Nowadays there're a trend that Kindergarten being changed, sometimes significantly: children now spend more time being taught and tested on literacy and math skills than they do learning through play and exploration, exercising their bodies, and using their imaginations. Some abroad opinions papers, like recently published by
Aliance for Chilhood, written by Miller, Edward and Almon, Joan; “Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School” says that many kindergartens use highly prescriptive curricula geared to new state standards and linked to standardized tests. In an increasing number of kindergartens, teachers must follow scripts from which they may not deviate. This is not exactly in Sp
ain, because in our country kindergarten is not obligatory, and our pupils haven’t to pass government tests. But we are under a lot of social pressure. Families would rather their babies learn the mechanism to read first of they are be able to be creatives. Mechanic proceeding over reasoning ability. We have to be careful about these practices in our schools. People are not education professionals neither psychologists, and a lot of authors right argue that this way to teach violate long-established principles of child development and good teaching, and compromise both children's health and their long-term prospects for success in school.
Not to write at four years old doesn't mean than children will write badly in the future.
To play at four mean than children will be able to write sooner and happier when they will be physically, psychological, emotional and social well prepared to do it.
When a primary or secundary school teacher show his/her pupils to do something, they don't learn it only because their teacher is magnificent. Children gain kindergarten and primary school bases, and education bases are grounds in play.
In fact, to play in the school not only is important. To play in the school is essential and, consequently, we have to restore and increase child-initiated play and experiential learning to a central role in kindergarten education.
Really, if we are talking about early childhood education, we can't forget the educational value of group games for the young child's social and intellectual development, suggesting ways to select or modify both new and familiar games to make them more appropriate for children's learning. To talk about it we have to have a theoretical introduction to what is meant by good group games and to why, according to some acknowledge psychological and pedagogic theories, these games have tremendous educational value. After that, in some books like
Group Games in Early Education: Implications of Piaget's Theory, that was written by Kamii, Constance and DeVries,
Rhetat; we will be able to find some details about the teacher's actions in these games, and some specific directions for playing many variations of eight basic types of games: aiming, races, chasing, hiding, guessing, cards, verbal commands, and board games. The issue of competition in group games it is important, like the discussion of educators' reasons for objecting to competition in group games, ways in which competitive games can contribute to children's development, and principles of teaching competitive group games. There are a great among of books about group games, but it's important to bear something in mind: pointers for each type of game are connected with the major pedagogical concepts of psychological and pedagogic theories.
Teachers have nowadays an oportunity in front of public oppinion. At a brisk pace, research findings focused on children's play are finally reaching the light of day in popular media.
No longer left sitting in archives of academic journals, the benefits of play to lifelong success have been touted in radio, television, magazines, and newspapers. It gives early childhood professionals a powerful, credible advocacy tool to use with parents and community leaders as they strive to put children's play back into the heart of early childhood curriculum. In "A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool: Presenting the Evidence," (Stephens, Karen.
The Early Childhood Leaders' 
Magazine Since 1978, n186 p53 Mar-Apr 2009) a review of research confirms that children's self-initiated play nurtures overall development, not just cognitive development (such as learning to name colors, numbers, or shapes). In fact, research builds a very strong case that childhood play is a required experience in order to become a civilized, fully-realized human being. In Stephen’s article, the author discusses some points which are upheld by research about important play outcomes. Abundant research has shown that play during early childhood is necessary if humans are to reach their full potential. For children, and in fact, for society's well-being, true play is a critical need, not a fanciful frill. And so it requires ethical early childhood programs to advocate for and insist upon including play as part of their daily curriculum and teaching strategy. This article concludes with some recommendations for achieving that goal.
Best practice is based on knowledge--not on beliefs or guesses--about how children learn and develop. Families have to trust in teachers professionalism and we must defend our knowledge tooth and nail. We can't hand over education afairs to the public opinion. Children's social, emotional, cognitive and physical developments education is too important for this.
I invite you to know the first prize in ITWorldEdu 2008, for Excellence in Education Technology contest. It’s an experience that was been done in the Marta Mata’s kindergarten. 
