The Power of Play
How do children build complex and higher order skills such as creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and problem solving? Through play.
Learning through play builds on the way we learn naturally from birth. It may involve games to memorise facts, but its true potential lies in developing children’s understanding of concepts, developing a wide range of skills and enabling them to apply their knowledge creatively.
Characteristics of a playful experience
The pedagogical concept of LEGO Braille Bricks is based on five characteristics to teach braille through playful experiences in an inclusive way.
The play experience must be:
-
joyful,
-
meaningful,
-
actively engaging,
-
iterative
-
socially interactive.
All five characteristics are not necessarily present all the time. They ebb and flow in learning through play activities. However, children should experience moments of joy and surprise, a meaningful connection, be active and absorbed, iterate and engage with others.
A well-designed play activity allows children to develop skills as they play. A child may be intellectually brilliant but have difficulty expressing or managing their emotions. This can be addressed through play activities with emotional, social and creative components.
Visually impaired children can express their feelings in unique ways.
Children who can’t see may not necessarily show the same play-based behaviours as sighted children. Their reactions and emotions, whether they seem positive, passive or negative, may have different meanings compared to those of sighted children.
Look at what characterises playful experiences with some specificities for children with visual impairment.
Children naturally learn through play.
But how is it in practice?
Here are the five characteristics
of learning through play.
We say that learning through play happens
when the experience is joyful,
actively engaging, meaningful,
iterative, and socially interactive.
Actively engaging.
Learning something new
or coming up with ideas
is much easier
when you are actively engaged.
Imagine a child fully absorbed,
playing with building
blocks or cars or kitchen appliances.
This child
is actively engaged
in combining food and creating recipes.
“An apple!”
This mental immersion
and ability to stay focused
is very powerful
in the context of learning through play.
“And a banana!”
Children
with visual impairment
may be actively engaged
without appearing to be.
The head or gaze may be turned away,
which can give a false
impression of disengagement.
Socially interactive.
Social interaction
is a powerful tool
for both learning and play.
By communicating, sharing ideas
and understanding others
through direct interaction,
children are able to enjoy
being with others.
They will build deeper understanding
and more powerful relationships.
But some children with visual impairment
are not used to collaborating
with their peers.
Lack of eye contact can make it difficult
to communicate with others.
Social relationships are often
less spontaneous
and may require help from the facilitator
or caregiver.
Iterative
learning isn’t always about being told
how to do something correctly.
Sometimes it takes a few mistakes
to know how to progress.
It’s about testing,
changing something around
and then testing it again.
Trying out possibilities,
revising hypotheses
and asking new questions
leads to increased learning.
Children with visual impairments
may tend to do
the same task over and over again
to comfort themselves,
or because they lack inspiration.
“What’s that noise?”
The facilitator needs to give concrete
example and precise verbal explanations
to show that other ways of doing
things are possible.
Joyful.
Joy is at the heart of play.
Both the enjoyment of the task
for its own sake
and the thrill of surprise or success
after overcoming
a challenge.
Recent research shows
how curiosity and positive experiences
are linked to learning.
So, for example,
children show more learning after
a surprising event than after one
that is expected.
“It flew away!”
Children with visual impairment
may express their feelings in unique ways.
Some expressed their joy, excitement
by rocking, flapping their hands,
pressing their eyes,
or shaking their head.
Others expressed these feelings
verbally without any physical signs.
Meaningful.
Meaningful is when the child
can relate new experiences
to something already known
making connections between things
that are relevant to them.
In play, children often explore
what they have seen and done
as a way of grasping what it means.
Visually impaired children may not have
the necessary experiences
to make connections.
They need to manipulate and experiment
to discover the world around them.
Simple concepts such as
cloud, sky, or tree,
can be difficult for a visually impaired
child to grasp.
All children have interests
that they find meaningful.
It is up to the facilitator
to help them build
their knowledge
from the known to the unknown.
“Butterflies are beautiful!”
By checking that play has all
or most of these five characteristics,
we can plan and foster a playful mindset.
Do all children play?
Play is natural, but access can be limited for some children. This includes young blind and visually impaired children as kids often play by imitating others and most toys and games are visual.
Those children who can’t see facial expressions or other non-verbal communication cues may be uncomfortable in social situations and may distance themselves from play. Through specially designed play activities, they can connect with other people, share moments, and communicate.
Pre-braille activities stimulate their interest in play. Offering things to touch and hear encourages children with visual impairment to explore, discover toys and understand games.
“Children learn through play and it’s very difficult to play on your own with braille. So when sighted peers can join in as well, it’s absolutely fantastic.”
Andrew Greenwood, teacher for the visually impaired