Playing and learning

[nusrat-diu]

Baby games
Try the following simple and fun ideas for playing with your baby.

Make noise together. Gently bang pots and pans, sing a noisy song , or make animal sounds (the cow goes ‘moooooo’).
Start reading. Babies use books to chew on, play with in the bath, and discover new textures. Sometimes they even look at them! When you read together often, your baby realises that books are a lovely way to spend special time together.
Explore safely. Create safe places in your home where your baby can explore and work on new skills. These might include sitting up, crawling, pulling up, opening cupboards, picking things up, throwing them and putting them in his mouth, and eventually walking.
Play simple games. Games like pat-a-cake, peekaboo and ‘this little piggy went to market’ are a real laugh for a giggling baby. They can also do a lot to help her learning and movement skills. Tickle her tummy and show her how to blow raspberries. Splash around together in a shallow bath on a warm day. Fill a small juice bottle with buttons to make a rattle. The list is as long as your imagination.
Bits and pieces. You can develop your baby’s imagination slowly by giving him odds and ends to play with. Try a box of coloured cloth bits or some empty egg cartons.
Television is not recommended for babies under two. If the TV must be on, try to limit viewing time to short stints (10 minutes a day) of educational, baby-friendly programs such as Play School.
When does play start?
Play starts from birth. As your child grows and develops, play changes from you playing with your baby, to baby gradually learning how to play with objects and – eventually – other children.

Follow your baby’s instincts with play. If your baby is looking at an object or toy, you can label what she’s looking at. Show your baby what she can do with the object she’s interested in. Research tells us that this is important for language development.

How baby learns
Everything is new to babies – things we take for granted are a first time novelty for them. Let them discover and get bored at their own pace.

For example, your baby has just picked up a rattle in his tiny hand. He moves his arm. The rattle jerks and makes an interesting sound. Your baby moves his hand again. The rattle makes the sound. He moves his hand with great purpose. The rattle shakes noisily. Your baby has just made an exciting connection. He has discovered that when he shakes a rattle, he can produce a noise. He has learned that he can make something happen. He has control over some small part of his world.

Support this process by introducing toys slowly, one at a time, after your baby has tried to squeeze every use out of the one she is already playing with. This helps her develop her learning and attention skills.

Babies learn things automatically, like:

how to fall asleep at a certain time of day (this is based on their internal body clock)
how to get what they need (and, later, want)
how to eat food
how to breathe through their mouth when their noses are blocked by a cold.
Exploring is one of the ways your baby learns. It’s your job to make baby’s environment safe. When baby plays in a safe environment, you won’t have to say ‘no’ all the time.
Source: Internet

[nusrat-diu]

Your toddler is on a quest to find out how everything works. Curiosity drives his play and learning. If you say ‘no’ to him every time, it’s like pouring cold water on his natural curiosity.

From about 14 months, toddlers play side-by-side with other children but not always with them (parallel play). By the age of three, they start to play with other children.

Time to play and learn
Playing lets your child’s imagination run riot. By listening, looking, touching, tasting and smelling, he starts to learn about his world. Join in these fun games and you show him he is loved and valued.

Learning at this age is a type of play and can be lots of fun:

Touching bag. Put a variety of small objects into a bag and ask your child to put his hand in and feel one. Is it warm or cold? Is it smooth or rough? Is it hard or soft? You are teaching your child to put words to objects and discover the names of different textures.
Building blocks. Stacking and removing can teach simple counting and maths.
Shakers. Fill various plastic containers with sand, pebbles, rice and water. Give them a shake and discover the different sounds they make.
How to read with your toddler
Books open up amazing new worlds and experiences. Stories help him develop speech, imagination and even counting skills. Reading books together can become a much loved ritual.

As you read the story, talk about what’s happening in the pictures; for example, ‘Look, it’s raining and he has his brolly up’.
Ask him to identify things that he knows in the picture; for example, ‘Where is the emu on this page?’
You can even introduce him to numbers by counting objects in the pictures; for example, ‘How many children are there in the playground? One, two, three …’.
 Or just lose yourselves in the story.
The best picture books are those that stand up to reading over and over, night after night. Pop-up and lift-the-flap books are full of surprises. Your local library or bookshop may be able to recommend some classic picture books.

