Let's Play: (Un)Curriculum Early Learning Adventures

Let Them Play showed us how to defend play. Jeff and Denita's second book, Let's Play, shows us how to play. It is by far the best and most original book of ideas for every early childhood learning environment. I highly recommend it to anyone who works with or cares for young children in any setting, be that a child care center, a family child care home, a preschool environment, or a parent!

If you wonder what play-based education looks like, this is it. This book makes you rethink your approach to education and will inspire you throughout your day, month, and year. It's a great read with the right amount of fun, and the sentence, “A chainsaw would be overkill,” alone will make you laugh out loud. More importantly, this book has made me a better teacher and given me the research-based confidence to make play the centerpiece of the classroom. I wish someone had put this book into my hands on my first day on the job.

Jeff A. Johnson and Denita Dinger have BIG, messy, imaginative ideas that young children will love and learn from. As a music teacher, I'm especially excited to try the Packing Tape Drum and Not a Rain Stick, but all the adventures are amazing and, best of all, completely play-based. If young children could design their own “(un)curriculum,” it would look a lot like Let's Play.

Thank you to Jeff and Denita for writing another meaningful book for lovers of all things play. This one picks up where Let Them Play left off. Full of inspiring ideas, utilizing easy-to-find, yet unconventional, materials, it will surely spark your imagination. I sent my husband to the store with my first shopping list before I had even finished chapter one!

Let's Play is full of fantastic inspiration for play and sure to spur the imagination of adults and children alike! Filled with possibilities (and variations) for exciting, hands-on play activities, you can pull it out when you need some inspiration, or use it to plan ahead for a more challenging play-filled project to embark on together. Rich with ideas for exploration, this is a must-have resource for anyone looking to enjoy the excitement of playing and learning together with young children. Now, come on—Let's Play!

No matter where you are on your journey toward promoting play in early childhood, you will find invaluable ideas inside the pages of this book—from messy to non-messy, from simple to complex, from music to science to literacy, and more. Jeff and Denita have included a treasure trove of ideas to challenge and intrigue children and adults alike. This is a must-have for bookshelves (and, more importantly, in the hands) of parents, caregivers, and teachers of young children.

As a speech language pathologist working with multicultural children—children with learning disabilities, in particular—I know that play-based therapy engages children. It can be the best way to observe children's sensory, motor, and cognitive abilities. Let's Play explains the rich complexity of spontaneous play and its opportunities for learning and rehabilitation.

I was scanning the table of contents, and when I got to chapter twenty, I said to myself, “This is going to be an incredible book of fun.” I was right! Thirty-nine chapters of “bodies and brains engaged” play experiences and oozing over with fun! Reflective, intentional teachers will find something wonderful to experience with children in Let's Play. The book list at the end of each chapter is bonus!

After 36 years of providing child care, I have read many books on play. I have always considered my program to be play-based, but after reading Jeff and Denita's Let's Play, I now know I was not as child-led as I wanted to be. This book inspired me to get up off the couch, where I was reading, and drive to Home Depot. I bought gutters, a shop vac, and other items Jeff and Denita suggested. My program has been enhanced greatly since Jeff and Denita have come into my life. Their books have helped me be more relaxed, flexible, and open to "plopping materials" and see where the children lead me and each other. Jeff and Denita's play obsession is contagious!

Let's Play is just the advocate child-led learning has been waiting for. The fresh, open-ended ideas are presented with wit and encouragement and are manageable enough that anyone can implement them into play time with children.

I've been anticipating this book ever since reading Let Them Play. I've been gradually shifting to an open-ended play-based experience for my group, so I love the ideas presented in this book. They are inexpensive, easy to gather, and mostly readily available. I also like that each idea tied into what the children were learning. There were a few ideas—worms—that would push my comfort zone, but I know they're all activities the children would LOVE!