Ms. Conway's Kindergarten Website: About Play-Based Learning It has long been known that there is a strong link between play and learning. Children are full of natural curiosity and they explore this curiosity through play. When kids are playing, it's the perfect time to learn. Play teaches kids how to problem solve, how to make friends, how to express themselves, how to enjoy the world around them, and how to recognize letters and numbers. All of these skills form the foundation of a love of learning. In the kindergarten program, teachers structure play to create learning moments. Both child-initiated free play and more structured play-based learning opportunities are integral parts of the early learning classroom. As children move naturally from noticing and wondering about the objects and events around them to exploring, observing, and questioning in a more focused way, the teacher helps them develop and extend their inquiry process.
Irresistible Ideas for play based learning Play Quotations The Mud Kitchen - A Recipe for marvellous Outdoor play Hello lovely blog visitors. Welcome! I am sharing the newest edition to Dimples out door play area today. The awesome and totally messy mud kitchen. The best recipe for engaging children in messy, active, outdoor learning is with mud. Here is the DIY mud kitchen that we built for Dimples in a few hours using recycled materials. The mud kitchen is built from off cuts of wood that I painted with chalk board paint, they're butted in to a old sink that came from a wrecked caravan, you could grab one from the wreckers or the buy back at the tip. Nearby I have up cycled an old sand pit as a mud pit. How awesome, an endless supply of mud on hand for hours and hours of messy outdoor play. For more outdoor play ideas you may like Happy Outdoor Adventures.
joran Should we just let them play? Anyone who’s ever watched a toddler play with water and different-sized containers has seen play-based learning in action. A child will fill up a big container and tip the water into smaller ones, watching it overflow and trickle away. This play is an example of very young children exploring volume, gravity, viscosity and, as they repeat their experiment, work with the scientific method. Trusting the desire of young children to learn about their world, in their own exploratory way, is at the heart of play-based learning. In spite of the support for play-based learning, some are moving to encourage very young children into a more structured approach to education. This phenomenon would see children as young as two start formal school (as in sitting-at-a-desk-type school). Click to enlarge What is play-based learning? The basis of play-based learning is the idea, promoted by psychologist Lev Vygotsky, that play is a vehicle for children making meaning. But what does it look like?
Play: Where Learning Begins! Browse this selection of articles on play based learning from Young Children and Teaching Young Children. Assessing and Scaffolding Make Believe Play: Mature make-believe play provides unique learning opportunities Read more » Chopsticks and Counting Chips: Play and foundational skills don’t need to compete for the teacher's attention Read more » Playdough - What's Standard about It?: Using playdough to address early learning standards Read more » Block Building and Make-Believe for Every Child: Encouraging boys and girls to try out the learning centers they don’t usually visit Read more » Block Off Time for Learning: When children play with blocks, they learn math, literacy, social skills and so much more Read more» Recess—It’s Indispensable: Test scores do not improve when recess is cut Read more » Why Do Babies Like Boxes Best?
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