Play-based Learning

Play-Based Learning

Play-based learning

In the Pre-prep at St John’s, a play-based approach to learning is used to provide an educational environment that reflects and supports the way children of this age learn. We aim to foster skills of independence, collaboration, problem-solving, creativity and communication, create high levels of engagement and improve learning attainment.

This approach has been underpinned by the latest research on learning for young children which demonstrated that children learning through play show improved attainment, well-being and learning dispositions such as creativity.

For example, studies have shown that learning through play leads to improved reading comprehension by age 11 in children who had been in play-based learning until the age of 7 and that it deepens conceptual understanding and language and communication skills.

A play-based approach crucially incorporates an element of adult structuring of the play environment, but the child maintains control within that environment. “ ”

Play-based learning can lead to dramatically better learning outcomes than didactic situations. “ ”

What is play?

There are five key aspects that can be identified as features of play:

• It gives the child choice, with children involved in active, engaged, minds-on thinking;

• It feels fun and enjoyable;

• It evolves spontaneity, not following a given script;

• It is driven by intrinsic motivation as it helps children find meaning in what they are doing;

• It creates a risk-free environment where children can experiment and try new ideas i.e. iterative thinking (experimentation and hypothesis testing).

It is crucial that children direct the action because it gives them the autonomy to make decisions about what to do in any given moment. They are in control of what happens next and in what they wish to explore and how. “ ”

Children do not just perceive that they are in control; they truly can decide what to do next and how to respond. The focus is on the child as an active participant and leader. “ ”

What does play involve?

Play-based learning involves active learning, problem-solving, investigation, creativity, collaboration and reflection.

It offers a risk-free environment where children can explore ideas and deepen learning through application and collaboration. It gives children a range of experiences that build connections in the brain, helping them develop physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally.

The approach at St John’s involves a balance between child-led discovery time, adult-initiated activities and adult-led activities.

If you tell them, children will learn. But if you guide them, children are more likely to actively explore and learn more. “

Play-based learning has value for the development of well-adjusted, creative individuals who will be prepared to solve challenging problems. “ ”

Child-led discovery time

During ‘Discovery Time’, the children are given autonomy over their choice of learning activity and are encouraged to explore and discover through play. This is carefully planned for and the Pre-Prep classrooms are resourced in such a way as to provide a safe, challenging environment that is centred around and reflects the children’s interests and enables rich play experiences and the development of skills.

The adults in the classroom encourage children’s learning and inquiry through interactions that aim to stretch their thinking to higher levels. The language used by adults is consistent across the three year groups. In Kindergarten, children are introduced to the idea of working in their ‘challenge zone’ and of planning their ‘next steps’ and this is continued and extended in Years 1 and 2 where the children are encouraged to explain how they have made progress and to review and reflect on their work. Time is set aside before discovery time begins for children to give some thought to what they will embark upon and purposeful play is encouraged.

During discovery time, the adults in the class observe the play, alert to the quality of it and to the knowledge and skills that the children are using and applying and help the children to stay within their challenge zone by playing alongside where appropriate. Observations are clearly recorded and provide evidence of skills achieved and the next steps in learning and can also be used to inform teacher-led activities.

I used QR codes on the iPads to find out more about Saturn. Before this, I knew that you cannot stand on this planet but now I know that it is made up of gases so there’s no solid surface to stand on. I could have chosen to find this out in a fact book too. “ ”

We read the book ‘Pierre the Maze Detective’ and afterwards

I decided to build a giant maze in the classroom and program the Beebots to be navigated around my maze pathways. “ ”

Appropriately pitched ‘learning challenges’ are also used within discovery time which may be based upon the observed interests of the children or follow on from an adult-led session. Once again, the language of challenge and next steps is used and as the children progress to Year 1, they are introduced to the idea of different levels of challenge within an activity. In Year 2 they are also encouraged to set these levelled challenges for themselves.

