March 2, 2011- Learning through play...

     Today, I delivered a required training on Implementing Effective Learning Experiences to the instructors and staff at our child development center (preschool and pre-K children), before and after school services (kindergarten through sixth graders), and youth center (7^th-12^th) training meeting.  As I researched the topic of how to implement effective learning experiences, I found a wealth of information on the subject, but narrowed it down to three that apply most appropriately to what we do in our programs.  You see, we are not a school in the academic sense of the word, but we are based on programs ripe with opportunities to learn through recreation, hands-on educational experiences, sports, clubs, and other events which are designed around what the kids’ enjoy and are interested in doing and learning. 
     The three proven effective educational teaching methods that apply most readily to what we do with the kids in our care are the concepts of learning through play, learning through experiences, and learning through conversation. At the child development center, we are often referred to by those outside of the hard working, dedicated staff as a “day care center” or a “babysitting service,” but we are so much more than that. The children may look like they are just playing, and they are playing, but they are also being guided by the teachers to learn, usually without even realizing it. The teachers are trained to play with them in a manner which promotes critical thinking, language, team work, leadership, math, science, and many other skills applicable to their real lives. And what better way to learn!

     How often do you remember growing up having to “go through the experience yourself” before you believed or understood what your parents or others told you to do or say? Those of us who are particularly stubborn, like myself, had to do this often to get it through our thick skulls. This is the concept of “learning through play” in a safe, educational setting. The children experience it for themselves first, then talk about what they’ve learned and find ways to share it with others or apply it to their lives outside of the programs. For example, we don’t just make Play Doh for the kids to play with; we let them make it for themselves (with minimal teacher guidance and help), so they learn where Play Doh comes from and how you can make something fun to play with out of everyday things you have at home. At the school age program, we don’t just talk about healthy foods in our nutrition program; we take the kids on a field trip to the grocery store, playing a game to check the labels and try to guess what we’ll make based on the ingredients we are purchasing, then we actually have the kids do the cooking and eating, discussing the what, why, and how as we go along. At the youth center, the teens don’t just talk about the important things going on in the world, they get out and do important things, such as organizing and implementing a reading night with the preschoolers, a photo scavenger hunt with the school age kids, and fundraising events for clothes and school supplies to donate to the schools and kids on Ebeye who do not always have what they need from day to day. They are learning how to lead, how to work together, how to make a positive contribution to the larger world we live in, and on a more personal level, they are learning what their interests are and getting experience and ideas to guide them in who and what they want to be when they grow up.

     It’s very exciting to work in this type of environment where we are expected to have fun with the kids and teach them through that fun. It’s not easy; it’s definitely a lot more difficult than just babysitting or day care, but it’s worth it because you know you are contributing positively to the growth of those kids in your care, and that’s what I wanted to stress most to my team of instructors and care givers today.  They have all had enough training in their jobs to know most of what we covered. They understand that the children in their care learn through playing, hands-on experiences, and educational conversations because they do these things with the kids every day, but they need to know how important what they do is to these young people’s lives.  I wish I had the training and experience we’ve all been through or are going through at the centers here before I gave birth to my boys because I’ve learned more about parenting and how to care for them through my jobs the past 4 years than I learned in all my time spent on a college education or from any books that I’ve read on child rearing, which proves that learning through play, hands-on experiences, and conversational learning are really the best ways to implement effective, long-lasting, educational experiences.