30 May 2016

Playing: learning and having fun

Do you also happily think back of banging your mom’s favorite stew pan with a spoon? And what about collecting the nice smelling flowers, putting them in your grandpa’s coffee mug, than adding some mud and stirring it all together with a stick, only to cook the kind of lunch that your parents could only dream of? Or what about a game of hide and seek, skipping ropes, playing football with the boys or playing a game of “Sorry!”, which seems to be designed in a way that you never want to say you’re sorry.



I seem to have these moments permanently stored in my memory, and I seem to going back to them even more often since I’ve started professionally playing games, which is a part of my job as a pedagogue.
Even though that casual playing may seem unimportant to some, it is actually a way for us to develop in many different directions. It is a box that we slowly open, as we set off on our magical road of learning, a road which we will travel for the rest of our lives. We learn so many things through playing: how to speak, to be friends with someone, to be patient, creative, imaginative; in other words, we learn how to live. Why is it then that growing up turns us into these dull grey boxes, with no magic left inside?
This is the question I’m trying to answer. It happens to me sometimes that I realize how I’m trapped in this whole growing up thing, and I forget all about adding the magic to everything I do. I realized that no matter what I do, I should always remember the child stirring her “lunch” with a stick, smile on her face as she serves it to her parents. This is what I’m trying to achieve.
Playing has a very positive effect on the development of personality, emotional stability and, as stated previously, on learning. It can be used as a leisure time activity as well as in teaching all sorts of subjects, learning foreign languages, developing communication skills, and many other purposes.
Instead of banging on stew pans and making “lunch”, lately I have mostly played various different card or board games. Here I will describe just a few of those, which I encountered during my volunteering experience in Spain. They are very popular in Europe, but not as much in Serbia, and they left a very strong impression on me. They yield very positive results and I can say that they can add a lot of color to educational work with kids and adults alike.

STORY CUBES

Storytelling dices. Very interesting to use for leisure activities, developing imagination and skills, and learning a foreign language. The game rules are: you throw the dices and you’re supposed to tell a story, a poem or a short sentence, based on the images the dices show you. You can choose all the dices, or only the ones you like. I used them mostly as energizers, before a certain activity, but also as ice breakers, as means for practicing Spanish and English skills, and especially to develop creativity and imagination. Creating wonderful stories is usually not so hard at all. The inspiration is made easier by the pictures on the dices, and learning through entertainment is guaranteed.

DOBBLE

An awesome game, especially for 7 year-olds and older ones. It helps develop perception, vocabulary, attention spans, fast recognition of items and tolerance; and only some of its benefits. The goal is to be the first one to notice a picture on a card, and once you’ve started playing, it’s very difficult to stop. It’s addictive! There are countless ways to use this game for educational purposes: as an energizer, leisure activity, for acquiring new vocabulary, learning grammar, and it can also somewhat contribute to the development of fast reading.

These are just some of the games which can be utilized in many ways, and I have them in my bag very often because I never know when I could run into a child (young or old), whit whom I would gladly share the colors from my magic box.

So, having all this in mind it is important to ask ourselves in what way do we keep the colors in our lives alive? Is it the way that keeps our inner child awake, happy, playful, interested, trying to pick the nicest flowers and realize his/her ideas?


Playing gives us strength, it liberates us and makes us curious and yearning for new adventures. When we play we are truly ourselves. So, you should never stop playing!




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