As kaiako it is important to understand and build understanding when there is a shift in our pedagogy.   Whaea Alysha from Hikurangi School explains some of the WHY behind play. Building understanding of the importance of PLAY in our schools and in our communities. Play allows our tamariki to experience fun, joy and laughter in a way that is important to them. It is also where they develop and practice life skills.

Play is one of the most important aspects of a child’s life, health and wellbeing.

Creativity and imagination:

Why PLAY? Because through construction, hut building, playing house, exploring with dinosaurs, imaginative adventures into different worlds on a bike to name a few, children learn to think creatively and interact socially.

Social and Emotional resilience:

Play helps children understand and process their emotions. Tamariki process their emotions and new concepts through play. They learn to share and take turns, communicate through peer discussions, compromising, negotiating, taking risks even when experiences are challenging. Tamariki awhi each other and take on a variety of roles. We are all teachers, and we are all learners comes to mind.

Student Voice:

Giving opportunities for tamariki to engage with play in areas that are unique and motivating to them, they begin to establish their own rules, have autonomy to explore and identify areas of high interest that can be built into other areas of curriculum learning.

Self-managing:

Why do we create time and space for play? For us as kaiako, we believe play is an important part of learning in our everyday and an essential ingredient in our learning. Together we can build understanding, build leadership and self-managing capabilities in, through and within the world of PLAY.

Happy Healthy Tamariki:

Moving forward, it would be awesome to see play happening across the ages. Play across our kura would support tamariki build stronger relationships through whanaungatanga-finding common ground and working collectively together.

While we believe the benefits of play are innumerable — play helps our tamariki develop cognitively, physically, socially, and emotionally — there is more to play than fun and games. We help build awareness, confidence and wellbeing through play. As a Kaiako it is our role to notice, respond and coach –while also resisting the urge to jump in, we don’t want to impose. Let the imagination and communication flow.

PLAY PLAY PLAY… Play is extremely valuable to our tamariki— very valuable – it’s their main mahi! In fact, the benefits of play cannot be overstated. So run, sing, and dance with your tamariki. Play games with your tamariki, and have fun