Building Executive Function Skills Through Games: The Power of Playful Learning
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The 3- and 4-year-old children in Mr. Garcia鈥檚 classroom are engaged in a game of听Freeze Dance.
Mr. Garcia says, 鈥淎s the music plays, you may twist, jump, or wiggle, but remember: to keep your body safe, you need to stay a safe distance from听your neighbor.鈥�
The children move along with the music being played鈥攄rums beating a rhythm, horns blowing a spirited melody鈥攁nd in concert with听one another.
鈥淩emember that when the music stops,鈥� says Mr. Garcia, 鈥測ou听stop too!鈥�
As the music continues, the children dance, jump, and share their excitement with听each other.
鈥淚鈥檓 turning around and around and around,鈥澨齭ays Emmanuel.
鈥淲hen will the music stop?!鈥澨齛sks Josiah.
Teresa shouts, 鈥淟ook how high I听can jump!鈥�
Madison begins to wander toward the block center but turns her attention back to the game as Mr. Garcia, preparing to pause the music, says, 鈥淲ho remembers what to do when the听music stops?鈥�
The music suddenly stops. The children gasp with energy. Some tumble to the ground, and others freeze with one leg akimbo, arms outstretched. They stop in various stages of movement as the rule of the game comes back to their minds: when the music stops, I听stop too!
It is easy to see how much care goes into preparing early childhood education classrooms for learning. Understanding that 鈥淸c]hildren are born eager to learn; [taking] delight exploring their world and making connections鈥� (51吃瓜网 2020, 1), teachers like Mr. Garcia create rich environments brimming with signs and activities bolstering a range of skills and knowledge critical for development and learning during the early childhood years and beyond. These are necessary skills for young children entering kindergarten (Sabol & Pianta 2017) and for long-term learning outcomes, such as attaining higher grades and graduating from high school (Duncan et al. 2007; Quirk, Nylund-Gibson, & Furlong 2013; Pan et al. 2019; Ricciardi et听al. 2021).
Such outcomes do not occur without intention: they are spurred by carefully planned opportunities and experiences within high-quality early childhood education settings (Reid et al. 2021). In high-quality settings, early childhood educators recognize that 鈥減lay promotes joyful learning that fosters self-regulation, language, cognitive and social competencies as well as content knowledge across disciplines鈥� (51吃瓜网 2020, 9; see also Yogman et al. 2018). Early childhood educators create, support, and guide children鈥檚 learning along a continuum of play experiences. In this way, they help children make progress toward and attain learning goals (Zosh et al. 2022). Examples of these play experiences include games like Freeze Dance, hopscotch, and听Simon Says.
Indeed, the science of learning shows that children learn best when they are actively engaged in meaningful, iterative, and joyful experiences (Hirsh-Pasek听et al. 2022; Zosh et al. 2022; Blinkoff, Nesbitt et al. 2023; Nesbitt et al. 2023) that support child agency, a critical piece for creating equitable learning experiences (51吃瓜网 2019; Blinkoff, Wright et al. 2023). Effective early childhood educators intentionally design, select materials, and use a repertoire of strategies so that every child acquires key skills and knowledge through playful lessons and activities. They know that developing these skills takes time, practice, and scaffolding as well as working with others. Interacting and learning with others can be taxing, sometimes manifesting as frustration, resistance, and/or other expressions that may present challenges to educators and peers (Taylor & Boyer 2020). Therefore, teachers purposefully plan playful experiences that develop the simple and more complex skills that help children carry out goal-directed behavior; that is, executive听function skills.
As a developmental psychologist (Molly, second author) and a former early childhood education teacher and current researcher (Cynthia, first author), we believe that if research indicates these skills are important, then the research community must effectively communicate what is understood. That communication should include practical and playful examples that promote and encourage children鈥檚 learning of these skills in early childhood education spaces. The good news is that there are plentiful ways to incorporate play-based activities aimed at building executive function skills in these settings. All of these activities can also be shared with families as teachers partner with them to provide learning opportunities for听their children.
In this article, we define executive function (including working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility) and describe why it is important for children鈥檚 learning and development. We explore the connections between executive function and playful learning and offer ways for teachers to support the development of executive function skills through games. Our goal is to continue to encourage early childhood educators in their work, recognizing how important and valuable they are. While the games we share are purposefully easy to incorporate, we recognize that it takes a skillful teacher to carry out the planning, engagement, and gentle encouragement and scaffolding needed as children practice and grow in executive听function skills.
