THE POWER OF PLAY IN THE PRIMARY CLASSROOM

THE POWER OF PLAY IN PRIMARY CLASSROOMS

DR STEPHANIE SMITH

Background

It has been six years since I submitted my doctorial thesis Playing to Engage: Fostering engagement for children and teachers in low socioeconomic regions through science and mathematics play-based learning. This article explores where it all began, practical play-based learning examples to implement into the classroom and what I learnt through my journey, much of which still inspires my work to this day.

I completed my thesis over four years whilst working fulltime as a classroom teacher in a low socio-economic primary school located in southwest Sydney. My research was based on my everyday teaching practice, the delivery of a professional learning package and the implementation of a play-based learning sessions across lower primary. I had the great privilege of team teaching during this time, as well as having the expertise of our school EAL/D teacher collaborating with us. The prime driver of the research was supporting children and teachers to feel more confident in delivering play-based science and mathematics activities, but not unsurprisingly they quickly discovered that play could easily be integrated across the curriculum.

The Evolution of the Play Program

The program began with my Year Two class, in a big school, as a Friday afternoon activity. During the sessions the children engaged with a variety of activities including play dough, Lego, jigsaw puzzles, a variety of craft activities, board games, role-plays and so much more. This quickly evolved into another Year 2 class joining in and the sessions expanding to multiple offerings across the week at different times during the day. Eventually on Fridays all three Year 2 classes would engaging in the sessions with over 60 children connecting, sharing and playing together. Once the program had been well established across Year 2, we began to extend invitations to classes in the school’ s Support Unit. Each Friday a group of between four to eight children, in Year 1 and 2, would join our classes.

This then progressed to the whole of lower primary implementing play sessions across their classes. The teachers instinctively grouped together to undertake sessions, with all of the Kindergarten teachers running sessions together, the Year 1 classes also playing together. This allowed for the teachers to pool together their resources, share ideas for activities, work as a collaborative team and reflect on the process. It also meant that children were able to mix with

other teachers and children outside their own class.

What We Learnt

The play sessions proved to be rich learning opportunities where children could explore new passions, building upon existing ones and share their knowledge with others. The children developed agency over the experiences made available and ran workshops for their classmates. Through the sessions they were able to demonstrate their ability to share, positively interact with each other, mix with a variety of children outside their friendship groups, create role play scenarios and play collaboratively. Children were able to show their skilfulness, share prior knowledge and ability to direct their play and learning experiences independently.

For teachers, it was a sharp learning curve into transitioning into a facilitator of learning and releasing control to the children ’ s interests and passions. They were challenged by allowing the students to lead, felt they lacked a meaningful role in the sessions and didn ’t know what questions to ask the children. What they discovered were stronger relationships and greater understanding about who each child was, their passions, skills and knowledge.

These opportunities ultimately gave children the grounding to transfer knowledge and skills across different learning experiences outside of the play sessions. Play transformed the way children tackled problems, interacted with others, and presented their work. They had a greater degree of confidence and self-awareness. The children celebrated their individual talents and understood how they could share and learn from those around them. The depth of the play experiences helped children develop essential skills like collaboration, creative and critical thinking, risk taking and reflection.

Let's Get Practical

Themed Role-Play Boxes Each week children were able to select from a variety of themed role-play boxes. Some of the options drew straight from children ’ s requests, whilst others tied into the units we were teaching. One such example was the Celebrations box contained themed outfits including a salsa dress, glittery vests, party dresses and capes, as well as lots of different types of brightly coloured material and accessories. They also had access to party hats, plates, cups and napkins with Halloween, birthday and generic rainbow patterns on them. Other examples included witches and wizards, explorer, minibeasts, shop and vet boxes.

The Mystery Craft Box

This was one of the most popular activities. This activity involved children being presented with a range of recycled materials including empty boxes, milk cartons, tubes, paddle pop sticks, bottle tops and plastic cups etc. Children also had access to sticky tape, glue and staplers. From these materials they were able to create anything they could imagine from robots to cupcake

making machines, dragons to submarines. The items in the Mystery Box changed weekly depending on the recycled materials we had and sometimes what the children brought in from home. Originally it was just one big tub which then progressed into different coloured recycled bags for plastic, paper and other items so the children could sort and easily locate items they wanted. Most of the time they had sticky tape and craft glue but occasionally, to challenge them, we would take one of these away. They also had paper available for them to design their creation first, if they so desired. We also ran opt-in challenges where children could design and build creations around a theme for example float your boat, design a toys or vehicle or build a bridge.

Writing Projects

The writing station consisted of a variety of implements including coloured gel pens, scented textas, rainbow pencils and mini stampers. Children also had access to a range of stationery and envelopes. Children were not given any direction just to write anything their hearts desired. We had a letterbox available for children to post letters which were handed out at the end of the session.

Dr Stephanie Smith

Dr Stephanie Smith is the Manager of Learning at the Museum of Australian Democracy, Canberra. She has experience working in primary classrooms and a variety of cultural institutions across the country. Her research explores inquiry learning, professional development and play-based learning specifically in science and mathematics in primary settings.