happening all over the world. Accountability by means of high stakes testing has mandated that playful learning be replaced by volumes of disconnected fact-based learning. Today, memorization has replaced true learning, with success being measured by test scores. Since when does sitting still and silent equal learning? Dr. Montessori tells us that how we learn makes a difference to what we learn. ... Does Natur...

He does it with his hands, by experience, first in play and then through work. The hands are the instruments of man's intelligence. —Maria Montessori The Absorbent Mind, p. 25. Today I am going to suggest something that may seem counter to Montessori philosophy. I am going to suggest that we need more play. But wait … didn't Dr. Montessori call play “work”? That’s right. She referred to play as the work of early childhood. The term work implies that the activity is worthy and important, while the term play is often thought of as frivolous and unproductive. As Mr. Fred Rogers reminds us, “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” (Miller, 2013) By referring to play as work, Dr. Montessori was stressing the importance of play in the lives of children. Work and Play in the Montessori Environment The separation of work and play is growing ever more present in convention...