Learning through Play

Engaging with my students during "free play" is a great way to develop and assess oral language skills and play skills. On this page I will post pictures and anecdotes that have come from just playing with my students.

May 26:

This past week we switched up the toys we use in the classroom. We like to try to switch the toys once a month. This way the toys are always new and exciting since the students haven't had access to them all the time. We like to put out toys that foster creativity and cooperative play, so along with the dinosaurs we put a big bin of pattern blocks and the wooden train set. So far we have had huge train tracks running all over the classroom and some pretty interesting designs made with the pattern blocks. Here is one design made by M.B. that I really liked.

March 25:

Last week my students were playing with the Straws and Connectors and had created quite a big object on the floor. When I asked them what they were making they said letters. They made a "giant A" and a B.

February 28:

At the end of the day I dumped our bin of wooden blocks out on the carpet and sat down with a couple of the students. We started by building towers. We have been working on size vocabulary lately and one of my students started comparing her tower to mine ("Yours is taller" - M.B.). Then this same student decided that we should build a road with the blocks. She built a basic road and I asked her what else we needed, she said a "stop light" and "cars with doors". This is what she built. The upside down bridge pieces are the cars and she later added triangles to the cars for doors.