Irresistible Ideas for play based learning

Like many kindergartens and schools …

we have a supply of the old faithful indoor building blocks.

The children still use them nearly every day, but a couple of years ago we wanted to jazz up the block scene a bit and get in some new ones.

We didn’t want more of the same old thing, so managed to find these magnificent blocks through a company called ‘Mahkupu’ ( who we believe have since changed their name to ‘Block Play’).

Due to a very supportive committee we were able to purchase the full set of ‘plantation timber’ blocks which included a huge variety of wonderfully shaped blocks which mix and match beautifully with each other …

as well as a set of people and animals, and a castle set.

We also designed the shelving unit and were able to get one of our cabinet maker dads to build it to our specifications …

so the children can have access to them at any time.

Not a day goes by that they aren’t taken out to play ..

The shapes, designs and beautiful natural coloured timber makes the look and feel of the blocks irresistible to the children.

It is a bit hard to see what this started out as, but what wonderful team work and imagination was used to get it to this!

Pardon the pun’ but children are attracted to magnets!

Another great use of our segmented picture frame is using it with interesting, magnetic and non-magnetic objects. We set it up in an area for one person to experiment with, to determine which items had magnetic attraction and which ones didn’t. However as often happens in children’s play, more than one child was interesting in having a go…

… resulting in us having to dive into the cupboard to bring out more supplies of magnets, while the children scouted around to find various objects they wanted to put on the trays.

We had magnets inside and out, on floors and tables and they kept the children interested for ages as they experimented, discovered and played co-operatively together.

One child discovered just how powerful  magnets can be.

Naturally every one else wanted to perform magic tricks too!

When we ran out of trays we put out a couple old shirt boxes with pins, and magnetic discs inside and showed the children how they could make the contents move around by running the magnets underneath or across the clear top of the box – more magic.

Of course we didn’t think to stick the lids down …

and soon they were off and all the contents mixed up which made for a new activity … sorting the pins from the discs, and what a wonderful fine motor activity that one proved to be!

We are playing a few different memory games with the children, in small and large groups.

We thought a great large group game would be the one where items are placed on a tray and covered.

One or two things are removed without the children looking (yeah, right!) and they tell us what has gone.

A pirate-themed one seemed obvious to us and amongst other things we had a mini pirate hat, like the children made with the newspaper.

Some children thought it was a sail boat so we all decided it would be great to see if we could make and float them.

We have to admit it wasn’t a great success – the boats just sogged up and sank. (Cover paper works a lot better).

It could perhaps be because we used a cut up street directory and the paper was way too thin.

Needless to say, the children gathered up other other floating objects from around the kinder …

as well as objects that didn’t float …

and had a heap of fun in the water, so all was not lost!

We chatted to the children about how the melway paper boats didn’t work and what we could use another time.

One bright spark came up with the idea of using corks to make boats, so that will become our next project.

Little pots of small interesting goodies such as beads, buttons, stones, corks etc…

… are just waiting to be popped onto the measuring scales to have their weights checked and compared.

We find adding the tweezers not only makes it more fun, but adds to the fine motor skill needed to accomplish the task.

The doll at the back in the chair is a prop to make the activity look more enticing, but of course, will probably become part of the play!

And there she goes!

Donna then brought along an old photo frame from home which has various compartments for different sized photos.

She took out the photos and glass and popped different coloured paper into each space with another selection of small bits and pieces.

Once again lots of wonderful fine motor activity …

and sorting took place.

More great play based learning!

Musical instruments are fairly expensive and sometimes we want plenty of the same sort so that everyone has one. When we wanted a set of drums, we asked our mums who used formula to feed their babies if we could have the empty tins with lids.

It didn’t take long before we had enough for a group of children and any adults who were with us for the session.

All we did was cover them with bright paper and they are fine for little hands. We have a few favourite pieces we play them with such as Little Drum (Feel the Beat – Kids Music Company), All of a sudden (Teddy Jumps – Kids Music Company) and before we pop them back into their storage box, we usually like to play Pass the drum (Echo Fred – Kids Music Company).

We have to beat the drum to different tempos and speeds, then pass the drums around the circle. The music gets faster and faster and the children just love it!

It took a while to have the passing of the drums happening smoothly – we started off with a few drums, then every second person had one, until finally the whole group managed to pass them on with some sort of consistency. It was well worth persisting with.

In this hot weather our thoughts turn to the beach.

We have popped up long lengths of blue material through the playroom which are reminiscent of waves and we thought we would add to the summery, beachlike feeling.