Play ideas
Craft and creating. Nothing beats a stack of recycled paper, a paint pot and your toddler’s imagination. Finger painting, potato prints and brush painting are all fun. He will also enjoy scribbling with crayons and pencils (on paper, on walls or whatever you fancy).
Water fun. In the bath or paddling pool, he will love emptying and filling containers. Drowning is quick and silent, even in a small amount of water, so don’t leave him alone even for a moment.
Pretend play. By the time they are three, toddlers love dressing up in your old clothes, shoes and jewellery. They like to play house and create their own world with a doll’s house or farmyard of animals.
Outdoor play. Climbing and running are favourite activities for older toddlers. Running means falling so be prepared for occasional spills and tears. Sandpits provide hours of sifting and digging fun.
Books and songs. Singing and reading expand your toddler's vocabulary and help him learn to talk. He loves sharing a burst of ‘Incey wincey spider’   or exploring the pages of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Discovery. To see how things work, he will open and close drawers, push buttons on the DVD player and post all sorts of objects into all sorts of holes. To avoid saying ‘no’ to all his discovery play, remove access to valuable items. Make up a ‘magic box’ full of interesting things, like reusable stickers, shiny paper, stacking cups, a pop-up book, old cards, crayons, dominoes and a small peg puzzle. Sneak in some new items occasionally so he gets a surprise the next time he opens it.

Source: Internet

[nusrat-diu]

The concept of learning, by playing, is not new. In fact, for ages, children have been taught highly complex concepts by means of games and activities, concepts that they wouldn't have otherwise grasped. Such games and activities enhance personal learning and development, that no book can provide. It is true that a school provides education, but knowledge is subjective and can be increased and improved, by means of some very simple methods such as playing games. There are so many things that you have your kids do, without realizing the kind of message it is imparting to your child, or the kind of effect it has on her/his mind. Particularly games have this effect on kids, and here we will talk about the concept of children learning by playing.

How Children Learn By Playing

Instead of having kids cram information and simply talking to them about various concepts, parents, along with several educational institutions are adopting the art of teaching by playing with children. This, they believe, is a better way of inculcating not only concepts but also essential values in life, particularly during the period of early childhood education, in the most formative stages of a child's life. It is human nature to learn by experience, rather than when told or explained by someone else. Certain things are learned only after you experience them yourself. You have to learn from the consequences of your actions, and then realize why you were or weren't asked to do something. Similar is the case when it comes to children learning by playing. Based on child participation and involvement, learning can be made fun rather than a mundane, stressful task, that emphasizes only on cramming as much information as possible.

Let's understand this approach by example. Why are kid's taught mathematics on the Abacus before they are taught it in the classroom? It is because the abacus lays a strong foundation upon which the subject revolves. The basics of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are all taught on this colorful tool, where kids learn by manual movement of beads how these concepts work. This makes it a playful activity that allows learning by playing. Now let's take a look at some board games that implement the concept of learning while playing. Monopoly teaches children how to use money wisely at a young age. It teaches them how to carry out transactions, and the art of decision making. While it is a highly fun and engaging game, it is teaching things that education does not teach. Games, such as Scrabble are designed to increase word power. If you look deeply, that is not all Scrabble does. By having a point system, it enables kids to strategize and make high scoring words by using letters appropriately in strategic locations. All these games in some way are educational games that teach children things that parents and the best education are sometimes unable to do.

