What do children learn when they play?
Representational competence 
Through pretend play, children develop the ability to use their imaginations to represent objects, people, and ideas.
Oral language and narrative understanding
Through dramatic play with objects, people, and imagined situations, children develop their oral language skills and capacity to “think in stories.”
Positive approaches to learning
When children are engaged in activities they have chosen, learning is enjoyable because it is based on their own curiosity and connected to a sense of mastery.
Logic
Through play with blocks, clay, sand, water, and other materials, children learn scientific concepts such as cause and effect and mathematical concepts such as quantity, classification, and ordering.
Self-regulation and social negotiation
As children interact, they learn to cooperate, express and listen to ideas, handle frustration, and empathize with others.
Credit: Play in the Early Years: Key to School Success, a Bay Area Childhood Funders Policy Brief, 2007
