Lego the Super Toy

 

One of the first choices of children to play with, especially on a rainy day, is Lego. It seems to be one of the most popular children’s toys in the world. It consists of colourful plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears such as straight tracks, curved tracks and other parts including human and animal figures.

I believe that one of the main reasons for its popularity among children, and also many adult Lego fans, is its creative potential. It consists of mostly small building blocks that combined can create an unlimited variety of results, ranging from simple shapes and forms to the most complex structures. The fact that the small building blocks themselves don’t carry any specific meaning, form or theme means that the result is entirely dependent on the child playing with Lego. Like letters in the alphabet, they only shape meaning by combining them in sequences or structures.

Observing children, some seem to have a clear idea what they wanted to build and they master how to accomplish their desired outcome. They pick up items one by one from a big Lego box, put some items back and exchange them for others. One boy said, “I am making a truck. My dad drives a big truck. I am going to put more wheels on it.” He was then adding some wheels and was building a truck according to his imagination which may be influenced by his father’s real truck. It shows that the Lego is a significant technological practice for children to gain knowledge and skills and to reinforce what they learned and experienced in their daily life. Children can develop cognitive skills with their abilities to store and use information about society around them. When children encounter technology-based activities, they enhance cognitive development such as confronting a problem and thinking about how they can solve it. Blake, Windsor & Allen (2011, p. 32) explain based on Piaget’s cognitive development theory that children’s thinking and reasoning matures gradually in stages from infancy to adulthood. Eventually they construct their own knowledge from interactions with people and objects in the classroom environment.   

Lego also tends to be a social activity. I have seen children helping others, working together and giving them advice. Sometimes children stop and think what to do and analyse together how to change something. A Lego activity also doesn’t stop with the building process. Making a Lego model usually leads directly to imaginary play and further interaction, collaboration and sharing ideas with others. I have seen some children playing with others whom they usually don’t play with. Furthermore children often share the ideas they developed outside of the early childhood setting. This is evidence that this activity enhances their social skills. As Katz & Chard (2000, p. 2) describe, the curriculum should promote children’s intellectual development and engage their mind and investigation of their experience and environment.

Lego seen as a technology also beats “traditional” wood blocks as toys in that Lego structures have a better stability and are easily moveable/portable. Compared to wood blocks, children could accidentally destroy their wood block work when someone kicked or pushed the more fragile structure. Wood blocks also have a more limited choice to build object than Lego as it is more limited in colours and shapes and flexibility.

Lego supports the development of fine motor skills and studies show that it even increases the verbal skills of very young children aged one to two (Jenkathryn, 2007). Activities with technologies such as Lego also link to the communication strand of Te Whāriki that emphasises the importance of children experiencing, discovering and developing different ways to be creative and expressive (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 80).

References

Blake, S., Winsor, D., & Allen, L. (2011). Technology and young children: Bridging the communication-generation gap. Hershey, PA: Igi Global.

Jenkathryn. (2007). Why playing with blocks, Legos and other building toys is important. Helium. Retrieved August 26, 2012, from http://www.helium.com/items/298180-why-playing-with-blocks-legos-and-other-building-toys-is-important

Katz, L., & Chard, S. C. (2000). Engaging children’s minds: The project approach. Norwood, NJ: Greenwood Publishing Group.

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He Whāriki Mātauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media Limited.

Technological Touch

I have seen that teachers in an early childhood setting sometimes use iPads for activities such as storytelling, singing and literacy. Many digital picture books have an (optional) narrator and also allow to touch individual words to hear the pronunciation. Pictures also often have interactive and entertaining elements, for example touching a telephone makes it ring. Many books have themes such as animals or show illustrated classic children’s stories. Other iPad apps are easy to sing along to and help to visualise the content of a song such as “Old MacDonald had a farm”.

Nighty Night iPad app

Digital technology such as iPads as tools for teaching and learning have had mixed reactions from educators, ranging from complete refusal to inappropriate overuse. While refusal can often be linked to lack of confidence or skill of educators and their concerns about the effect on children (Tsantis, Bewick, & Thouvenelle, 2003, p. 2), overuse may indicate a lack of critical reflection on the choice of tools and activities (ibid., p. 6).

Used in the right way, however, digital technologies such as tablet computers can enhance and enrich the learning experience of young children. I noticed that in centres where these electronic resources are applied they are typically only used in groups, not as individual activities. In this way the iPad doesn’t become an electronic babysitter with the mere purpose to keep a child occupied. Educator Jeannie Crowley (Jeannie Crowley on Children & Technology, 2011) describes how she uses her smart phone to take pictures of outside activities with her daughter to later discuss with her what they had discovered which improves the vocabulary. At the same time the photos can be used to share the experience with others which creates opportunities for dialogue and engagement with others.

