Workshop Overview

Dr. Maria Montessori once wrote “He [the child] does it [learning] with his hands, by experience, first in play and then through work. The hands are the instruments of man’s intelligence.” Playful learning develops cognitive, physical, and social-emotional development in children. It lays a foundation for children to become creative problem solvers and engaged in their learning. During this workshop we will reflect on play in our own lives and in our classrooms, using the 16 forms of play by play theorist Bob Hughes. We will look at the vital contribution play has in learning and development and how we can invite children to play about concepts and topics from our curriculum.

At the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

identify a child’s play stage

identify the purpose of the play

making connections between play and development

design varied play areas

write and incorporate a play plan

using student agency and ownership

how and when to guide play

*Our workshops are based on the principles of ‘flipped classroom’ and are a combination of synchronous (live teaching through Zoom) learning and asynchronous (pre-reading and home learning) learning. Pre-reading and home learning in between sessions forms the basis of the live session where we explore the workshop material in depth through learning engagements and discussions.*

Facilitator: