Flashcards or Play in PreK/K

Today I came across two different articles that support two different schools of thought: more rigor in early childhood education vs. more play in early childhood education.

What are your thoughts? I would love to start a discussion about these ideas. I tweeted out the articles but here are links to each of them:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/30/us/preschool-academics-study.html

http://news.psu.edu/story/422171/2016/08/23/research/working-play-early-childhood-education-boosts-students-learning

I have been going through the internet thinking about Developmentally Appropriate Practices, Common Core Standards, play based kindergarten, and academic based kindergarten. I believe, in the right school, we can achieve the standards through a more play based classroom. I even read somewhere that "Rigor is not a 4 letter word". Check out this website that gives a sample schedule. I want to listen to the interview at the top of the page, I just haven't had a chance yet (it is a bit long...).

https://www.kinderplans.com/blog/2014/07/15/developmentally-appropriate-plans-for-kindergarten/

OK, listening to it now. It is 3 years old...