Welcome to My Play Based Classroom Blog

Hi there!

I'm Janelle - a play-based early years teacher who is super passionate about creating learning experiences that boost curiosity, creativity, and academic growth.

On this blog, I share practical tips for meeting curriculum benchmarks through a balance of explicit teaching and play, setting up the ideal learning environment and fostering social-emotional development.

So, let’s make play-based teaching work in your preschool, kindergarten, or first-grade classroom!

Create a Calm Corner for Yoga in the Classroom

Get started with yoga and provide your children with a peaceful area to calm down and practice yoga and mindfulness. In this blog post, I will show you the yoga calm corner we created in our early years classroom and give you some practical tips and ideas for setting up your very own inviting classroom yoga area.

Read More
Investigations, Classroom Environment Janelle McArdle Investigations, Classroom Environment Janelle McArdle

Investigation Area Ideas for the Start of School

Are you looking for some simple yet highly engaging investigation areas and learning invitations to start the school year? In this blog post, you’ll discover a heap of Investigation area ideas for the start of school. These tried and tested learning invitations are my go-to setups year after year, so you’ll be sure to find some that you can use in your classroom too.

Read More