Toys and games form a crucial part of a child’s development
TO many people toys are seen as frivolous, as things for children merely to play with. While this is partly true, toys are also an often-overlooked educational necessity. A phrase becoming popular where toys are concerned is ”action learning”.
Toy libraries, or action learning centres, can be a vital addition to any pre-primary and primary school.
Cynthia Morrison of the South African Toy and Leisure Library Association (SATLLA) says that play is an essential part of the learning experience. Morrison also says that in active learning libraries ”the emphasis is on the educational side, but the games used have to be fun — the emphasis is still on enjoyment”.
SATLLA maintains that toys and games are crucial to a child’s development. Morrison says that children can develop various skills through play and that there are ”games that will stimulate prereading, pre-writing, pre-maths, as well as problem solving, decision making and creativity”.
Many children are well stimulated before they reach grade 1 and are therefore ready to meet the challenges of school. Other children have had little stimulation, usually because parents have not had the knowledge, funds or time to help them.
However, Morrison stresses that it is never too late. Children from grades 1 to 4 can benefit from learning through toys, and older children, even high school children, can learn skills such as confidence building and decision making.
When teachers assess the abilities of the children in their classes and discover that a skill is weak or lacking, a teacher can use appropriate toys to build up those skills. For example, Morrison says that if you have a child in grade 4 with no number concept, you can try toys to establish what level he or she is at, and then build his or her skills up through the use of appropriate toys. This can be done in grade R or 1 when a problem is first picked up, or even in grade 3 or 4.
It is vitally important that the appropriate toys are used to deal with a particular problem. Children will often avoid the very toys that will help them build up their weak skill areas, as they don’t have the confidence to use them.
In order for teachers to use active learning as part of a teaching method, they need to have a thorough knowledge of toys. As important though, is having the toys that are needed. This is where a toy library comes in. A school that can develop a toy library will benefit all its pupils and make the teaching experience more fun for teachers and pupils alike. A toy library attached to a school can take many forms, depending on who uses it and its size. It can range from toys in a box that is carried from classroom to classroom, to a special room set up as a toy library.
One such school that started a toy library is Lejoeleputsoe Primary in Meadowlands, Soweto. After an initial workshop where some teachers where trained on how to organise a toy library and how to use toys, the toy library was set up in a designated classroom. Classes now take turns to use the toy library. Children can play games in groups under the guidance of their teachers to develop various skills. Vera Henstock, who helped co-ordinate this project, says that more maintenance and support courses for the teachers on the uses of toys are needed.
Using action learning in education means that teachers need to educate themselves on the various skill areas a child needs to develop to become a well-rounded pupil and adult. Teachers then need to develop a good knowledge of toys and their uses, so that the correct toys can be used to stimulate these areas. The use of toys in the primary school environment should be fun, but the end goal of solving or strengthening an educational weakness should be kept in mind.
Starting your toy library
By LORRAINE VAN DER MERWE
Creating a toy library at a primary school might seem like a lot of work, but if used correctly, it will add a valuable facet to learning.
Cynthia Morrison of SATLLA says it is important to work out the aim of your library. The age groups or grades the library will cater for also needs to be decided on.
The next step will be to choose a suitable venue for the library — where the toys are to be kept. Toys can be kept in a suitcase or box that is carried around, in a cupboard or in a designated room. The more toys a library has the bigger the venue needs to be.
To establish a library a certain number of toys must be bought. If the toys are to be used at the school only, then fewer will be needed. However, if toys are to be taken home, then a formula can be used to work out how many toys are required for a particular number of users. SATLLA has information on how to do this.
Morrison believes you must look at the range of skills to be developed in a child and decide on what toys will cover these skills. When choosing toys, she recommends that you see what skill area a toy fits into, and then find toys to fit into all the skill areas. If a skill area is empty, you need to find suitable toys to fill it. Not only do you need to have toys for every skill area, but you need to make sure that every age group of every skill area is catered for.
Denise Bornman runs a private toy library in Krugersdorp. She arranges her toys on shelves according to categories that cover the various skill areas. She says she tries ”to make sure that on every shelf at all times there is something for that skill in the various age groups”. Where one toy might fulfil various skill areas, she will place it in the main skill area.
Bornman often has children with problems referred to her by occupational therapists. She uses the appropriate toys to promote the skill area that needs work, so that the child will improve.
Toys or games that are easy to make are those that focus on colour, counting and spelling. Other toys, such as construction toys like Lego, have to be bought. If the thought of establishing a toy library is daunting, SATLLA has information on what the skill areas are and what types of toys are needed to cover them.
Contact Cynthia Morrison of SATLLA on (011) 768-2394
— The Teacher/Mail & Guardian, September 14, 2000.
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