Let’s go to the Learn Ground!
May 23, 2007 12:17 pm
Have you ever met a child who refuses an invitation to the playground?
I have not and I have often witnessed how children are so magnetized by a playground (mine included) or who refuse to leave one (mine understands “last five minutes” and “when it’s time to go, we go”).
On the other hand, I have encountered children who dread going to schools or other places they are required to learn something.
What is it in a playground? A place where children expand their energy? A place where they find thrills, excitement, challenges? A place where they find other peers?
What is the fundamental difference between, say a school or place where a child learns and a playground where a child plays?
The two distinctive words are, ‘play‘ and ‘learn‘.
In definition :
Play : Engage in activity for enjoyment or recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose.
Learn : Gain or acquire knowledge or skill in (something) by study, experience or being taught; commit to memory; become aware of something by information or observation.
Recently, both the Angel and I read a story about a cat and a dog who went to the playground but did not learn to share or play together until they realised that they needed each other to play on the see-saw. I then turned the story around and had a discussion about how the cat and dog eventually learned to play together.
In the end, we both changed the word ‘playground’ to ‘learn ground‘!
I came up with this idea partly by merging The New Parent’s question to his child, “Why are you a child?” and the answer is, “To learn.” (Somewhere in a comment.)
Isn’t it true indeed that children learn whatever life / people / situation has to teach from young? Doesn’t even have to be purposeful. We humans are geared to learn.
To contextualise it and make it meaningful, I brought the concept of learning to one of the places that children enjoy most - the ‘playground’.
We so often use the word ‘play’ to a child but how meaningful is the word? While I believe that playing is an enjoyment, personally, I find learning to be more of an enjoyment than playing. Somehow, ‘play’ doesn’t have as much a meaning as ‘learn’ in my life.
If we can bring this concept to our children, that going to the playground learn ground is learning how to use the slide, learning how to walk up the steps carefully, learning to sit on the swing safely, learning how to make friends, learning how to take turns, learning to play…. etc. Isn’t it true that all children begin by learning how to play on the various ‘equipments’? They don’t first play, they first learn how to.
And if we use learn ground instead of ‘playground’ and our children associate learning with an enjoyment (actually, learning IS an enjoyment but I don’t know how or where it got lost), then I think it is so much easier later on when we introduce learning other skills, be it in school or other places.
School is an important learn ground for children and if children already have positive feelings towards learning, perhaps less children will have the dread of going to schools and schools will have more positive and children eager to embrace learning. Of course, schools have their parts to maintain the learning spirit.
As for us, we now call the ‘playground’ learn ground and today, we changed ‘play group’ to learn group, too!
What do you think about introducing the word learn ground instead of playground to our children? And learn groups instead of play groups?
6 Responses to “Let's go to the Learn Ground!”
Learn ground? I love it. I’ll try that with my 4-year old.
Mike
http://somethingaboutparenting.typepad.com/
Hi AM–very smart turn of a phrase. It would be interesting if we began to see play as a by-product of some ways of learning.
How has your little one responded to the use of learning ground?
Thanks for this thoughtful post.
Hi Mike, i’m glad you are going to give it a try! Let me know if your 4-year old likes the idea!
Hi New Parent, I personally believe that a child doesn’t ‘play’ but play in itself has its meaning. If we see it as a by-product of learning, then I personally feel that perhaps we might see less children who dread learning. I’m not totally sure yet while trying out the idea with my daughter. All I know is that when I was teaching in school, I don’t make learning a dread but instead, let the children undertsand that learning is as much fun as playing, if not more, because it is meaningful. So far, it has always been well-received and I have seen a complete change of attitudes in some children. Those who cannot ‘learn at all before’ could start to read and write and most importantly, they internalise the learning.
As for the Angel, we first started using ‘learn ground’ due to the discussion we had from the book. Perhaps it was contextualised but she saw the connection between the book and the learn ground. She uses the words ‘playground’ and learn ground inter-changeably. Whenever we go to the learn ground now, we’d sometimes talk about what we have learnt. Sometimes, we learn how to go on a challenging slide, sometimes we learn how to take turns, sometimes we learn how to share our food with children, etc. Essentially, what I teach her is that there is always something new to learn at the learn ground. Just yesterday, we were talking about the play group that we thought of visiting and then I said, “Hey, why not change play group to learn group?” And she went, “Yeah! Learn group!” I’m thinking now along the line of teaching her to differentiate learning - learning what is worth learning and what is not.
Thanks for the question. Keep them coming!
Hello AM,
A brilliant terminology!
As we are on the subject of learning and introducing fun to the process instead of a dread, I’d like to share on a friend’s experience, and possibly bring it up for discussion.
Nick has a five year old - Mark. Nick and his partner have never once scolded or hit Mark. Their method of teaching and discipline is via a point system. Mark earns points for things done well, good behavior, etc. And points are deducted when he misbehaves, etc. At the end of each day, he is rewarded in some way.
This has proved to be a very motivating way for Mark to be consistent with his good behavior and obedience. Also, because of the point system, everything seems to be like a game. As such, again it becomes fun and more motivating.
However, my thoughts are that Mark risk growing up to be too much of a competitor. And if lessons are taught through earning points, could there be a possibility that the value of a lesson has been undervalued? Or maybe even becoming a commodity instead of a value? I personally feel learning through games and play is fantastic for little ones. Fun and joy is and should be the first emotions that they relate to. Shouldn’t there be a line (even if it is dotted) between the fun of learning and the value of the lesson?
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With regards to AM’s statement: “differentiate learning - learning what is worth learning and what is not.”
I suppose one could start by introducing the consequences of bad attitudes or behavior, leading on to a leasson of learning ‘what not to do’. Example, if I do not take turns to use the slide and wait for the friend before me to finish, two things will happen.
1) I will crash into my friend at when sliding down. This causes pain.
2) A chaos will erupt and I will be spending more time fighting to use the slide than actually using the slide.
One way of differentiating learning through types of lessons learnt. Another way is the way lessons are learnt, pointing back to the story of Nick and Mark.
I am interested to know your thoughts and that of other parents too.
Hi Gladys, thanks for dropping and your valuable comments and thoughts. You have raised a few salient points that are very worth discussing and I will be share my thoughts in a post and have other parents discuss it, too!
[…] comment left by Gladys on my post on “Let’s Go the the Learn Ground” has raised a few salient points which I feel is worth discussing in a new post. Thanks, […]
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