One of the children’s favourite books is “Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister, and after reading it to the children this week, we provided them with materials which they could turn into creatures from under the sea.

Using paper plates as a basis and lots of cellophane, streamers, felt tip pens and sticky dots, we were amazed at the variety of sea animals they invented.

Hanging them down amongst our ‘waves’ makes us feel as if we are under the sea.

And as they are under the spinning fans, they are creating some exciting movement!

At this early stage of the year, we seem to have a bit of a focus on colours, such as our colour matching game in one of our recent posts. A great large group game the children enjoy playing is called “This my spot”.

Each child sits behind a spot of their choice. We used four colours: red, blue green and yellow.

Together we hit our spots chanting,

“This is my spot, my spot, my spot.

This is my spot, my spot, my spot.”

Then repeat.

Simple, but fun and even our reluctant boys do this with gusto!

The teacher chooses a colour and the children with that spot stand up and do an action: green spots clapped hands three times .

Those children sit back down and we all chant the rhyme again. The next colour is chosen and the children with that spot stand up for their turn: yellow spots patted their head three times .

In between each colour we sit down and repeat the song: blue spots turned around three times .

This is repeated until all colours have been selected to do a different action: red spots did three star jumps!

We round it off by chanting one last time, then all colours are selected to stand up and put all actions together.

At the end of the game we sing the colours to be returned to the basket. Great colour recognition, counting, and turn taking.

::: make it irresistible

The children really enjoy repeating new songs and games, so as a follow up the next day when we played ‘this is my spot,’ as we selected colours to stand up, we invited one child from each colour group to choose the action their colour would do, as well as how many times they would do it. The children came up with some terrific actions – red spots did 4 star jumps, blue spots did 5 wiggles, green spots did 6 hand claps and yellow spots did 5 hand rolls.

The children take great pride in making simple decisions like choosing an action to perform and as we’ve often said before, they usually come up with the best ideas … after all … 5 wiggles … how devine is that!

Here we are at the beginning of the year again, with our eager students coming from three year old kinder into “big kinder”! It is lovely to see them again, and they seem so to have shot up over the Christmas break. We start them off in half groups for the first few sessions so they can reorientate themselves back into kinder mode and the new children to our center can get to know their new surroundings, friends and teachers in a relaxed manner.

We have set up lots of imaginary play areas …

and irresistible activities …

that are great for small groups of children.

When you have a hunt in your storeroom, it is surprising how many games you may have tucked away that you haven’t used for a long time for various reasons.

We found one when we were tidying up before Christmas which we hadn’t used in a while and thought it would be good adapted for one player, whereas in the past we have had it set up for more.

This time we put it on a small table and added a variety of different coloured pieces – the original discs, along with little owls from one bingo game and clowns from another.

They added a new element to the activity as the children could now mix and match the different items of corresponding colours.

We kept the dice from the original game, with colours on each face, so the children could use it to select the colours if they wanted to …

while others simply preferred the freedom to make their own choices.

Simple, quiet and engrossing, play based learning!

As we’ve mentioned before Reverse Art in Ringwood  is a wonderful recycling depot you can visit and pick up the most incredibly useful stuff.

Small off cuts of dressed pine is always something we seek out …

… as the children love to use the big hammers and nails.

Some of the children have very specific ideas about the things they want to make but mostly it’s just about the nails, the wood and the banging!

It’s great for the children’s hand eye co-ordination and although occasionally they do miss the nail and bang their fingers … it’s important for them to learn limitations. They very quickly learn how hard to hit the nails for them to penetrate the timber and to watch what they are doing at all times or … ooooouch!

The children like to jazz up their creations with different bits and pieces they collect from the invention table.

A group of children asked if they could hammer things onto a small log they found in the garden. They often go back to the log and add more decorations to it. We love to see the children working co-operatively together on projects.

We all know how important fine motor construction is for childrens fine motor skills, but we find it is also great for their social skills.

We keep all of our construction materials in a set of lockers, where the children can access them at any time.

They are clearly marked with photos, so the children can identify the contents and know which tub to return the construction to when they have finished playing.

The children like nothing better than to bring boxes of construction down onto the mat to play with their friends.

We have learned through experience that if things aren’t in view of the children, chances are they won’t think about it…like they say “you can’t miss what you haven’t got”.  So if you’ve got it, let them know by making it available for them to choose when ever they please.

Children can’t have enough of this type of play… it’s physical, cognitive, social, fun, play based learning!