Executive Function: An听Evolving Understanding
The concept of executive function鈥攁nd its importance for learning and development鈥攈as been given increasing attention in recent years (Moreno, Shwayder, & Friedman 2016; Ackerman &听Friedman-Krauss听2017; Gibb et al. 2021). However, researchers have not come to consensus about how these constructs are defined and how skills are delineated from each other, measured, and connected to practice. Recently, there have been efforts to clarify terms and solidify shared understandings (Jones et al. 2016). In this section, we present definitions and explanations of executive function that are grounded in听these efforts.
Executive function has been characterized as the brain鈥檚 air traffic control system (Center on the Developing Child, n.d.; Shonkoff et al. 2011).听Just as air traffic control directs the paths of airplanes by helping them successfully take off, move, and land in destinations around the globe, executive function skills help individuals move from place to place, complete tasks, and stay focused. In early childhood education settings in particular, these skills keep children safe and the classroom community听moving smoothly.
Executive function is comprised of the individual skills of听working memory,听inhibitory control, and听cognitive flexibility听(Center on the Developing听Child, n.d.).
- Working memory听allows children to hold and update information over short periods of time. Children are asked to remember an incredible amount of information during the course of the school day. For example, in the opening vignette, Mr. Garcia asked the children to remember the steps needed to play Freeze Dance and to follow rules to keep themselves and others safe. The children worked hard to hold the multiple directions of movement and safety in mind, all while working toward the goal of stopping when the听music stopped.
- Inhibitory control听allows children to suppress behavior or responses. It is not uncommon for children to veer off task as they juggle the multiple instructions they were asked to keep in mind while playing a game, for instance. A vibrant early childhood setting may be filled with wonderful and age-appropriate distractions (the other children, toys, children鈥檚 own desires), all serving to make keeping on task challenging. For example, in the opening vignette, Madison had to practice inhibitory control to move her attention from the block center back to the game. As children grow and develop, they become better at remaining focused on a task and at ignoring other appealing, or even disruptive, distractions that may interfere with reaching听their goal.
- Cognitive flexibility听allows children to shift attention between competing priorities and to think in new ways. For example, the children in the opening vignette may have been encouraged, on the one hand, to move individually in creative ways. But, on the other hand, dancing safely in a group requires moving without infringing on other children, whether physically or emotionally. So they had to think about competing priorities to balance their own creative movements with their own and others鈥� safety. The children had to think about this game and its rules and actions in a听new way.
For an overview of how brain science research informs our understanding of these skills, see 鈥淓vidence from Neuroscience Research: What We Know About Executive Function and the Developing Brain鈥� below.
The Importance of Executive Function Skills for听Children鈥檚 Learning
Classroom research tells us executive function helps contribute to children鈥檚 academic and social and emotional learning (Shaul & Schwartz 2014). For example, preschoolers who have better inhibitory control are rated as having higher social and emotional competence by teachers (Rhoades, Greenberg, & Domitrovich 2009). Studies show that executive function, or the individual skills that make up executive function, are associated with content area learning and success, including in math and literacy (Blair & Razza 2007; Fuhs et al. 2014). Moreover, Nesbitt and colleagues (2015) probed this association and found that children with higher executive function ability were more engaged in positive learning opportunities and less disruptive in the classroom: these听learning-related听behaviors resulted in larger math and literacy gains. We understand this to mean that these skills (the academic and the regulatory) develop in tandem (Blair &听Razza 2007).
Executive function skills are learned in the workings of early childhood settings over time, with practice and intentional teaching. Early childhood educators understand that children may, for example, have difficulty paying attention to a circle time discussion when they cannot keep the conversation in mind, are distracted, or behave in ways that challenge the circle time setting (talking or walking away). Further, no two young children in early childhood settings will be the same. Children need varying amounts of time and opportunities to develop, and they need to be supported in developmentally appropriate and equitable ways. Evidence shows that executive function skills consistently develop well into adolescence and adulthood (Gogtay et al. 2004; Best, Miller, & Jones 2009; Souissi, Chamari, & Bellaj 2022). Children鈥檚 development of executive function is an incremental and lengthy process that depends on a variety of factors, including the adults around them who continue to practice and develop regulation-related skills themselves (Doebel 2020; Zelazo &听Carlson 2020).
