According to the Kindergarten Curriculum Document (Ontario, 2016):
Play nourishes every aspect of children’s development. ... Play develops the foundation of intellectual, social, physical, and emotional skills necessary for success in school and in life. It “paves the way for learning”.
(Canadian Council on Learning, 2006, p. 2)
Play is a vehicle for learning and rests at the core of innovation and creativity. It provides opportunities for learning in a context in which children are at their most receptive. Play and academic work are not distinct categories for young children, and learning and doing are also inextricably linked for them. It has long been acknowledged that there is a strong link between play and learning for young children, especially in the areas of problem solving, language acquisition, literacy, and mathematics, as well as the development
of social, physical, and emotional skills (NAEYC, 2009; Fullan, 2013; Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014c).
Young children actively explore their environment and the world around them through play. When children are exploring ideas and language, manipulating objects, acting out roles, or experimenting with various materials, they are engaged in learning through play. Play, therefore, has an important role in learning and can be used to further children’s learning in all areas of the Kindergarten program.
RISKY PLAY!
According to Peter Gray's:
For many reasons, including the prevalence of electronic media, children today spend relatively little time in natural environments. This “nature deficit” has been linked to disturbing trends such as childhood obesity, attention disorders, and depression. Outdoor spaces offer valuable learning opportunities, and natural settings can inspire the kind of thinking, learning, leadership, and innovation that may be inhibited in children in the classroom but that, once revealed, can be incorporated back into the classroom environment.
In the Kindergarten program, learning in the outdoors is included as part of the instructional day, and the educators play an active role, engaging with children in an inquiry stance as they play, explore, and learn together outside the classroom.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: HOW CAN WE MAKE THE OUTDOORS PART OF THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT?
In what ways can we:
• extend the learning environment beyond the classroom − into the outdoors aswell as to the rest of the school and to the community beyond the school? For example, how can we use diverse settings for inquiry and imaginative play to promote learning that can then be brought back into the classroom?
• build outdoor learning into the flow of the school day?
• reflect the natural environment within the classroom? For example, are we introducing natural and found objects among the materials children can usein the classroom?
• help children to explore the natural world more deeply and directly, beyond thelearning that natural items in the classroom can provoke?
Big Block Play!
In our classroom, we tend to have a lot of students interested in BIG BLOCKS play. They love building with them to make trails and obstacle courses that they can hop on and dance and balance!
(Canadian Council on Learning, 2006, p. 2)
Play is a vehicle for learning and rests at the core of innovation and creativity. It provides opportunities for learning in a context in which children are at their most receptive. Play and academic work are not distinct categories for young children, and learning and doing are also inextricably linked for them. It has long been acknowledged that there is a strong link between play and learning for young children, especially in the areas of problem solving, language acquisition, literacy, and mathematics, as well as the development
of social, physical, and emotional skills (NAEYC, 2009; Fullan, 2013; Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014c).
Young children actively explore their environment and the world around them through play. When children are exploring ideas and language, manipulating objects, acting out roles, or experimenting with various materials, they are engaged in learning through play. Play, therefore, has an important role in learning and can be used to further children’s learning in all areas of the Kindergarten program.
RISKY PLAY!
According to Peter Gray's:
Risky Play: Why Children Love It and Need It
To protect our children we must allow them to play in ways deemed "risky."
Six categories of risky play:
• Great heights. Children climb trees and other structures to scary heights, from which they gain a birds-eye view of the world and the thrilling feeling of I did it!.
• Rapid speeds. Children swing on vines, ropes, or playground swings; slide on sleds, skis, skates, or playground slides; shoot down rapids on logs or boats; and ride bikes, skateboards, and other devices fast enough to produce the thrill of almost but not quite losing control.
• Dangerous tools. Depending on the culture, children play with knives, bows and arrows, farm machinery (where work and play combine), or other tools known to be potentially dangerous. There is, of course, great satisfaction in being trusted to handle such tools, but there is also thrill in controlling them, knowing that a mistake could hurt.
• Dangerous elements. Children love to play with fire, or in and around deep bodies of water, either of which poses some danger.
• Rough and tumble. Children everywhere chase one another around and fight playfully, and they typically prefer being in the most vulnerable position—the one being chased or the one underneath in wrestling--the position that involves the most risk of being hurt and requires the most skill to overcome.
• Disappearing/getting lost. Little children play hide and seek and experience the thrill of temporary, scary separation from their companions. Older ones venture off, on their own, away from adults, into territories that to them are new and filled with imagined dangers, including the danger of getting lost.
(https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/freedom-learn/201404/risky-play-why-children-love-it-and-need-it)
Outdoor Play!
The learning environment extends to the outdoors. A growing body of research suggests that connecting to the natural world contributes to children’s mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health and well-being (Louv, 2005). Children’s natural curiosity and sense of wonder can be fostered by providing them with many opportunities to learn outdoors. The learning that takes place in classroom experiences can be explored in the “extended classroom” that nature provides. Similarly, the natural environment can be reflected in the indoor learning environment.For many reasons, including the prevalence of electronic media, children today spend relatively little time in natural environments. This “nature deficit” has been linked to disturbing trends such as childhood obesity, attention disorders, and depression. Outdoor spaces offer valuable learning opportunities, and natural settings can inspire the kind of thinking, learning, leadership, and innovation that may be inhibited in children in the classroom but that, once revealed, can be incorporated back into the classroom environment.
In the Kindergarten program, learning in the outdoors is included as part of the instructional day, and the educators play an active role, engaging with children in an inquiry stance as they play, explore, and learn together outside the classroom.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: HOW CAN WE MAKE THE OUTDOORS PART OF THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT?
In what ways can we:
• extend the learning environment beyond the classroom − into the outdoors aswell as to the rest of the school and to the community beyond the school? For example, how can we use diverse settings for inquiry and imaginative play to promote learning that can then be brought back into the classroom?
• build outdoor learning into the flow of the school day?
• reflect the natural environment within the classroom? For example, are we introducing natural and found objects among the materials children can usein the classroom?
• help children to explore the natural world more deeply and directly, beyond thelearning that natural items in the classroom can provoke?
Big Block Play!
In our classroom, we tend to have a lot of students interested in BIG BLOCKS play. They love building with them to make trails and obstacle courses that they can hop on and dance and balance!
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