I'm the opposite. I give large blocks of freeplay but have the room set up so that some of the options include educational games and activities. This works well with mixed ages becuase I can do more one on one work. I also have more little ones than older so attention span becomes an issue for circletime - no fun if only 2 of 5 are interested so might as well just do it with the two in the middle of play.

There are two philosopies of play. One is adult led and one is child led and most of us find somewhere in the middle as the best way for our day to go.

What I do is break up the blocks of freeplay with a planned activity. So my circletime is a series of 5 minute units where we gather sing a song or read a story or do a feltboard activity and then they go play again. What this does is changes their focus so I time them for lulls in the play or when it is getting out of hand so they calm and then go back to play.

The more practice the kids have with freeplay the better they get at it. At first they do have no idea how to play and entertain themselves and as a result become bahaviour problems but learning to be responsible for their own happiness, learning and social interactions is what I feel my job is more than how much they actually learn academically.