Sharing times are used in each year group during or after each discovery time. The children are encouraged to share something they have been working on which is a joyous and proud moment for them. They are encouraged to reflect on their work, the difficulties encountered, what they could have done differently and their next steps. Children often become experts in their field which can stimulate and inspire interest in others and the sessions also provide good opportunities for teachers to model the language of the school’s learning dispositions or ‘Mindsets For Learning’.

The benefits of outdoor learning in terms of boosting confidence, social and communication skills, physical skills and knowledge and understanding are also well documented. Throughout discovery time, the children have regular access to the outdoor environment which is equipped to support the development of cooperative and problem-solving skills.

I felt a happy feeling inside when I told the class that I had discovered that, in flowering plants, seeds grow inside an organ and this turns into a fruit. We then dissected a daffodil so we could see the different parts. “ ”

In our often noisy and busy world, it can be difficult for children to filter out extraneous background noise and learn how to listen to one person. At the same time, our children are often sheltered by us from the uncertainty of having to deal with large groups of friends at one time. As you will guess, learning to listen, to share things and be prepared to ‘take turns’ are important social skills in themselves and any practice you can give will help your child to settle contentedly into school life.

On a similar theme, it is always helpful to a child to find a familiar face or two on the first day at school. We are happy to provide parents with the addresses of all those who will be new to the Kindergarten and we hope that this will help you to set in motion some new friendships, many of which will last throughout the children’s time at school and even beyond.

There are a number of excellent books available that deal with ‘starting school’; it would be beneficial to share these books with your child so that they can raise any questions or exciting expectations. If would like suggestions of some titles please do get in touch with us.

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Child-led discovery time does evolve independently, is spontaneous and often unpredictable but the adult does have a role. Independent learning is not abandoned learning. The teacher’s role isn’t just one of supervision.

Adult initiated activities

During these times, the teacher will introduce a starting point such as an invitation, provocation, theme or other stimulus which will often be based on their understanding of the current interests of the children. The quality of the resources selected again aims to stimulate purposeful play. These sessions can vary in length and frequency depending on how long a previous stimulus lasted and for how long and in what ways a new one can be developed. Adult initiated learning is a good opportunity to allow the adult to observe and make notes on what the children can manage independently within planned situations.

The children are also encouraged to bring in a stimulus from home which they share with the class. In KG they learn to field questions about their stimulus and, as they progress through the Pre-Prep, they learn to rehearse what it is they are going to say and to engage in more collaborative conversations and debates.

In adult initiated learning, the teachers have a clear purpose promoting certain knowledge or understanding, often to consolidate from a past input. They set up and explain the activity or learning, leaving the children to explore and then return to see the different directions that have been taken and different end points that have been arrived at. After watching and clarifying the adult decides if steer learning back to original objectives or go with new learning that has emerged, for example, set up a partnered game.

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In adult-led learning there is a clear outcome but adult-initiated learning has a clear purpose promoting certain knowledge or understanding. “ ”

The adult role is to focus the child’s thinking, to fathom the child’s thinking and to follow the child’s thinking.. “ ”

Engagement

For those of us whose background is not in child development and education, the learning taking place in play-based learning may not seem as immediately obvious as during a wholeclass literacy lesson, for example. To help us judge level of engagement we use the Leuven Scale for Involvement developed by Professor Laevers. The Leuven Scale is a 5 point scale that gauges where children are in terms of their emotional well-being and the level of involvement that they have when engaging with tasks and activities.

He found that when children are: Concentrated and focused, interested, motivated and fascinated, mentally active, fully experiencing sensations and meanings, enjoying the satisfaction of the exploratory drive and operating at the very limits of their capabilities within their challenge zone, then we know that deep learning is taking place.

The term ‘learning’ does not just refer to absorbing imparted knowledge but to practise, explore, consolidate and extend a wide variety of skills, including:

- Mindsets for learning

- Executive functions

- Social and emotional education

- Communication and language

All of these ‘soft’ skills provide an invaluable foundation for success in both education and life.

