Playing is Learning
Five things I learnt about play from having my children test our first play product
An idea is great in theory. It is not until this idea is tested and used that you know how great the idea is.
My mother and I are both trained teachers and we both have a love for children, education, play and learning. We get excited about it. We are passionate about it and therefore we always had a plan to combine our forces and teach or create something special. One day we decided it was time - not that we had the time, but we wanted to just do it. We brainstormed all our different ideas and passions and ultimately decided we wanted to help busy and tired parents save their time, their money and their energy searching for ways to get their children to play and learn. We came to the conclusion that not everyone knows that playing and learning go hand in hand and that we needed a product that could be used for this purpose.
Once we wrote our pretend play activities, they all had to be tested and photographed for the cards. So we persuaded my two children to try out all our ideas and activities. This was the only way to know if we were on the right track. I would say this was the part of the process where I learnt the most about my children and about our first play product: Pretend Play cards. Here are the top five things I learnt:
Children do things at their own pace
I could not predict how long an activity or play idea could take. Things that I thought would take my daughter five minutes to do, sometimes took much much longer. There were also things that I thought would keep her going for ages which she was finished with within minutes. I quickly realised that this just depended on the day, the mood, the stage, the direction of the wind (joking). You get the picture. Unpredictable. And so I learnt my next valuable lesson.
Repeating the same idea brings different results
One of the best things about children and play is that they don’t mind repeating an idea. In fact they often really enjoy revisiting an activity. It gives them an opportunity to build on their initial ideas or master a skill they previously struggled with. They are more confident because they know what they want to achieve. I noticed with my daughter that there would be days she would be more into doing something than others. I also observed her independently recreating a play idea or craft activity we had previously completed. It was fascinating for me to see this result.
Giving children control builds independence and confidence
As hard as it was, I learnt to let my daughter do as much as she could or wanted to complete in each activity without my help. You may notice some of the complete products do not look perfect. They do not look like they would on some other blog posts. This is totally intentional. They are my 4 year old and sometimes my 2.5 year olds’ own unique creations. Through giving up this control, I noticed how competent my children quickly became with using the tools I would usually suggest that only I do. My daughter was soon cutting, sticking, gluing and organising her own craft and play activities independently. I was blown away.
Going in a different direction is ok and sometimes great
A starting point is just a starting point. Play can sometimes turn into something completely different. Sometimes we would read the prompt, set something up and my children wanted to bring in things I wasn’t expecting or they changed an idea. This is when I realised that a prompt is just that - a prompt. A starting point to kick off a play experience or activity. If it doesn’t develop into what the prompt hints at then does it actually matter if the child or children are playing, creating and learning?
Playing is learning (last but not least)
From a parent’s point of view, you always want your child to be learning and developing to reach the next milestone. What I realised is that this does not have to be in a formal way at all. Children learn best through play. Looking at one simple pretend play activity or idea, I can now list so many skills that my children can learn from the one play experience. What is important to note is that there often needs to be some parent or caregiver support to encourage this. Not to sit there and teach the child but to encourage them when they get stuck, to talk to them about their ideas and to give them support to achieve their own goals.
Note: This is why we introduced the Parent Guide cards to support the Pretend Play cards. The Parent Guide cards help parents understand how to support their child/children in the pretend play activity. They show the possible learning happening and provide two ideas for related experiences.
I am so happy to share my learning from our pretend play experiences. I hope it inspires you to try our first product and see the results for yourself. Maybe your learning will be similar when you watch your child/children in play experiences. I can’t wait to hear the amazing adventures you have with your child!
Happy playing!
Heather
