The Children Who Need More Play… Are Often Getting Less

In Early Years, we talk so much about the power of play — yet the children who need it the most are often the ones who end up having the least.

If you’ve ever looked at your intervention list and felt your heart sink, you’re not alone.

Phonics group.
Fine motor intervention.
Speech and language support.
A catch-up maths activity.
Another phonics recap.

And all the while, those very children are being pulled away from the thing that has the biggest potential to help them grow: play.

When “Intervention” Takes Children Away From What Helps Them Most

When I taught in Reception, I saw this pattern far too often.
If a child hadn’t made progress in the phonics lesson that morning, I was asked to repeat it with them that afternoon.

And then there were the flash cards — the constant repetition of the sound of the day — not during learning time, but during lunchtime.

Imagine being asked to work on the skill you’re struggling with while you eat your lunch, instead of chatting to friends, exploring the playground, or taking a moment to breathe.

Of course, the intention behind it was good.
But the impact?

It shut children off from learning.

It dimmed their curiosity, their motivation, their sense of wonder.
It taught them that learning was something to be “fixed” or “forced,” rather than something joyful and alive.

The Little Girl Who Came Alive Outdoors 🌲

There was one little girl I’ll never forget.

Indoors, she hardly spoke. She’d been identified as needing speech and language support and spent much of her week being taken out for extra sessions.

But outside — especially when we were in the woodland — everything changed.

She chatted.
She explored.
She used new words.
She initiated conversations.
She laughed.

Surrounded by nature, she felt safe enough to let her language flow.

It was the clearest reminder that play — especially outdoor, child-led play — is not the opposite of learning. It is learning.

What Scandinavia Teaches Us About Intervention

In Scandinavia, the approach to early childhood couldn’t be more different.

Children aren’t hurried through interventions or taken away from their play to sit at a table and “catch up.”

There, play itself is the intervention.

Through:

✨ movement
✨ storytelling
✨ song
✨ rhythm
✨ unhurried time
✨ and long, daily outdoor play

children naturally develop the language, strength, emotional security, and confidence that support every later skill — including phonics, reading, writing, and communication.

No pressure.
No rush.
No constant pulling children out of the environments where they feel most engaged and alive.

Their spark is protected — and because of that, their learning flourishes.

Maybe It’s Time We Reconsidered What “Intervention” Really Means

What if play wasn’t an optional extra?

What if it wasn’t something children “earned” once their interventions were done?

What if play was the most powerful intervention of all?

Children learn through doing, exploring, moving, storytelling, connecting, noticing, wondering.
When we protect that, we support every area of their development — in the most natural, meaningful, and joy-filled way.

Bringing This Approach Into Your Own Practice

If this resonates with you — if you feel the pull towards calmer, slower, more child-centred practice — you are not alone.

This is the heart of Hygge in the Early Years™:
an approach inspired by Scandinavia, rooted in whole-child wellbeing, and designed to help you create environments where children thrive, not just “keep up.”

Discover more about bringing Hygge and a Scandinavian-inspired, whole-child approach into your Early Years practice:
👉 www.hyggeintheearlyyears.co.uk