Goal 7: Play and have fun! invites us to observe children at play and think about how we can incorporate more fun and less paper in our lessons. My initial idea was to record something with my 4 year-old son talking about play and his favourite games. Alas, I couldn't get him to stay within range of the mic for long enough and telling him to sit down and stay still would have been against the spirit of the challenge!
So, you'll have to make do with just me. I thought I'd play around with something different this time so my response comes to you as a voice recording done via Vocaroo:
And one thing I forgot to add: as Shelly mentions, adding more fun can mean using less paper. This is of course a good thing but teachers often worry about running out of ideas. However, we should not forget another way to save paper: recycle. Don't be afraid of doing activities again. It doesn't have to be exactly the same lesson, just the same activity for a different topic. Our kids will often enjoy it more the second time around!
So, you'll have to make do with just me. I thought I'd play around with something different this time so my response comes to you as a voice recording done via Vocaroo:
And one thing I forgot to add: as Shelly mentions, adding more fun can mean using less paper. This is of course a good thing but teachers often worry about running out of ideas. However, we should not forget another way to save paper: recycle. Don't be afraid of doing activities again. It doesn't have to be exactly the same lesson, just the same activity for a different topic. Our kids will often enjoy it more the second time around!
Hi Dave!
ReplyDeleteI loved this post on play and I found your recording very interesting too. You raise a lot of important points and one of them is letting kids play outside freely, without being too overly concerned if they get a bit cold or a bit dirty. It is nice I think for kids to come into contact with nature.They learn a lot by touching and feeling things. I remember David Suzuki, the well-known ecologist, mentioning in an interview how he loved that his mother allowed him to play outside and get dirty and carry all sorts of creatures home. He said that he got the best lessons from nature.
I also agree with the point you raise that if in class, kids can still learn from playing as long as there is an objective - that they actually learn something in the end.Playing just for playing is not beneficial for them.
Thank you for a great post, Dave!
Kindest regards,
Vicky
Hi Vicky,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. I think there's often something to be learned from most games, whether that be knowledge, a skill or a 'life lesson'. However, sometimes we need to highlight that point explicitly and get the kids to think about it.