From a practical perspective multimedia devices such as iPads perform many different functions including playing music in the same way as a CD player, showing Youtube and other online videos, supporting storytelling at the children’s own pace, visualisations and interactivity in songs or educational games to improve numeracy and literacy. They are portable and can be used to record and at the same time display photos and videos. The touch interface provides a very natural way to use the device and is more intuitive than using a computer mouse.

Connection to the internet allows educators to choose suitable resources from the wide variety available online. Keeping in mind that a lot of online material can have questionable quality, showing suitable and appropriate Youtube videos of other cultures or animals provides opportunities that link to the essential learning areas emphasised in Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 96), to contribute to “children’s growing awareness of their own and other languages” (ibid., 1996). Interacting with devices builds confidence and skills in using computers. Research also shows that the use of computers with supporting activities increases the developmental gains of young children compared to those who don’t use computers (Haugland, 2000).

New technology such as tablet computers can support young children’s learning and development as traditional resources such as books, cassettes and video tapes. As any technology iPads, smart phones and similar devices have in common that “it is the teacher’s knowledge and skills about how to use the technology that makes the difference, not the technology itself.” (Tsantis et al., 2003, p. 4)

  

References

Haugland, S. W. (2000). Computers and young children. Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting. Retrieved August 18, 2012, from http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/eecearchive/digests/2000/haugland00.html

Jeannie Crowley on Children & Technology. (2011). New York, NY. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Hi_SSxulY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He Whāriki Mātauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media Limited.

Tsantis, L. A., Bewick, C. J., & Thouvenelle, S. (2003). Examining some common myths about computer use in the early years. Beyond the Journal: Young Children. Retrieved from http://people.uncw.edu/Kermanih/Edn430/CommonTechnoMyths[1].pdf

Easy-peasy Peeling

In the kindergarten, the children have morning tea served with a variety of vegetables and fruits. Last week I asked some children to help to prepare morning tea. They looked very proud to be asked to help. They chose to peel carrots, so they grabbed a peeler. Most of the children seemed to have an understanding of the peeler and how it is used in the kitchen as they were peeling vegetables competently, but some children didn’t seem to have the skill yet, so they took some time to reflect. They stopped peeling the way they did it at first and were thinking why it didn’t peel well. I suggested them to change the direction of peeling and safe ways to hold a carrot. As each of the children analysed this, they eventually achieved to peel in their desired way.

I was asking the children while holding the peeler during mat time, “What is this? What is this tool for?”

Everyone knew the answer, “It’s a carrot peeler”.  

“What else can I peel with it? Is this used for a banana?”  

“NO!”

“Why not?”

“Because… because it’s for a carrot.”

“I think this is not only for a carrot. I can peel a cucumber and potatoes as well. But I can’t use it for an onion or avocados. Why?”  

We concluded that we don’t use it for soft surfaces, otherwise it may squash a vegetable or not peel well unless you have very good skills as a chef. Together we also decided to have another activity to experiment using the peeler on other vegetables and fruits.

The discussion about the peeler helped children to gain knowledge about what purposes the tool can be used for. This activity develops children’s problem solving skills and the understanding of tools and technology which links to essential learning areas highlighted in Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 96).

The peeler is a great technology for activities with children. It is safer and quicker than a knife and can be used to invite children into the kitchen environment and supports children to learn in context (Ministry of Education, 2007, p. 32). It can also be used for advanced skills such as using the peeler to turn carrots and cucumbers into delicate ribbons. The activity was fun to do together with the children. It provided opportunities to explain to the children that most of the vitamins and flavours of most fruits and vegetables and are right under the skin. We also have a pet rabbit in the kindergarten which we could feed the peeled skins. We could put the rest to the compost as well. This allowed children to learn about recycling and looking after animals while peeling vegetables. 

The peeler as a tool also supports children’s hand coordination and fine motor skills as they need to turn the vegetable around to peel the part they were holding before. Children learn to understand cause and effect by observing how much pressure to apply during peeling, how to keep the balance of the items. They got an understanding of the weight of the items and how different ways of holding tool and vegetable leads to different results. The activity greatly enhances their active learning. It is vital for the children to have hands-on experiences so that they learn sensory skills which gives them a better understanding of vegetables and fruits. It also supports children’s emotional well-being. When they peeled, I could observe that they are very calm and concentrated. As Horseman (2010) describes, the patience, perseverance and concentration that children display when given a real task is impressive. “Children take that time and space to focus on the task, reaching a state of flow and immersion” (ibid.). When they successfully achieved to peel a vegetable and served their “own” vegetables for morning tea, I could see that they were building confidence and a sense of achievement. The experience makes them feel that they are capable learners.

Helping Kids Peel Fruit for Fresh Juice -- powered by ehow

References

Horseman, L. (2010). Tools and children or please will you look after this stick. Forest Schools. Retrieved August 13, 2012, from http://www.forestschools.com/articles/article.php?articleid=7

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He Whāriki Mātauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media Limited.

Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media Limited.