By Richa Sharma
Play leads to creativity
“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct” – Carl Jung
The best play schools in Gurgaon are gradually moving towards play-based learning, problem-based learning and experiential learning. The terms may be different but all these top schools have one thing in common – focus on the learner and learning experience. And why not? Isn’t play central to all learning experiences for children? So it is but natural for them to learn best through play. Playful learning not only develops academic skills but many cognitive and life skills too.
Play leads to the joy of learning
When I was looking for a school for my first-born way back in 2010, the principal of one of the best schools in Gurgaon said, “Make sure your child goes to school happily and enjoys the learning environment.” And this stuck with me. In the early primary years I sent my daughter to a school that specializes in inquiry-based learning. A play-based environment enlivens the learning space, allowing children to be children, thus enhancing learning. As a teacher, I would hate to lecture a class full of unwilling and unreceptive students, and that’s where the problem based learning (PBL) methodology helps enrich the teaching and learning process.
But what exactly does playful learning look like? And how can it improve a child’s academic skills? Let’s look at a few examples that demonstrate how simple activities can help enhance a multitude of essential skills for a learner.
Playful learning does not mean free play
Playful learning is not to be confused with ‘free play’ where children have complete freedom to choose their own activities and materials. Playful learning requires teachers and facilitators to gently ‘guide’ learners towards more meaningful activities. They are responsible for providing toys, materials, time schedules for exploration, interactions and discussions, posing questions, and providing encouragement. The topmost schools in the world provide children with natural environments to explore and learn, while others provide ‘loose things’ for them to tinker with. You may have seen educational toys used in Montessori classrooms.
Some useful materials used in preschools and early primary are:
Natural resources – rocks, sticks, seedpods, shells and leavesMaterials – ribbon, fabric, cushions, chalk, pom-pomsObjects – boxes, blocks, buckets, balls, hula-hoops, washing baskets, trays, milk crates, PVC pipes
Play with loose parts helps develop sensory skills when children learn about textures, weights, patterns, shapes and what happens when you bang, rub, crush them together. Further, it encourages problem-solving, co-operation, decision-making, fine and gross motor skills, independence, vocabulary, physical, art, Maths and Science.
Reading and Storytelling
Reading in traditional classrooms was quite different from reading engagements in today’s best schools. One will be amazed to see the fun element that reading and storytelling lends to the classroom. Puppets, role plays, improvising, guest speakers and performers are only a few ways to include playful learning in a reading class. These types of engagements help students develop the essential skills of listening, imagining, creativity, oratory, inferencing, and overall language skills.
Manipulatives
Manipulative materials are objects that allow students to explore an idea in an active, hands-on approach. Manipulatives can be almost anything – blocks, shapes, spinners or even paper that is cut or folded. It allows students to use things other than pencil and paper to learn. Use of manipulatives allows learners to use their thinking and creativity to express their understanding, leading to better retention of a concept. When students experience different ways to do a mundane thing, they take interest and build study skills.
Here are some easy techniques used by early year teachers:
- Forming letters using different loose materials
- Finger painting for art and writing
- Flash cards for matching and sorting
- Threading number or letter beads
- Blocks and legos for stacking
Games
Games can be fun in and out of the playground. They are a fun way to check for understanding and can really be improvised for any concept related to any subject area. Some helpful classroom games are
- I spy
- Guessing games
- Hangman
- Puzzles and quizzes
- Spot the difference
- Bingo
- Scrabble or crosswords
- Hopscotch
Learning outside the classroom
Traditionally, any school activity outside the classroom used to be physical education, fests or drills and shows. But there are other creative, playful learning engagements apt for different subject areas:
- Building sand or snow sculptures to develop cognition, creativity, problem-solving and team work
- Writing on sand or snow for literacy
- Collecting seeds, flowers, and grasses and sorting, measuring, and dividing them into fair shares for Science and Maths
- Finding shapes in the playground structures for spacial awareness, imagination and Maths
- Hunting for letters, numbers, animals, trees for observation skills and subject enrichment
Acting
What skills apart from theatre skills can a child learn from acting? Well, you may have seen children acting out their teachers and teaching concepts in a play scenario. Applying the same logic, students can be encouraged to act out scenarios for better understanding of concepts by enacting
- stories
- scientific processes
- mathematical operations, fractions, patterns
- letter formation
- sentence structure
Apart from development of skills and enhancement of academic understanding, engaging in play creates a better bond between the students and teachers and helps children enjoy the learning process. As a result, they are happy in the learning space and can be stress-free and more confident learners.
Having said all this, it is important to know that teaching through play-based learning is not easy as it requires mature guidance from the teachers so that the process is not mere play but enriched learning. This is why the best schools of Gurgaon, invest a lot of time and energy in the professional development of their teachers.
For more information on the above subject, write to us at info@vega.edu.in.