#learnthroughplay

It does not matter if a play activity is closer to free play or games with a particular learning objective, a prerequisite is that children experience agency and are supported rather than directed. This implies seeing children as capable beings, and providing them with opportunities to exercise their thoughts and actions in a social context in which everyone has the same rights.

LEGO Foundation, 2017

Playful Experiences features Experiences

According to the LEGO Foundation,? We say that we learn by playing when we experience an activity: (1) enjoyable and joyful, which (2) helps children find meaning in what they are doing or learning, which (3) involves active, involved minds and focused thinking, (4) as well as iterative thinking (experimentation, hypothesis testing), and (5) social interactions?

While not all games should have all of these features, it is desirable that all games have at least one. There will be more social games and more iterative ones and that's fine. With knowing them, remembering them and promoting at least one in the games to which we invite our children, it is enough.

Skills for Holistic skills through play

The game promotes different skills, all necessary for the integral development of children. As with game features, it is not necessary for all games to promote all skills. But it is useful to keep in mind the different groups that exist, to keep in mind what we want to promote, what our child needs, and what we want to work on.

Emotional skills promote impulse control and frustration management while promoting confidence and self-esteem. Cognitive skills tend to work on issues of thinking flexibility (changing our ways), solving problems and complex tasks (more than one step) and generating strategies and concentration. Physical skills have to do with motor development, movement, and space. Social skills, with communication, teamwork, negotiation and empathy. And finally, creative skills have to do with the development of ideas and expression.

Play with books

Books are an INCREDIBLE development tool and a great ally for learning through play: playing with books can promote many skills, books are easy to get and fun.

We leave you some ideas to promote learning through play with books in children from 0 - 6 years old. All of these ideas can be adapted to the number of people who want to play them, and you can raise or lower the complexity depending on your child's age and developmental level.

Do you have any other ideas? Write to us so that we can integrate your game to this base.

I Spy

To play

Select the books you will play with.
Ask one of the participants to use one book as telescope to watch.
The rest of the participants must face backwards to avoid seeing what the person with the telescope is doing.
The boy or girl with the telescope must describe the object that he sees through his telescope; others will guess what you see (a tree, the dish drainer, a dog).
The player that guesses correctly will have the next turn.
Repeat as many times as you want. You can increase the complexity by limiting the number of words they can use (for example, they can only mention colors and shapes, or they can only answer questions with yes or no:? What you see is green ??,? What you see is alive??)
If possible, take photos and share them with us by mail or on social media.

Build your block

To play

Walk together back and forth around the block where you live. Pay attention to everything you see. If you already know how to draw, make a map.
When you return home, select the books you will play with.
Replicate your block with books - books are houses and buildings! Remember: is the house or building where you live colored? Is tall? What color is the house next door? Is it higher or lower? Where is the store, or the park? What book or books can you use to exemplify it?
Add trees and cars with things around them: they can gather branches from the park or garden for the trees and use toilet paper rolls to exemplify the cars.
If possible, take photos of your block and share them with us by mail or on social media.

Rainbow library

To play

Take out all of the Childrens books available.
Separate them by colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple
How do they look? What shapes can they make with them? Have you already tried a very tall tower? And a book mat? Did they lie on him?
Change the game: now sort them by size, or alphabetically, if you already know the letters.
In what other ways can you categorize the books? How will you order them today?
If possible, take photos of your creations and share them with us by mail or on social media.

Splash books

To play

Take out your ateconqueso books -they can get wet!
Prepare the tub with warm water (or a big bucket)
Put the books in the water!
Let your child decide what to do. Watch and enjoy: did he get into the water? Did you rescue the books? Did you bathe them? Did you see them from inside the bucket?
If possible, take photos of the funny disaster and share them with us by mail or on social media.

Treasure hunt

To play

Select the books you will play with.
Delineate an area (the smaller your child, the smaller the area they play in should be).
Show him a book and ask him to close his eyes.
Hide the book within the delimited area.
Ask him to find it.
Then, it is his/her turn to choose a book, hide it and now you will look for it.
If possible, take photos and share them with us by mail or on social media.

Let's change the ending

To play

Have each kid choose one book
Read it together like any other day, but? Change the ending!
Now it is your child's turn, what ending does he or she come up with? What ending can they come up with together? And for your second favorite book? What if the stories got mixed up?
If possible, take photos of the funny disaster and share them with us by mail or on social media.

Books are hats

To play

Have each kid choose one book
Mark the start and the finish line for this special race.
Give your child their book (or give out one book per child)
This is a race: balance the book on your head. The challenge is to reach the goal without crashing. If your child is very young, he can balance him on his little hands with outstretched arms. If it is larger, you can just carry it in one hand with an outstretched arm, or jump or on one foot.
If possible, take photos and share them with us by mail or on social media.

