Games are also forms of active learning
When playing, the child places himself as the subject of his actions and internally elaborates his experiences; the process is fundamental to child development
On vacation, in quarantine and at different times, at home and at school, children continue to develop their imagination and creativity through play. All of them generate learning, understood as something broader, related to experiences.
Diana Tatit, pedagogical coordinator of Cloe, the digital platform for active learning at Camino Education, says that play is related to active learning by enabling children to put themselves as the subject of their actions and set in motion what they are experiencing and feeling . “Play brings learning in different ways – when they are playful strategies for teaching something; when they are linked to knowledge of the universe of children's culture, such as the tag, the hide and seek and the hopscotch, among others; and, mainly, when they occur freely, in the form of make-believe, which is the main space for the development of the child's imagination. ”
She explains that the learning that happens when playing is associated with symbolic play and that playing is a language in itself, learned socially. “Play is organizing the child's experience in the world. Just as adults often need to stop and reflect on some meaningful experience, children will play with what they need to reflect and learn ”, observes Diana, who is also an author of early childhood education and a member of the Tiquequê group.
“All children play house and food because it is one of the first experiences they have. Then, when they go to school, they play school. In the same way, children who live in the city play with a cart, but in the Pantanal, for example, boats come on the scene ”, he adds.
Play promotes reflection for children
According to her, an important aspect is that the way the child appropriates the world when playing is not immediate, that is, he does not absorb everything like a “sponge”, but rather builds his own view of the world in a reflexive way, questioning and inserting new elements, also through games. “When playing the doll's mother, for example, it is as if she were reflecting what it would be like if she were a real mother. This imaginative dimension means that she is always thinking about reality and not just absorbing it passively ”.
Regarding the role of parents in play, the coordinator states that children learn to play with each other. But, if they are not at school, as in this time of quarantine, and are very small, parents have an important role in interacting with them, providing a favorable environment and providing toys or various objects.
“Adults can create spaces that invite the child to that place of the imagination. One tip is to start playing and then, as far as possible, leave the scene. For when the child is more alone it is that he / she dives more deeply into the universe of make-believe. The plot of the game starts to happen in her imagination, which is fundamental for her development ”.