Evidence from Neuroscience Research: What We Know About Executive Function and the听Developing Brain
Neuroscience research shows that the prefrontal cortex, the brain region responsible for executive function, develops rapidly in childhood (M眉ller & Kerns 2015) and is not fully developed until well into adulthood (Gogtay et al. 2004; Gilmore, Knickmeyer, & Gao. 2018; Bethlehem et al. 2022). Researchers can witness this maturation by assessing children鈥檚 adaptability to a changing rule in a card game, for instance. Although 3-year-old children are often unable to adapt to a change in the rule, 5-year-old children usually can (Zelazo 2006). Brain science describes a link between the development of the frontal lobe of the brain, the area responsible for executive function, and the amygdala, an area of the brain partially responsible for regulation (Silvers et al. 2017). As educators have likely observed, this research tells us that the older children are, the better they are at managing their own behavior, especially when they听are upset.
The iterative reprocessing model posits that a child鈥檚 development of executive function skills rests on the neurocognitive skill of听reflection, or the ability to step back and deliberately sustain attention on听goal-directed听problem solving (Zelazo 2015). For a child to increase their executive function skills, their ability to reflect must also be amplified. The more the brain practices reflection, the more executive function skills can improve. Indeed, when the brain is used in a certain way time and time again, those neural circuits become more efficient. For instance, Diamond (2013) highlights the developmental progression of the components of executive function. Repeated practice is key to fostering these skills in听educational settings.
In addition, brain development, including the development of executive function, is impacted by a child鈥檚 environment. Unfortunately, some children may face toxic stress, or stress that is prolonged and harmful, stemming from experiences like poverty or abuse (Franke 2014). Evidence shows that toxic stress can have lifelong, deleterious impacts on children鈥檚 brain development, including on executive function ability (Shonkoff et al. 2012; Shonkoff 2017). Teachers are likely aware that not all environments provide children with equal opportunities to build executive function skills. Some children face significant issues and events, whether one time or ongoing, that impact their overall development and learning (Georgieff, Ramel, & Cusick 2018;听Horowitz-Kraus听& Hutton 2018; Tooley, Bassett, &听Mackey 2021).
Some key takeaways from brain science听research include:
- Particular areas of the brain responsible for executive function and self-regulation develop over time. The younger a child is, the more challenging it will be for them to implement executive function听and self-regulation.
- As children grow, they become better at these important skills, often moving from developing simpler skills to more听complex ones.
- High-quality early learning environments and experiences foster听children鈥檚 development.
- There is variation among children, which depends on individual characteristics听and contexts.
- Children鈥檚 exposure to environmental toxic stress can impact the development of听executive function.
听
Games: Playful Experiences to Promote听Executive Function
Playful learning contributes to the development of executive function skills. Games are one type of playful learning experience that can be planned for and guided by teachers. Once children learn a specific game, they can play it independently, giving teachers the opportunity to observe and assess children鈥檚 executive function skills. For example, Simon Says targets the elements of executive function that link to academic and social and emotional learning, all while engaging children in a playful experience. It can also be adapted to give children agency by letting them be Simon, thinking of actions for their peers. The rules can be changed to provide a challenge for children: once children are sufficiently experienced playing Simon Says in the traditional way, teachers can ask them to听not听do what Simon says.
Playful moments that help children develop executive function skills can also be integrated into transition times. Cleaning up is a great opportunity to practice sorting, for instance. Teachers can encourage children to sort items such as blocks by color as they place them back on a shelf or in bins. To help children build cognitive flexibility, teachers can go back and forth between different sorting rules, combining rules (sorting by color, shape, and texture) for an听extra challenge.
In this section, we offer vignettes showing early childhood educators and children engaged in examples of games that support executive function skills鈥攕uch as memory card games and听Jumping Feet.
Memory听Card Games
Ms. Samuelson invites the children in her class to help create a set of cards for a memory game. She encourages the children to take photos of one another, giving them the choice of how and when to take the images. She prints two copies of each photo and glues them onto cardstock or posterboard so that the children can easily manipulate听the cards.
