{"podcast":{"title":"The Voice of Early Childhood","slug":"the-voice-of-early-childhood-6315746","podcast_index_feed_id":6315746,"rss_url":"https://feeds.libsyn.com/469116/rss","website_url":"http://thevoiceofearlychildhood.com/","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/a/e/0/5/ae05a72814194d78e55e3c100dce7605/Podcast_logo_Libsyn.png","author":"Angelica Celinska","episode_count":159,"summary":"The Voice of Early Childhood Podcast: involving you in thought-provoking discussions around early childhood. This weekly podcast brings you discussion, reflection, debate and a window into the minds of advocates working with our young leaders of tomorrow.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-23T04:17:20.189634+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-voice-of-early-childhood-6315746"},"episode":{"title":"Why play? - How to make play an essential part of early education","slug":"why-play-how-to-make-play-an-essential-part-of-early-education","published_at":"2025-11-24T16:37:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-voice-of-early-childhood-6315746/why-play-how-to-make-play-an-essential-part-of-early-education","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-voice-of-early-childhood-6315746","url":"https://thevoiceofearlychildhood.com/why-play-how-to-make-play-an-essential-part-of-early-education/","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/decd6f39-4851-4730-ba8f-070dbd282579/Ep143.mp3?dest-id=3970080","summary":"Play is not a luxury—it's a biological necessity. From early childhood through adulthood, play fuels cognitive growth, emotional resilience, social competence, and physical development. This article and podcast episode explore why play matters, how it shapes learning, and what educators and caregivers must consider to protect and promote it. Read the article here: https://thevoiceofearlychildhood.com/ w hy-play-how-to-make-play-an-essential-part-of-early-education/ This episode is sponsored by Funding Loop Funding Loop automates the process for nurseries of collecting funding forms from parents and typing that information into council portals. Funding Loop is used by over 2000 nurseries including over 80% of the top 25 nursery chains in the UK including Busy Bees. To find out more visit: https://www.fundingloop.co.uk/home Our 2026 conference info & tickets: https://thevoiceofearlychildhood.com/early-years-conference-2026/ Listen to more: If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like: · Elevating children's thinking: Conceptual understanding through inquiry and play, by Sue Tee - https://thevoiceofearlychildhood.com/elevating-childrens-thinking-conceptual-understanding-through-inquiry-and-play/ · Advocacy, agency and rights in early childhood, by Dr Jo Albin-Clark and Dr Nathan Archer - https://thevoiceofearlychildhood.com/advocacy-agency-and-rights-in-early-childhood/ Get in touch and share your voice: Do you have thoughts, questions or feedback? Get in touch here! – https://thevoiceofearlychildhood.com/contact/ Episode break down: 00:00 – Welcome and episode introduction 01:36 – Framing the central question: why play? 02:37 – Play as nature's plan for learning and why sitting harms 04:11 – Parental pressure, misinformation and the 'earlier is better' myth 05:03 – A…","meta_description":"Play is not a luxury—it's a biological necessity. From early childhood through adulthood, play fuels cognitive growth, emotional resilience, social compet…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2571,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-voice-of-early-childhood-6315746/episodes/why-play-how-to-make-play-an-essential-part-of-early-education/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-voice-of-early-childhood-6315746/why-play-how-to-make-play-an-essential-part-of-early-education.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}