This is a simple and useful tip I picked up from my mentor teacher while I was student teaching.
She was starting them on a new math unit that required the use of math manipulatives. Noisy stuff. Each student was given a pile of shapes– green triangles, orange square, red trapezoids, blue rhombuses– you know the type. And then she said, “Go ahead and play with them for a few minutes, and then we’ll get started.”
She came back to where I saw on the back table and said, “Whenever you give them manipulatives or anything they can touch and feel, give them a few minutes to play and explore with it. It’ll get it out of their system so when you actually start your lesson, they’re more ready to focus on what you’re teaching rather than to just keep trying to play with them!” We sat back there and watched them have at it.
And she was right. She gave them about 5-7 minutes to just play. The kids built things, flicked things, stacked them and toppled them over. They grabbed fistfuls and dropped them from high places and explored and experimented. And then they were done.
When it was time for her to show them the lesson, no one was secretly trying to build a trapezoid tower, and kids weren’t hoarding the pieces like they’d never seen one before. The pieces had lost a little bit of their novelty, and now they could be more effectively used as a teaching tool.
I’ve applied this principle to most things that involve me handing the children any new object. If I am teaching music and give them a recorder, I let them toot away to their heart’s content so that when I’m ready to actually teach them something, they are less tempted to experiment and blow into the mouthpiece while I’m talking. My first year, I actually forgot to do this, and getting through that first lesson was very frustrating for me as random students couldn’t control themselves and tooted on their instrument. It was probably also very difficult for the students to exercise self-control and hold the magical noise-maker without allowing their mouths to go near the tempting mouthpiece.
If we’re learning about minerals, I give them a few moments to handle and feel and explore and talk about the minerals with each other for a while before reeling them in to have a group lesson about it. If we’ve got a cup full of bugs, I let them gently handle and touch and “play” with the bugs before we begin our actual lesson. If it’s magnets, I talk about handling magnets safely first, then hand them the magnets and let them play and explore.
Children’s are naturally curious and enjoy exploring. If you hand them something shiny and new, you can demand that they ignore it for a while as you talk, or you can give them the freedom to enjoy, touch, feel, and marvel at it and take it in for a bit before moving on. I think the second option is more enjoyable and also ultimately saves more time. It probably promotes learning and growth, too! We usually want them to grow familiar with the object anyway, so why not let them play while they’re at school?
Simple tip, but very useful!
4 responses to “Let Them Play”
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Excellent! So well explained, I will use this in my upcoming Church camp Counsellor training!Same thing applies at camp, or any learning environment – also the reason I bring my six year old to school 10-15 minutes early; so he can run around & play before he goes in and has to sit still and listen for awhile!
Yes, totally applies for camp :). Glad you find it helpful!
This is such good advice! I’m going to have to remember it (along with everything else you’ve “taught” me through this blog) for when I’m a teacher! 🙂 ~Sarah
Thanks, Sarah! I love that you are learning from here :].