Kindergarten In Finland Is Proof That Kids Thrive On Play

What do you think? Should kindergarten push academics or focus on play?

The times, they are a-changing, and nothing shows that more than an in-depth look at American kindergartens.

Tim Walker, a writer for The Atlantic, recently headed to Finland to explore the way Finnish kindergartens function in comparison to their American counterparts. He spent a day hanging out with normal school kids and following them through their scheduled activities. What he ended up finding is that Americans’ push to remove play from the kindergarten curriculum is not necessarily benefiting our kids.

According to Walker, kindergarten in Finland is very different than what our children experience. A typical school day is only four hours long, and the weekly schedule that teachers follow is basically broken down into large blocks of time that include things like field trips, ball games, running, songs, and stations. Almost all of their learning is based on play. There are no worksheets or standardized tests to speak of.

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