Active Learning through Play
About Active Learning Through Play
It has been documented that play plays a crucial role in the development of healthy, confident and interested learners ( Bruner 1972, Katz 1987, Isenburg & Quisenberry 1988, Kantrowitz & Wingert 1989, Schickendanz 1990).
Play is the child's way of coming to terms with their personal experience in and knowledge of the physical and social world. Children learn through their actions and their observations.
For optimum learning, play must happen within the criterea of
- Safe environments
- Appropriate play materials, equipment and role models
- Planned and appropriate outdoor environments
- Carefully planned curriculum - many activities allow children to develop perspectives of the world and practice skills that will help them to function successfully as an adult.
Active learning promotes behaviours that set children up for a lifetime of learning, lay the foundation for future successes and instil a desire to learn.
When playing children are self motivated and directed. They are instinctively motivated to solve problems that are important to them. It is through play that they experiment with possibilities and become flexible in their thinking and problem solving.
When playing children free themselves from external rules and restrictions imposed by adults, time and space. At the same time they develop rules for their own play, establish roles and plots, negotiations are complex and vocabulary is varied.
It is while playing with objects both new and familiar that children gain an understanding of the world and of their own abilities.
We provide these oportunities for children within our programme. Just like the early childhood curriculum Te Whaariki, our programme is holistic, looking at the whole development of each child.
Planning
Our programme is initiated in a number of ways-
- Child initiated - a contribution from home: from a child or parent
- an interest and / or strength identified in a learning story or
observation
- Teacher initiated - Perhaps community or global events - such as 5+ADay,
sun safety, seasons, festivals etc.
Individual plans
We capture a moment of children at play by photo, observation and/or written story (learning story). These highlight a childs strengths, interests, dispositions and / or skills. We notice, recognise the learning and document. We use this to build on individual strengths and to encompass other areas of development.
Children's Profiles
At Rawhiti kindergarten we have individual profiles for each child. This profile becomes a visible record and a celebration of the child's progress and growth and a place to record learning stories, evaluations and action plans, artwork and individual observations. Parents and children are welcome to look at these profiles whenever they choose to. They are sent home when learning stories, and/or significant observations have been documented and parents are invited to make comment and share the aspirations they may have for their child. We also invite parents to document what their child may say as they look through their profile books together.
