Constructive Play
"Constructive play allows children to explore objects and discover patterns to find what works and what does not work. Children gain pride when accomplishing a task during constructive play. Children who gain confidence manipulating objects become good at creating ideas and working with numbers and concepts."
Jona Anderson-McNamee, Montana State University
 |
| Simple Tools |
No instructions were needed for this activity. When the students walked into the classroom, these "tools" were a visual invitation to engage. The boys had a blast with these foam blocks, golf tees and rhythm sticks. They were so focused and absorbed in discovering all the ways to hammer the tees into the block and how to get the tees out so they could do it all again. Eventually the foam blocks started to break apart, but the activity evolved and continued on. You might call it play, but a critical connection between the brain, the eye, the hand, the tool, and the accomplishment were in full swing!
