Implementing a play-based curriculum presents challenges for pre-service and in-service teachers given the current climate of standards and didactic pedagogies. This study highlights the value of playful learning and its rightful place in early childhood classrooms for children of all ages. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the use of spatial words with children aged between three and nine years. The benefits of the use of spatial words in a playful venue to advocate block play for not only preschool children, but elementary-school-age children were examined. This article suggest that industry and academia need to collaborate to provide play venues for children, and unit blocks need to be brought back into early childhood programmes.