#10 - Parent's Guide to Playful Learning
This week’s post comes to us from Thailand based playful learning expert and Harvard alumna, Plub Limpiti
I have a friend whose son loves Captain America; that is all he wants to be and play these days. It has been a whole month of mask-drawings, shield-makings, and fort-buildings!
Children play for the sake of playing (and so do we adults) and don’t usually run out of ideas, but in the moments that they do, how do you come up with an activity?
My friend is familiar with using Pinterest to search for new crafts they can make and obstacle courses they can create. Parents don’t really have a problem spotting activities that would be interesting and fun for their kids. But as parents take on more of a teacher’s role too during this covid-19 situation, what is a way we can think more intentionally about how to engage children in play?
“Play is the work of childhood” writes Jean Piaget.
As an educator, I think about what kind of “work” I can design for children that can lead to a joyful time spent learning through play.
There is a lot of research from all over the world that shows that children can and do learn through play, which benefits them socially, emotionally, cognitively, and physically. Children don’t think about what they are learning from play, because for them, play is a satisfying end in itself. But we can.
Planning for Play
We can identify opportunities for learning through play by zooming out and seeing a bigger picture.
Play researchers have analyzed and organized play into many different categories, and by understanding some of these ways, it can be helpful when you’re thinking about what activity to do, what toys to get or what extra-curricular they can enroll in.
“Play” is a broad term like “food” - both fulfills us but different kinds offer different benefits (or sometimes even harm). I like to think that one of our roles as educators or parents is to both widen children’s range of experiences and support specific interests through varying different ways, types, or mediums of their play.
By zooming out, you’ll be able to:
Spot what types of play they have not been exposed to much and hence, introduce and create opportunities for them to experience something different. They may like it, they may not, but at least they will know.
Further support the kind of play they love and want a deeper dive. You can figure out how to vary materials or the way it’s tackled.
Let me show you what I mean.
The CookBook Model
I propose something I have nicknamed “The CookBook Model” because, in order to prepare something that’ll be good for them (and hopefully they like), we need to think about what to cook and how to cook it.
There are three important ingredients I’d like to take you through:
Way of Play
Type of Play
Medium of Play
(You can use this to both identify and reflect, or use it to design and decide.)
1. How can we vary different ways that kids can play?
Play literature proposes that playful learning is a continuum, ranging from open-ended to guided play to games. There are no clear cut definitions for when one ends and another begins, but the gist of it is:
Open-ended play: This way of playing is child-led and depending on whether we adults are there too, we follow along with what they want to do and the storyline they’re playing in. We do not impose any agenda on them. They are playing what they want, how they want. This is more of a “playground” view of play, where children are free to roam. Open-ended play encourages children to explore their interests, create their own goals, and follow their imagination.
For example: Left alone, there might be an epic battle between Captain America and Darth Vader in the kitchen.
Guided play: This is generally when play is still child-led but adults have more of a role. There is an agenda for a certain skill or content area. Adults might scaffold play through the selection of materials or a set of questions that build curiosity and understanding. This would be more of a “play-pen” way, where play is more structured and children are directed. An example of this type of play are Lego sets that have instructions on how to build a Millenium Falcon or a Mermaid Ship in which children can learn new techniques and expertise in building.
For example: Let’s upgrade your Captain America shield by adding LED lights.
Games: This is when children are participants in an adult designed or scaffolded environment. This would also be considered more of a”play-pen” way. They learn to follow rules but have room to practice critical, creative, and strategic thinking under constraints. Games can be effective learning tools that target specific skills or knowledge content. (These are true for both physical and digital play!)
For example, Ironman needs Captain America’s help to go on a scavenger hunt using these (e.g. language, visual, sound) clues!
2. How can we vary the types of play?
We all play very differently - some like to paint, some like to build and some like to dance.
Researchers have classified play in so many different ways, some say there are just 5 big categories while some expand that to 16 types (more of my own compilation here). I examined the different ways and remixed it into these 7 that are easy to follow and works as a frame when you’re thinking about how your child likes to play.
Construction - Building and manipulating objects.
Language - Playing with words, including speaking, reading and writing.
Media - Creating, such as painting, drawing, making music.
Physical - Includes active exercise like jumping or dancing, and rough-and-tumble that involves playing with others.
Pretend - Imagining and role-playing. (Fun Fact: Research has shown that it takes much self-restraint to stay in character, possibly leading to improved self-regulation!)
Sensory - Exploring and manipulating materials.
Social - Playful interactions with peers or adults.
Can we use a theme or universe they’re currently interested in, such as Captain America/Marvel, to engage them in these different types of play?
What type of play does your child gravitate towards? What haven’t they tried?
Would you like to further their development in that realm or would you like to introduce them to other types of play?
Each type of play has its own benefits and definitely overlap. We don’t have to “collect them all” but seeing all these different types can give you new ideas of how to engage them in play.
3. What are the mediums that we can vary in their play?
How we play is heavily influenced by the materials that we have, the environment we are in, and the people that are around us.
We can think about varying the medium when thinking about new ways of engaging children in play.
Materials: Digital and Physical
Can something that is on the screen become materials they can use to create something? For example:
Using digital blocks to build a world in Minecraft
Stringing coding blocks to create a game in Scratch
Drawing on an iPad
Recording a song
What kind of physical materials can you vary to keep them exploring? For example:
Slime - What else can you put in? What other recipes can you try?
Sand - What tools can you keep changing in the sandbox? What other things can you add to it?
Captain America masks, shields, costumes - let’s try using cardboard/paper mache/fabric to create it. Which one do you like better? Why? What is good about this material vs. that?
Environment: Online and Offline:
What are they doing online?
Are they creating or remixing something out of their own imagination?
Are they following a set of instructions to learn how to make or do something?
Are they playing a game to achieve some type of goal? What kind of game is it? What do you think they are learning from that game?
Where do they usually play (offline)?
Natural vs. Built: Is their environment often the city, the country, inside a room, or out in nature?
What kind of environment do you want them to be in more and be less at? How they play will be affected by what is around them. Construction in a room might be with blocks, outside it might be with sticks. Where we are, how we’re playing, and what we’re playing with also has an effect on our moods.Safe vs. Some Risk: Do your children have a chance to navigate situations where they have to calculate some risks or do they spend too much time in a bubble-wrapped place? A rich environment would offer opportunities for children to learn to judge for themselves what is considered safe, e.g. Is this plank sturdy enough to walk across? How high should I climb this tree?
People: Diverse vs. Alike
Being exposed to people of all walks, such as different ages, gender, race, religion, and culture would enrich and expand their ideas on how and what to play, which in turn helps them better understand the world around them. They can learn new games they can play from older kids, grandparents, or their neighbor that has a different cultural background. Topics that different people talk about might spark more pretend play scenarios. Their
The CookBook Model can help us identify and reflect on the ways that our children play, which could then inform how we decide to set the table or cook it up. You can start with a type of play, then decide the way and material, or you can start with way and material, then type of play. There are so many combinations that can mix up! Thinking this way about children’s play is not intuitive, but could be insightful and give you more ideas about playful learning possibilities.
I hope that this model can be a guide when you’re thinking about designing for learning through play.
Playing is a way that not only children learn to understand themselves, others, and the world, but it’s a natural way for us adults too.
So while you’re thinking about the kids, don’t forget to carve some time to play for yourself too!
Plub Limpiti is a learning experience consultant that curates pedagogy, writes curriculum, and tests assessments in the realm of play, learning, and creativity. She is also an education entrepreneur that co-founded a story-based play camp in Bangkok and a research-based blog for teachers and parents in Thailand called Thinking Brush.