Kim's game

To play

Select the books you will play with.
Arrange the books in a certain order (you can arrange them horizontally on a table in the form of a line, or in a circle).
Ask the child to look at the books for 15 seconds.
Pick up the books and ask him to replicate how they were arranged.
Repeat as many times as you want. You can change shape (instead of arranging them in a line, form a circle, or a tower. Reduce the time you can see them to increase complexity).
If possible, take photos and share them with us by mail or on social media.

Roads and carts

To play

Select the books you will play with.
Build roads with bridges, roundabouts, and more.
With your carts and balls, travel the roads you built with books.
Make modifications so that your cart or ball does not go off the street and continues down the path you set up.
What other things can improve? What changes would you make to your road to make it work the way you want it to?
If possible, take photos of your cities and share them with us by mail or on social media.

Sounds are music

To play

Select the books you will play with.
Ask any of the participants if they knew that books are also musical instruments.
Open and close the book tightly repeatedly and rhythmically.
How else can sounds and music be created with books? Try hitting a hardcover book with a softcover book, working a spiral book with a pencil or pen as if it were a güiro. How many sounds can they create?
The trick to creating music is repetition and rhythm.
Make up a song and sing it with your new musical instruments.
If possible, take photos and videos of your instruments and songs and share them with us by mail or on social media.

Funny costumes

To play

Each participant must select their three favorite books and browse or read them.
Each participant must choose their favorite character and describe it to the others. With young children, the adult will be the one to describe the character.
Mention as many physical and personality characteristics as you can, as well as your clothes and hairstyle.
Question: Why do you like this character? What strikes you about how she dresses? Is a good person? What characteristics of your personality are funny?
With whatever supplies you have on hand, including clothing you have around the house, create your costumes in as much detail as you want and can.
If possible, take photos of your costumes and share them with us by mail or on social media.

Let's build cities

To play

Select the books you will be playing with - select as many as you can!
Build a city with books: decide which will be the center, the small streets and the large avenues, where the park will be.
Try to make a very tall building, see if you can build a very tall tower.
If possible, take photos of your cities and share them with us by mail or on social media.

Book islands

To play

Select the books you will play with.
Make? Islands? from books. That is, circles of books on each side of the room in which they are playing. Depending on the age of your children, they can do 3 or more islands.
Name each of these islands.
All participants must stop on one of the islands.
When you shout the name of the island, they must run towards it and enter the circle.
Increase the speed of your instructions to increase the complexity of the game, or reduce the size of the "islands".
If possible, take photos of your islands or videos of your game and share them with us by mail or on social media.

From paper to stage

To play

Select your favorite book. To select it, they can remove all of them and gradually discard until they are left with everyone's favorite.
Read it together.
Discuss how you could make this story into a play. Divide the tasks: who wants to act? Who wants to do scenery? Who wants to make costumes? It is also good that everyone does everything.
Do whatever it takes to put your work into action.
If possible, take photos or videos of your plays and share them with us by mail or on social media.

I feel, I find

To play

Select the books you will play with.
Make pieces of paper with different names of emotions and put them in a box or a cloth bag.
Ask him to take a piece of paper out of the bag and read what emotion it says there. Ask him to find a character in the books who seems to feel this way.
Talk about what that emotion is about, when have you felt this way and why that is valid and how you can handle it.
If possible, take photos of your islands or videos of your game and share them with us by mail or on social media.

The magic Box

To play

Select the books you will play with. It is worth that there are many.
Put all the books in the box, along with other of your children's favorite objects.
Taking turns, without seeing, take an object out of the box.
Decide if you want to hug that object, read it, play with it, or continue to see what else is in the magic box.
With babies and young children, they can put things in and out of the box without as much order and as many times as they want.
If possible, take photos of your islands or videos of your game and share them with us by mail or on social media.

#learnthroughplay

Playful Experiences features Experiences

Skills for Holistic skills through play

Play with books

I Spy

To play

Build your block

To play

Rainbow library

To play

Splash books

To play

Treasure hunt

To play

Let's change the ending

To play

Books are hats

To play

Kim's game

To play

Roads and carts

To play

Sounds are music

To play

Funny costumes

To play

Let's build cities

To play

Book islands

To play

From paper to stage

To play

I feel, I find

To play

The magic Box

To play

#learnthroughplay

Poncho herrera

Grandma Rocio

Moni and Lau

Grandpa Manuel

Pamela cardeira