Play is essential in high-quality early education. This book documents kindergarten teachers centering outdoor play to support children's cognitive development, physical and mental health, and social and emotional growth to create meaningful solutions for classroom management and student engagement. The authors provide real life, relevant examples to illustrate the research-based case for taking children's play seriously. Readers will learn how to see, support, and interpret play to design a joyful emergent curriculum that integrates literacy, math, and science learning while reinforcing the 21st century skills students need: creativity, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. Cicadas is a book to help educators and parents understand that play in nature restores rich learning opportunities to the kindergarten classroom to consistently deliver positive child outcomes fully aligned to academic learning standards.
