Table Of ContentPlayful Education
Playful Education provides a guide for you to activate the powers of play to
boost your teaching practices and increase your effectiveness as an educator.
Based on Virginia Axline and Garry Landreth’s play therapy, this book is an
operational and practical guide on using play therapy to strengthen your ho-
listic learning development and relationships with students. Chapters offer
practical responsive interventions for children with behavioral and academic
challenges and preventative practices. You will learn the purpose and goals
of implementing play times (i.e., PlayBreaks), with individuals and groups
of students, skills necessary to facilitate playtimes, and how to transfer play
skills to the larger classroom. Educators will learn the foundations of play
therapy and how they can be used to guide play within a classroom setting.
Expanding beyond the classroom, this book is loaded with playful activities
to enhance child-teacher relationships and integrate play throughout the
school.
Dee C. Ray is Regents Professor and Elaine Millikan Mathes Professor in Ear-
ly Childhood Education in the Counseling Program and Director of the Cen-
ter for Play Therapy at the University of North Texas. Dr. Ray also co-created
and oversees the international certifcation program for Child-Centered Play
Therapy and Child-Parent Relationship Therapy.
Other Eye On Education Books
Available from Routledge (www.routledge.com/k-12)
Effective Family Engagement Policies:
A Guide for Early Childhood Administrators
Teresa S. McKay
Alphabetics for Emerging Learners:
Building Strong Reading Foundations in PreK
Heidi Anne E. Mesmer
Universal Design for Learning in the Early Childhood Classroom:
Teaching Children of all Languages, Cultures, and
Abilities, Birth – 8 Years
Pamela Brillante and Karen Nemeth
Relationship-Based Early Childhood Professional Development:
Leading and Learning for Equity
Marilyn Chu and Kimberly Sopher-Dunn
The Kinderchat Guide to the Classroom
Heidi Echternacht and Amy Murray
The A in STEAM:
Lesson Plans and Activities for Integrating Art, Ages 0–8
Jerilou J Moore and Kerry P Holmes
Playful Education
Using Play Therapy Strategies to
Elevate Your Classroom
Dee C. Ray
Designed cover image: © Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Dee C. Ray
The right of Dee C. Ray to be identified as author of this work has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent
to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ray, Dee C, author.
Title: Playful education: using play therapy strategies to elevate your
classroom / Dee C Ray.
Description: New York, NY: Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical
references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022025855 (print) | LCCN 2022025856 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032259147 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032254128 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003285618 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Play—Psychological aspects. | Play therapy. | Early childhood
education. | Teacher effectiveness. | Creative activities and seat work.
Classification: LCC LB1139.35.P55 R39 2023 (print) | LCC LB1139.35.P55
(ebook) | DDC 372.21—dc23/eng/20220810
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022025855
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022025856
ISBN: 9781032259147 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781032254128 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781003285618 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003285618
Typeset in Palatino
by codeMantra
Dedication
This book is dedicated to Ms. Hill,
the teacher who brought play and relationship to my education
And to my always and forever support team, Russ, Elijah, & Noah
Contents
The Child, The Teacher, and Play: An Introduction 1
PART I
Play Therapy and the Role of Play in the Schools 9
1 What Is Play Therapy and What Does It Have to
Do with Schools? 11
2 The Power of Play in the Holistic Learning and
Development of Children 21
3 Play and Development 25
4 Play and Self-Regulation 39
5 Play and Social Relationships 46
PART II
Activating the Powers of Play Between Teacher and Child:
The PlayBreak 55
6 Bringing Together the Powers of Play to Activate Learning 57
7 The PlayBreak: A Special Playtime 62
8 The PlayBreak Attitudes 70
9 The PlayBreak Skills 77
10 Putting It All Together: The PlayBreak in Action 94
11 The Power of the PlayBreak: Case Study 103
PART III
Moving Play into the Classroom and School Culture 107
12 Transferring the PlayBreak Skills into the Classroom 109
13 Integrating Play in School Culture: Building Partnerships
with Parents, Teachers, and Administrators 121
Bringing Back the Joy: Concluding Thoughts 131
viii ◆ Contents
Attachment A: Research on the Effectiveness of Play
Therapy in the Schools 133
Attachment B: Play-Based Child-Teacher Relationship
Intervention Studies 138
References 145
Index 155
The Child, The Teacher, and Play:
An Introduction
Most teachers entered the feld of teaching because of a love for children and
love of learning. I still remember my frst teaching experience and thrill of
fnally getting to do what I had wanted to do since I was 7 years old. I had
wanted to be just like my frst grade teacher, Mrs. Hill. Mrs. Hill was a tall
thin lady who wore purple and always had the brightest smile. I remember
being absolutely in love with her. I thought she was the most beautiful, nicest
person I had ever known in my short life. Mrs. Hill was actually my Kin-
dergarten and frst grade teacher because she was assigned to our class for
2 years. When I walked to school each day, I looked for fowers to pick for her
and gifts from nature to bring to her. She was always so grateful for my gifts
which were often weeds that I believed to be fowers, but she would exclaim,
“I love them. Thank you so much.” And Mrs. Hill was always playful. She
would laugh and joke with us. She would play ball with us at recess and run
around the playground. She would draw with us and she would listen to
our pretend stories as if they were real and interesting. I do not remember
anything related to school curriculum from that time, only the fun, play, and
feeling a great sense of belonging. I loved going to school those frst 2 years
and I credit Mrs. Hill with my love and commitment for school and for learn-
ing, as well as my deep affnity for the color purple.
My second grade experience could not have been more different. My
teacher was unhappy and, even at my young age, I can remember think-
ing about how unhappy she was. She yelled at us a lot. She was angry a lot.
She never played with us. The frst, and only, day I brought her my fowers,
she looked at them and then in an annoyed voice said, “These are weeds.”
DOI: 10.4324/9781003285618-1