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High level of involvement and engagement means a high level of brain activity, resulting in maximum progress.

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Play-based learning enables the child to engage in the flexible and higher-level thinking processes deemed essential for the 21st century learner, including inquiry processes of problem solving, analysing, evaluating, applying knowledge and creativity.

Tuning in

Our role of play partnering in play-based learning all comes down to what the child is thinking. With this approach, the teacher is supposed to follow the child’s thinking and we can not do that if we don’t know what it is they are thinking.

How do we know? We tune in and this links so well with our Emotions for Learning (E4L) ethos –in both how we teach and what we expect of the children across the school.

A child can be playing with play-dough, or doing an easy, repetitive activity, but their mind is somewhere completely different, for example, a birthday party at the weekend, an argument before school.

The teacher’s role is to tune in by stopping and getting down and listening to what the child has to say. The teacher is looking to facilitate active involvement – focus, energy, creativity and perseverance.

Children do not just perceive that they are in control; in play-based learning, they truly can decide what to do next and how to respond. “ ”

How do adults support?

How do adults support a child in play-based learning? Wait, watch, wonder.....

Wait - The adult does not interrupt with lots of questions but, instead, gets down to their level, close-by which then gives the child the chance to include the adult in what they are doing.

Watch- As much eye contact as possible is maintained. What are they thinking? Who is leading/ following? What are the child’s levels of involvement? What is the intent or purpose? All these observations will help the adult decide if now is the right time to intervene.

Wonder-What is the focus of a child’s learning? What are they are trying to achieve? ‘I wonder what…’, ‘I wonder why…’. It is at this point that the adult will consider whether an intervention will enhance learning or if it is already flowing and best left alone.

Remembering - the child is in control. The adult’s role is to be available to be whatever the child needs us to be – whether that be a passenger on a plane, or to provide moral support or perhaps recapping a skill they are wrestling with. Observing is not doing nothing but the skill of watching, listening, working things out, figuring out if/how we could enhance the situation.

It is in an educator’s nature to ask question, however, when a child is learning through curiosity, problem solving, thinking creatively and constructing their own understanding of the world, more questions should be posed by them than by adults. In play-based learning, constant questioning puts the control back in our hands. Instead of questioning, we utilise a number of techniques, that can include: narrating – either what the child or we as adults are doing, silence (provokes further, complex thought), modelling language, providing resources, giving encouragement, reminding the children of existing skills or knowledge that may be useful, explaining a concept or problem, demonstrating a new technique or skill, exploring and/or pondering ideas, ‘I wonder…’

As educators, we make sure we throw ourselves into play based learning with as much energy as the children so high levels of engagement can be reached. “ ”

The learning environment

How do we as adults plan and resource the playbased environment to ensure that high-level learning takes place through the children’s play?

As a parent, you are always your child’s first teacher. And then we come along in school as the second teacher.

Reggio Emilia, an education philosophy based in Italy that puts great emphasis on child-led learning, refers to the environment as the third teacher. The environment interacts, modifies, and takes shape in relation to the projects and learning experiences, in a constant dialogue between architecture and pedagogy.

This philosophy believes that the furniture, the objects, and the activity spaces is an educational act that generates psychological well-being, a sense of familiarity and belonging, aesthetic sense, and the pleasure of inhabiting.

At St John’s we recognise that a well-planned and resourced environment will support level 5 engagement and therefore high quality learning.

But how do we plan for and set up the indoor and outdoor environments in the pre-prep? “ ”

We use knowledge of natural play behaviours to think carefully about the skills our provision will support both indoors and out.

Take sand for example. Outside children naturally choose to dig, transfer and mould, all of which are beneficial for their gross and fine motor development, which over the longer term supports writing. It is also an opportunity to experiment with the characteristics of wet and dry sand which links to Science and DT; experimenting with materials (what you can make and create) and scientific concepts such as change of state.