After the cards have been created, Ms. Samuelson spreads them out on the table and invites children to听join her.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to play memory. Who remembers the rules?鈥澨齭he asks.
鈥淲e turn over two cards,鈥澨齭ays Jeffery.
鈥淵es, you remembered鈥攚e take turns turning over two cards at a time. And what do we do if the听cards match?鈥�
The children reply excitedly, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a pair. We听keep them!鈥�
鈥淲hat happens if the cards听don鈥檛听match?鈥� asks听Ms. Samuelson.
Katie replies, 鈥淛anie gets听a turn.鈥�
鈥淵es,鈥� says Ms. Samuelson. 鈥淚f the cards don鈥檛 match, remember to turn them back over, and the next classmate will take听their turn.鈥�
In small groups, children can develop both their collaboration and executive function skills by playing a memory card game. This game helps children develop working memory skills. Teachers can create a set of cards that depict objects of different colors, shapes, textures, sizes, or other dimensions鈥攐r add interest by including images of familiar objects from the classroom (the block shelf, the water pitchers used at snack time, the bins of crayons or buttons). Teachers can also support children as they make a set of cards, like Ms. Samuelson did, giving them ownership in the game鈥檚 creation. No matter what images are used, the rules can be adapted to target more than one executive function skill. For example, matching images by shape听and听size helps children practice both working memory and听cognitive flexibility.
Jumping Feet
Mr. Robert notices a group of children looking to play while outside. He decides to introduce them to a new game called Jumping Feet. Removing chalk from his pocket, he lowers himself to the playground鈥檚 textured surface, asking 鈥淎ll right, who knows how to听play hopscotch?鈥�
Arms fly up as the children shout, 鈥淚 do!鈥� and 鈥淢e, me,听me, me!鈥�
鈥淕reat,鈥� says Mr. Robert, 鈥淧laying Jumping Feet听is a lot like hopscotch. See here on the ground where I鈥檝e drawn some feet? As you look, you may see two feet or you may see one foot. This game is like hopscotch, but there鈥檚 a fun twist in it. When you see two feet on our path, you jump with two feet. But when you see one foot, you jump with one foot. Who would like to听go first?鈥�
After the children have some experience playing Jumping Feet this way, Mr. Robert changes听the rules.
鈥淚nstead of using two feet to jump when you see two feet, use one foot. When you see one foot, use听two feet.鈥�
Darla begins her turn but forgets the new rules and jumps with two feet onto the outline of two feet. She frowns, looking to Mr. Robert for encouragement听and guidance.
鈥淭his is hard to do. But don鈥檛 worry. With practice, we can do it,鈥� says Mr. Robert. 鈥淟et鈥檚 try it again! When you see two feet this time, use just one听foot there.鈥�
Darla begins another turn and jumps with one foot on that outline. Turns continue, and each child has a chance to try this new twist on听the game.
Young children love to move, and Jumping Feet offers them an opportunity to practice moving their bodies as well as executive function and self-regulation skills. Like Mr. Robert in the vignette, teachers can begin guiding children to play this game in the traditional sense (children jump on the picture of feet they see by using the number of feet they see). After applying that set of rules, Mr. Robert challenged the children by changing the rules. This supports the development of cognitive flexibility and working memory as children must keep the new rule in mind. In addition, children engaged in inhibitory control. Instead of immediately acting based on the familiar rules, they had to inhibit their movements and actions: they had to pause to consider the number of feet they saw on the path and then do the opposite.听This is hard work for children and so important for their continued development. Over time, children will gradually and more easily employ these skills later and in听different settings.
These are just a sampling of games that educators can integrate into their settings. For more ideas of playful ways to support executive function, see Harvard University鈥檚 Center on the Developing Child () and the Playful Learning Landscape Action听Network ().
Conclusion
Among other benefits, playful learning fosters executive function skills, which are important foundations for learning and development. We encourage early childhood educators, administrators, and families to raise their voices in support of the power of play in all aspects of learning and in support of the right of children to be engaged in playful ways that elicit joy and tap into opportunities of tremendous growth and unlimited potential. We wish all readers a classroom full of playful听learning experiences!
Photographs: 漏 Getty Images
Copyright 漏 2024 by the 51吃瓜网. See Permissions and Reprints online at 51吃瓜网.org/resources/permissions.
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