CMS needs to bring back a critical learning tool for its youngest students | Opinion
When I toured my daughter’s future elementary school last fall, I expected to see the familiar sights of a vibrant early childhood classroom: wooden blocks, easels, and a dramatic play corner. Instead, as a 15-year veteran educator and a mom to a rising kindergartener in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, I was stunned to find those staples of learning completely absent. When I asked where the play centers were, the response was disheartening: “We only play indoors during rainy days.”
This is not just a trend at one school; it’s a systemic shift away from the most effective learning tool from most CMS kindergartens. Play-based learning materials were removed from classrooms across the district in 2010. Today, the play kitchens, cash registers, and sensory materials that once filled our classrooms sit unused in a warehouse.
While CMS has the longest school day in North Carolina, a recent survey of local kindergarten teachers revealed that most students spend less than 30 minutes a week engaged in play-based learning. Meanwhile, many of these same children spend up to an hour a day on iPads. We are trading hands-on exploration for sedentary screen time, and our children are paying the price.
There is a common misconception that play is a “break” from learning. In reality, play-based “choice time” is a rigorous instructional strategy. Through building with blocks and dramatic play, children develop the advanced vocabulary, complex syntax, and background knowledge that forms the bedrock of literacy. Mathematical thinking is equally present; when children sort, count, and compare materials, they practice spatial reasoning and number sense in a way that seatwork cannot replicate.
Play is also the most natural engine for language acquisition. Oral language development is the single greatest predictor of future reading success, and choice time provides peer-to-peer conversation geared towards learning that teacher-led instruction often lacks. For the many multilingual learners in CMS, these informal interactions offer a low-stakes, joyful environment to practice new vocabulary and sentence structures – skills that are essential for long-term academic fluency.
Our neighbors in Cabarrus County recognized this and reintroduced one hour of daily play-based learning in 2022. Dr. Crystal Hill, now superintendent of CMS, was the chief academic officer in Cabarrus as they worked toward this change. Since then, they have seen marked improvements in both academics and student engagement.
Investing in play is also a strong response to the mental health challenges young people are facing. Roughly one in five 12-17-year-olds are grappling with anxiety or depression and their mental health needs are often unmet. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to this problem, but play helps. Play helps children process the world around them and build the resilience they need to navigate challenging experiences. By fostering a joyful environment where children can collaborate and regulate their emotions, we provide the tools they need to be well-adjusted learners.
Access to play is also an issue of equity. In wealthier neighborhoods, children often return to homes filled with toys, books, and caregivers who can limit screen time. But nearly half of CMS students live in poverty. For children in crowded apartments or whose parents work multiple jobs, school may be the only place where imaginative, screen-free play is possible. Access to play should be a district-wide standard, not a luxury dependent on a child’s zip code.
To address this, I launched K Needs Play alongside a community of parents, educators, and pediatric experts. Twenty of our supporters and experts, myself included, spoke at the most recent school board meeting, asking district leaders to implement a 10-classroom pilot program for the 2026-2027 school year, incorporating one hour of daily, screen-free, play-based choice time into those classrooms. This small, evidence-based step would allow the district to see firsthand how returning play to the classroom improves outcomes.
With CMS enrollment down 1.7% and teacher attrition at 11.2% last year, this shift is also a strategic necessity. In our anonymous survey, 90% of CMS kindergarten teachers said a daily choice time would make their jobs easier, citing current behavior issues caused by developmentally inappropriate instruction. Families we surveyed who opted out of CMS cited “too much screen time” and “not enough hands-on learning” as their top reasons for leaving.
Adding back an hour of play is low-hanging fruit for district administrators. Our petition has garnered more than 1,600 signatures from those who agree: It’s time to bring play back to kindergarten. Let’s give our youngest learners the opportunity to explore, create, and grow in the way they learn best.
Mollie Auerbach is an elementary educator, parent, and the founder of K Needs Play. She lives in Charlotte.