Activities that facilitate engaging with the concept 'learning through play'

1. Video-cued reflection in the group

'Play is one of the main ways in which children learn and develop. It helps to build self worth by giving a child a sense of his or her own abilities and to feel good about themselves. Because it’s fun, children often become very absorbed in what they are doing. 

Play is very important to a child's development, it is an integral part of a child's Early Years Foundation Stage and supports their learning journey too. Young children can develop many skills through the power of play. They may develop their language skills, emotions, creativity and social skills. Play helps to nurture imagination and give a child a sense of adventure. Through this, they can learn essential skills such as problem solving, working with others, sharing and much more'.

from the web-site 'Family lives', please read more here

Video-clips to share with parents

Here you can find some video-clips of young children playing. You can use these examples to help parents learn about the concept 'learning through play'. Share a video-clip with your group of parents, and reflect together in the group. 

Outside - Time for quiet play



Finger Painting



Discovering - Making Music



Creating with play and natural materials

Questions for reflection

✓      What do you think about these activities?

✓      What do children learn from doing such activities?

✓      How could you do similar activities at home?

✓      Do you think your child would enjoy these kinds of activities?

✓      Do you think it is important for children to do such activities?

2. Learning through engaging in a play activity with playdough

Parents can learn a lot about the concept of 'learning through play' when engaging in a play activity themselves. One good activity to exemplify this is to use playdough. The tactile nature of the material encourages adults and children to experiment with it, enjoy the sensation, and learn. Through making and playing with this material, parents can explore their own creativity whilst being guided and encouraged by practitioners to think about colours, shapes, sizes etc.

An essential part of parents' learning in this activity is reflection in the group - practitioners stimulate reflection on what parents experience and encourage understanding of how such activities can be useful for children.

What to do:

During:

While parents in the group each engage with the playdough, you have an opportunity to interact with them and model how they could interact with their child at home. For example talk about the process of making objects and use descriptive language to describe what has been made. Talk about the colours, shapes, size thickness; for example the thickness and shape of the biscuits a parent made, the colour of a ball another parent formed, the number of petals on a flower one parent made etc. Ask questions about what a parent is making, and questions that facilitate extended talk about topics related to the objects the parents are making: E.g. What is your favourite type of biscuit? What do you need to do next to bake the biscuit? How many biscuits do you need to make so that each person in the family gets one?

After:

To support reflection, engage parents in a group discussion after they have engaged with the activity. Questions can focus on their enjoyment of the activity, their own experiences with this activity, and the learning that can take place during the activity. E.g.

-          Did you enjoy this activity? What did you enjoy about this activity?

-          Do you use playdough at home with your child? What are your experiences?

-          How was it different today?

-          Did you notice the language the practitioner was using today? How could this support learning?

-          What kind of learning can be stimulated through this activity?

More ideas:

Extension: To support reflection, play sessions could also be video-taped and shared with parents afterwards to stimulate a discussion about the experiences parents had during the activity, and the learning that can take place in a situation like this. 

Home activity: Parents in the group could also be asked to engage with their children at home with playdough (or other materials that invite active play and exploration) and to share this experience with the group. They could for example take a video of their child playing, take some photos, or share an oral or written story about what happened. Children could be asked to take photos of the objects they made. Parents could be invited to use the forum to post their stories/materials.

Parents could also be asked to use the forum to look at the pictures they posted together with the child, to talk about the objects, and to label them (maybe even in writing, using the different languages they know).

[The Home Start Website offers some really helpful short instructions on how to make and use playdough with children. Click here.]

3. Learning though engaging in the play activity of 'I spy'

Parents can learn a lot about the concept of ‘learning through play’ when engaging in a play activity themselves. Another good activity to exemplify this is the ‘I spy’ game. The game encourages players to observe, and use language to describe what they see.

During the session, you could engage parents in one or two variations of the ‘I Spy’ game. When engaging in this activity, parents will use their observation skills, and they will hear and use descriptive language and practice to use questions to get more information.

