Play-based learning was not replaced

The 2026 curriculum retains play-based learning, and importantly, defines it more precisely than the 2016 document did. The curriculum’s supporting online platform describes three forms of play:

• Student-directed play, in which children lead their own exploration with minimal educator involvement (for example, role play at a play kitchen);
• Guided play, collaboratively designed by students and educators (for example, creating a map for a constructed block city);
• Educator-directed play, in which the educator constructs a purposeful play-based context to support the development of specific skills. This could look like playing a matching game focused on initial sounds in words.

Student-directed play is described as the optimal context for social-emotional development.

Two forms of learning, on a continuum

Explicit literacy instruction and play-based learning are not in opposition but rather can be viewed along a continuum. The new curriculum asks educators to use both.

The approach of inquiry-based learning — which acknowledges that children build understanding by asking questions, investigating and sharing what they found, instead of only taking in information — was central to the 2016 program, and it remains so now.

The curriculum names initial engagement (when a question or problem sparks interest); investigation (when children explore and test ideas); and communication (when a child makes their thinking visible to others).

This might begin with a child noticing that some objects sink and others float at the water table, move into testing predictions together — and end with the group recording what happened.

What else is new

Coding concepts, expanded number range, new explicit recall (pulling number facts from memory quickly) and a financial literacy section are some other new additions to the 2026 curriculum.

The updated curriculum also names the expectation of weaving in First Nations, Métis and Inuit histories, perspectives and contributions across the program. This is part of a provincewide program-planning section that also applies to kindergarten.

Early reading screening in the second year of kindergarten is required. It was established through Policy/Program Memorandum 168 (issued in 2023) and became mandatory in the 2024-25 school year, intended to identify children who need additional support earlier.

Reading the document, not the headlines

There is a well-documented pattern in education where curriculum changes are filtered through policy and media narratives before educators open the document itself. Research suggests these narratives shape what happens in classrooms.

Analyzing a decade of Canadian news coverage alongside surveys and interviews with 101 Ontario kindergarten teachers, early primary scholar Angela Pyle and colleagues found that media coverage perpetuated a narrow definition of play, and that about half the teachers held that same narrow view, treating play and academic learning as separate. They argue this gap between how play is portrayed and what it actually involves has practical implications.

When the dominant message is that play is out and direct instruction is in, there is the risk that teachers begin adjusting their classrooms in ways not actually required — for example, dismantling play-based environments.

‘Explicit instruction’ in kindergarten

It is also important to know that explicit instruction in kindergarten doesn’t mean rows of desks and over-reliance on worksheets (these in moderation are not a problem).

It can look like an educator gathering a small group, working through letter-sound relationships systematically through games and other hands-on activities, while also allowing time for children to engage in rich child-led, play-based learning.

A kindergarten educator might run a short phonics activity before children go off to explore at learning centres that have been purposefully set up to consolidate learning and support new lines of inquiry. This might be preceded by a morning story to build vocabulary.

One important thing educators, school leaders and interested parents can do before September arrives is understanding what the revisions actually say.

Kristy Timmons, Associate Professor, Early Childhood Education, Queen's University, Ontario and Pamela Beach, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Ontario

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.