Educational Play

Some early childhood educators and educational psychologists believe that play could meaningfully direct a child’s cognitive and social development. Hence, some preschool and primary grade teachers integrate educational play in their teaching.

What is Educational Play?

Educational play is a way of teaching which provides learning through the use of objects, activities, games, etc. Educational play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength. It is through play that children at a very early age engage and interact in the world around them.

Educational play is essential to children’s development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social and emotional well-being of learners.

Kinds of Educational Play

1. Manipulative Play

Manipulative play refers to activities where children move, order, turn or screw items to make them fit. It allows children to take control of their world by mastering the objects they use. It is often solitary, but when sufficient resources are provided it can also be a cooperative activity.

2. Physical Play

Physical play is the type of play that gets your child moving from big movements like running and jumping to small movements like picking up a pencil or tying a knot. It also helps children to understand their bodies for what they can do.

Benefits of Physical Play

1. Fitness
2. Balance
3. Self-coordination
4. good mood
5. good behavior
6. strength
7. coordination
8. social skills
9. happiness

Physical Activities that Promote the Mentioned Benefits

1. Running
2. Climbing
3. Swinging
4. Skipping
5. Riding a bike, scooter or skateboard
6. Ball games
7. Dancing

Planning Physical Games

3. Dramatic Play

Dramatic play is also known as symbolic or pretend play. Children as young as 11 months old already engage in dramatic play. In this type of play, children act out events of daily life and practice the role and identities modeled by members of their family and society.

What Children Learn in Dramatic Play

1. social and language skills
2. cooperation and coordination
3. relationship building
4. story telling and dramatization of observed events

Teacher’s Role in Dramatic Play

1. Encourage the child to experiment with different roles and think about the different aspects of the role.
2. Use words, props or movements to initiate a make believe scenario.
3. Collaborate with children in dramatic play and introduce props to enhance the study.
4. Communicate ideas and make suggestions to stimulate dramatic play.
5. Participate in child’s play. Pretend with the children.

Ideas for Fostering Dramatic/ Symbolic Play

Babies 3 to 18 Months Old

Expose the baby to a variety of toys and rotate them in sets so the baby doesn’t get bored. Rattles, balls, blocks, and stacks are great toys for babies to play, and not just in a conventional way. You can show the baby to tap, roll or even gently bang the toy on a surface to make sounds.

18 months old to 3 years old

Pretend play a tea party with the child’s favorite stuffed toys. Name the dishes and the cutlery as you set them out. Use bottle caps, plastic containers and other recyclable items if you don’t have a toy tea set. Then have fun pretending to feed the stuffed toys with imaginary cakes and tarts.

Another fun idea is to let the child join you in the kitchen. Give them an empty bowl and spoon to stir their own “cake batter.”

3 to 5 years old

Keep a box of old clothes, shoes, scarves, hats, bags and sunglasses so the child can play dress up and pretend to be someone else. You can even bring this box out when the child has play dates. Another idea is to turn a corner of your house into a grocery, doctor’s office, or veterinary clinic.

4. Games

A game is an activity where the players follow prescribed rules that differ from those in real life as they strive to attain a challenging goal. Kelley (1988) and Salen and Zimmerman (2003) also define games as a system with rules, conflict, and a quantifiable outcome. It is free movement with a more quantifiable structure.

Use of Educational Games in Education

1. Increase learning motivation in students.
2. Increase learner’s understanding of the concept.
3. Encounter different types of learners and learning styles.
4. Increase student’s participation and involvement.
5. Enables the learners to spontaneously retrieve learned information.

Benefits of Using Educational Games in the Classroom

1. Games are fun. They provide a break from the usual classroom routine.
2. Games are motivating.
3. They are challenging. They push students to be responsible for their own learning and knowledge in a new way.
4. Games are interactive. They inherently create situations where students are pushed to interact with each other.

Disadvantages of Games in Class

1. Some game structures can be time consuming.
2. Some games require expensive props.
3. Learning outcomes may be lost if the game is not well designed.
4. Students may focus on the game instead of the learning.
5. When overused, students may tire of it.

Choosing the Right Educational Game

1. Games used in the classroom must be more than just fun. It has to provide learning value.
2. It could involve a friendly competition.
3. It must be able to sustain the interest of most of the students.
4. It must meet the learning objectives.
5. It should give the students a chance to learn, practice, and review the target concepts.

Examples of Educational Games

A. Memory Game

1. One student says 1 sentence.
2. The next student repeats the sentence and then adds something.
3. When a player forgets what has been said, they are out of the game.

Example:

Student 1: I went shopping.

Student 2: I went shopping and bought a jacket.

Student 3: I went shopping and bought a jacket and a cap.

B. Word Association

1. Give the students a word. Example: Classroom.
2. Ask the students to give other words associated with the word classroom.

Sample answers:

Student 1: Teacher

Student 2″ Classmate

Student 3: Board

C. Whispers

1. Group the class into two or more team and have each group fall in line.
2. Whisper a word or a sentence to the first student in the line.
3. The student needs to whisper to the next student and relay the word or sentence they heard until the message reaches the last student in the line.
4. The last student must then run to the front and say the word out oud.
5. The first team to say the message correctly gets the point for the round.

D. Chain Spelling

The teacher gives a word and asks a student to spell it. Then, the student will call a classmate. The second student must say a word that begins with the last letter of the previously spelled word. The game continues until someone misspells, mispronounces, or gives a word that does not begin with the last letter of the previous word.

You can make the game a bit more challenging by limiting the words to certain categories.

Here are other classroom games suggestions:

Characteristics of Games

1. Clear, achievable goals and rules.
2. Appropriate challenges that gradually increases in difficulty.
3. Interactive
4. Done in a safe environment where children can explore and are allowed to make mistakes.
5. Collaborative and/ or competitive

How to Teach Using Game Based Learning

1. Define objectives
2. Decide on the kind of game.
3. Break objectives down into challenges.
4. Design rewards.
5. Build game.
6. Test game.
7. Run game.

Read about Play and It’s Importance.