Indoors, dry sand comes into its own as a material for pouring and investigating volume and capacity. We also use it to practise and refine our letter formation, and for small world storytelling – to rehearse and internalise a narrative so that children are confident to put down their ideas on paper once it is time to write.

We restock daily and remove broken items. Including the children in a daily stock take of our environment is a great way to consolidate emerging mathematical skills. Numbered labels help us to know when something is missing and gives us a really purposeful way to practise our counting everyday, such as:

- Using our number bond knowledge to quickly calculate how many glue sticks are missing from a drawer of 20

- Comparing the number of left handed and right handed scissors in a drawer

- Counting on and back to find out how many more clipboards we need to hunt for

Fostering independence

Our furniture is chosen to empower the children to do as much as possible for themselves – from the child-height clothes rails to the half-filled jugs at snack time. We support the children to tidy as they go, with reminders and skill inputs.

For example, a Kindergarten child might have just learned how to turn the waterproofs the right way around and to hang them on the hanger. As a result she passes on this new knowledge to a friend as part of our end of day tidy up routine.

The children are involved in planning and caring for their environment. An example of this was when the Kindergarten children requested, measured for, researched and then built together a new storage shelf for their outdoor water provision by following the instructions. The furniture is chosen to empower the children to do as much as possible for themselves in order to foster a sense of independence. “ ”

Taking risks

Rules and boundaries allow children to take safe risks in their learning.

Clear and consistent boundaries create the safe space children need to take risks in their own learning:

- Everything has a home to which it must be returned

- Waterproofs and wellies are worn for all water, mud or messy play

- Sticks must be shorter than your arm, or have one end on the ground

- Have empty hands when running

- A safe space to leave work in progress

Everything in the classroom has been carefully chosen to support a natural play behaviours or consolidate a particular skill. At the start of the year our environment is set up with what we call ‘basic provision’: tools and resources that will support the average attainment for the children of the age we teach in Pre-Prep.

When I have been in the mud kitchen I know where everything goes so my friends can then come and explore. “ ”

Planning & observations

But as you all know – no child is average – every child is unique, so as we get to know the children we can add to and take away from the basic provision so that it is tailored to support their learning, even when an adult is not working with them.

We begin to tailor our basic provision to support your child from the very first day they spend in our care, and daily and weekly throughout the year as they move forward in their development and show us what they can do.

As we get to know your children we also get to understand their current interests and obsessions, which enables us to enhance our environment with resources and provocations linked to their interest rather than to a skill. This might be linked to an individual interest, such as a new game they played on a recent holiday. Or perhaps an interest in a particular story or film, e.g. ice blocks added to construction to support an interest in ‘Frozen’ and Elsa.

One of our roles when we are play partnering is to add resources as soon as we see a need for them, so we have to be well organised behind the scenes. The cupboards the children cannot access independently are where we store the resources we might need to grab at a moment’s notice to sustain children learning in their challenge zone. Our environment is constantly evolving! Detailed skill descriptors for all year groups across all subjects are used to map the progress of the children as they journey through the school.

Our learning environment is constantly changing and evolving. “ ”

We froze model animals in blocks of coloured water so I could see how long it took for them to be defrosted. “ ”

Adult led learning

In addition to the separate English and Maths inputs that happen regularly, the Pre-Prep teachers also introduce and teach specific curriculum concepts and skills in adult-led sessions. These sessions can follow on from observed play or they can act as a stimulus for it. A skill or concept taught can then be embedded through the use of small teacher led groups or by setting relevant challenges in discovery time. In adult-led sessions, teachers know the outcome, plan using the children’s prior knowledge, steer and guide the children towards the outcomes and are sensitive to the children’s ideas and thought processes, whilst remaining in control of the direction of learning. The number of such adult-led sessions will vary depending on the needs of the class.

We learn our phonics with our teachers as a class or in small groups and we can write the letters on iPads, on whiteboards, in sand or in big letters with chalk. “ ”

My teacher helped me to write a Mother’s Day letter to my Mummy to say thank you for being a lovely Mummy. “ ”