In the digital age, kids are more technologically savvy, which is why a lot of educational computer games and video games have been designed to teach children, basic concepts such as strategy, the importance of team work, along with enhancing focus and concentration. No matter how much you may be against it, video games are engaging and increase focus among those who use them. It is this engaging quality that is now utilized by game designers worldwide to impart education by a medium that is fun. Puzzles, games that increase word power, games that improve memory power, that teach complex scientific concepts in a simple manner, are all available to help kids enhance their learning. This may be hard to believe, but some schools in the US have started employing this technique to increase learning ability of children, and have been successful with this method. These schools also help kids design games that allow them to learn in the process of designing. For instance, a detective game based on problem solving will help kids understand how it works while they are designing the game. Though problem solving is subjective and depends on the kind of problem one is facing, there are certain methods of going about solving a problem that can be taught by means of designing these games. This is an interesting learning style for children that has been adopted by some schools.

In the classroom, while going beyond books and all that they have to offer, children are also taught the power of healthy communication, of group effort, and the benefits of team building. This is done by means of various team building activities for kids. It teaches children not only to function as a group, but to lead and manage large groups of people, thereby imbibing leadership skills. Similar is the case with outdoor games and activities. Being the captain of a football team teaches a child how to lead, manage, and achieve goals by means of the aforementioned concepts. In activities like camping, children are taught the importance of nature, and the value of having the comfort of a home and a bed, when they are roughing it up outdoors.

All in all, this idea of 'children learning by playing' can be implemented in different manners. Not all children take to a particular activity and may have other ways of imbibing knowledge and wisdom. Yet, this is a very effective way of laying a strong foundation of concepts that are not taught by books to children. There is a lot for children to learn in life, and though not everything, playing with children, and teaching them in this process will be highly beneficial to all of them.
By Puja Lalwani
 
Source: Buzzle.com

[shibli]

Deep and lasting learning occurs as a learner proceeds through a series of stages. While this progression may not be sequential, each stage is characterized by an action taken by the learner which, if successfully negotiated, leads to learning. If one action is omitted from the process, or if the learner's activity within a stage is truncated, learning may not occur or it may be diminished. The stages leading to learning include exposure to new information, thinking about it, evaluating it, connecting it, storing it, activating it, applying it, understanding it and reflecting on it. While these are actions taken by the learner, faculty and others who support learning are generally partners in the process. A faculty colleague's description captures the cooperative nature of learning: "the power of learning is in the student and the act of teaching is designed to activate this power in the student" (Sullivan, 1996, p 4).

In the 7 Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education (Chickering and Gamson, 1987) the authors suggest that "good practice encourages active learning" (p. 1). This principle, anchored in decades of research about teaching and learning, calls on us to consider methods to expand the terms of engagement between student and teacher. It suggests that we think about and act on what we know about how student participation in the learning process leads to higher levels of deep and lasting learning.

http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/learning/pubs/oct97/li_act_inter.html

[shibli]

Learning is ever an individual project. Learning outcomes are the joint result of an Institute's best efforts -- in teaching, curricula, and advisement -- and of a student's own motivation, effort and time on task.

Ted Marchese, American Association of Higher Education

[nusrat-diu]

Outdoor Play
Running, swinging, climbing, jumping, hopping, biking, digging in the sand--outdoor fun is one of the favorite parts of any young child's day. A good preschool playground will have enough space and sturdy equipment that a child can use his imagination while exercising. For example, the jungle gym structure might have connecting slides, firefighter poles to shimmy down and then inch up, tunnels to crawl through, a swinging bridge that connects one side of the apparatus to the other. A child will use multiple skills and create dozens of scenarios as he plays on this one structure. There should be equipment for digging, hauling, building, and riding.

What's Learned Outdoor play refines a child's gross-motor (large-muscle) skills. The cross-lateral movement (right arm/left leg and vice versa) involved is critical to a child's later success in reading and writing. Playground time is also an opportunity to explore and manipulate a different environment.

Youngsters also love outdoor play because they can let loose their imaginations while getting physical. They can turn the jungle gym into a rocket ship, a castle, a firehouse--anything they choose.

 

[fatema_diu]

wonderful posts!

[saratasneem]

Learning by playing is very beneficial for childhood period.

[ehsan217]

Parents should be more conscious about childhood playing because mental and physical growth is highly depends on it.

[Ifti]

And childhood playing must be concentrated to outdoor games, not indoor games.

Iftekhar
Office of the Dean (FBE)