Book excerpt: This practical handbook shows teachers how to nurture a kindergarten learning environment in which children feel safe, comfortable, and able to take risks. It offers innovative ways to encourage children to explore, experiment, discover, solve problems, and freely interact with one another. Based on extensive classroom practice, it demonstrates when teachers need to provide support, ask questions, and provoke thinking, and when they should step back and give children room to explore on their own. This remarkable book offers concrete suggestions for creating play-based learning in a culture of inquiry. It is committed to creating classrooms where children can learn and grow while they play.