Play-based teaching is something that is beneficial for all young children, whether they are in Special Education or not. It encourages creativity, collaboration, problem solving, and fosters engagement. Read on to find out how to use this type of teaching in a self-contained classroom!
What is play based teaching?
According to mybrightweel.com, play-based teaching/learning is “an educational approach that incorporates play as a central component of the learning process. It recognizes that children learn best through active engagement and exploration in a meaningful and enjoyable context”. Basically, it is teaching through hands on activities, which can include toys, manipulatives, role playing, etc.
Play-based teaching gets students out of their seats, moving around, and learning in a kinesthetic way. For example, students can learn how to count by building a tower and counting the blocks instead of just having them complete a worksheet where they are counting circles. Many early childhood classrooms even have a designated play area, such as this kitchen area (below) in my former kindergarten classroom.
Find alternatives to a worksheet
I have learned a lot about this topic and even wrote my master’s thesis on it! During the process of writing the thesis, I found different ways to incorporate play-based teaching into any classroom with young children. The main thing to remember, as simple as it sounds, is that it gets students moving, talking, and interacting with one another. While there is definitely a time and place for worksheets, and I don’t believe that worksheets are bad, young children prefer to be active in their learning.
One thing you can do as a teacher is look at the standard you will be teaching. If the standard is saying the students should be able to sequence a story, one alternative to having them do this on a worksheet would be having the students use dolls/toys/stuffed animals to reenact the story. This way, they are still meeting the standard of sequencing events in a story, but in a more engaging way that involves play. The best part is that students can be “tricked” into learning this way!
It is not always possible to incorporate play-based teaching into every single lesson, and that is okay. Your students will appreciate any efforts you make to allow them to play while still learning. This also depends upon your school, admin expectations, etc.
Set up centers
One simple way to use this teaching technique, especially in a self-contained classroom, is to set up centers. You can do this in any way that works for you and your students. Centers can be something that change depending on the unit you are teaching, or they can remain the same while just switching out toys and materials.
If your math curriculum includes students being able to sort objects by shape, color, size, attributes, etc., then you can set up a few centers that students rotate through to practice these skills. One center can be blocks or connecting cubes, where they have to build a tower only of blue cubes, one only of red, etc. Another center can be sorting toys stuffed animals by big and small, hard and soft, etc. Another center can be a scavenger hunt where students have to find a certain number of objects around the room that are round, objects that are flat, etc.
This can depend upon whether or not you have support staff in your room to help students in their centers. It can also again depend upon your admin expectations, how much time you have, etc. If you have support staff, assign them each to a center to help run it.
Check out these SSE play center visual supports for some awesome visuals to help guide students through a variety of play centers!
Use easy items
Play-based teaching does not have to be complicated or expensive for you as the teacher. It can be as simple as using easy items like play-doh to have students practice skills. The picture above shows a quick and easy “say it, build it, write it” activity that one of my former students worked on to practice sight words. By building the word, they are playing in a purposeful way that is more engaging than just writing it on paper.
Other easy items that can be used include legos, blocks, popsicle sticks, shaving cream, etc. Make sure to ask other staff at your school if they have any of these items to borrow before you go out and buy them!
Play-based teaching can be simple for teachers yet engaging for students. Check out this other SSE blog post about 10 ways to promote learning through play, as well as this post about how to set up play centers.
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