An essential part of this activity will be to reflect in the group about what parents experience, and to encourage understanding of how the activity played at home with the child can be beneficial to the child’s learning.

What to do:

During:

How to play the traditional game of ‘I Spy’:

1. Choose who will go first in the game, who is the first ‘spy’.

2. Keeping it to themselves, the spy picks an object they can see.

3. The spy announces ‘I spy with my little eye, something beginning with ____’ the first letter of the word for the object. This can be done phonetically or otherwise.

4. The other players then have to guess, looking around them, what the object beginning with that letter could be.

You can start with letting the parents guess. Model how you would interact with the child. Model the use of questions to initiate the game:

-      Phonetically:  I spy with my little eye, something beginning with

 …. Can you guess what it is?

-      Colours: Can you see something that is red?

-      People: I someone with long hair. Can you guess who it is?

-      Letters: I spy the letter ‘A’. Can you see it? Where is it?

-      Numbers: I spy a number 3. Can you see it? Where is it?

-      Shapes: I spy something that is round. Can you see it? Where is it?

Then change roles, and model how you would act to find out about the object or people around you. Model the use of questions, such as:

-      Size: Is it big or small?

-      Function: Does it fly or crawl? Can I put things into it?

-      Number: How many legs does it have?

-      Colour: Is it blue?

-      Location: Is it in the room? Is it outside? Is it on the wall? Is it on the floor? Where does the person come from?

-      Texture: Is it soft? Is it spiky?

 

After:

To support reflection, engage parents in a group discussion after they have engaged with the activity. Questions can focus on their enjoyment of the activity, their own experiences with this activity, and the learning that can take place during the activity. E.g.

-      Did you enjoy this activity? What did you enjoy about this activity?

-      Have you played this game at home with your child? What are your experiences?

-      How was it different today?

-      Did you notice the language the practitioner was using today? How could this support learning?

-      What kind of learning can be stimulated through this activity?

 

More ideas:

Extension: For multi-cultural groups, asking about words in different languages or different scripts, or even traditions can be a nice variation of the game, which may also support group members to get to know to each other. E.g.

-      Languages: I spy someone who speaks Punjabi? Who is it?

-      I spy some letters written in Tamil. Which ones are they?

-      I spy someone who says ‘Ola’ for ‘Hello’. Who is it?

-      I spy someone who I think might celebrate ‘Diwali’. Who is it?

The use of video: To support reflection, play sessions could also be video-taped and shared with parents afterwards to stimulate a discussion about the experiences parents had during the activity, and the learning that can take place in a situation like this. 

Home activity: Parents in the group could also be asked to engage with their children at home playing variations of this game. One nice variation could be to use a variation of this game when exploring the house or the neighbourhood. 

- Parents could for example ask the children to find signs with letters or numbers on them when walking to the shops. They could go out for a letter-, number- or pattern-walk and try to spot words, letters, numbers, and patterns. They could ask them to find writings in different languages. 

- Parents could ask children to find as many objects as possible in the kitchen that start with a particular letter or sound. In families with more than one language, they could ask about words starting with letters and sounds in their home language and then in the school language.

Children could be asked to document what they can find in taking photos of the different objects. Parents could be invited to share this experience with the group. They could for example take a video of their child playing, take some photos, or share an oral or written story about what happened. Children could be asked to take photos of the objects they spotted. Parents could be invited to use the forum to post their stories/materials.

Parents could also be asked to use the forum to look at the pictures they posted together with the child, to talk about the objects, and to label them (maybe even in writing, using the different languages they know).

Some tips:

Remind parents to use their home language.

The Department for Education/Australia published an excellent descriptions of the game 'I spy' and variations of it on their website. 

For 'I spy' click here.  

For 'Pattern walk', click here.

For 'Number walk', click here. 

For 'travelling with children', click here.