Let the Kids Play!
Play Is Always A Better Way To Get Kids And Adults To Make Something Without It Feeling Like A Chore.
After a summer of creating in the digital environment, we are keen to get back to what we know our TinkerTech students love the best – learning to build in the real world, not just the virtual world. So we are offering new classes that have play at their heart – and fun tools and materials to inspire children who may be at home more than usual this time of year. Some of the classes are tied into particular kits.
WHEN YOU GIVE A CHILD A WELL-DESIGNED KIT, LEARNING IS EMBODIED IN WHAT KIDS CAN MAKE AND DO.
Kids learn best when they are playing. And now many children are at home more than they would be at this time of year, this seems like a great moment to introduce new things and ideas in a playful way.
Parents often want kits that engage the kids so they can work on their own. But if the kit is too hard, kids get stuck and give up. If it is too easy kids, stop playing with it.
Robotics kits provide a great way to explore computers, combining engineering, coding, and gaming. Played with by themselves, they are fun but robots also create a good team collaborative build. So while children are at home, we are offering one on one robotics classes, and will introduce challenges that the student can share with their siblings or visiting family and friends.
Robotics kits are also often the kits that cause the most problems for parents who are not confident about their own technology skills. Robots that you can build or program should inspire curiosity and allow students to discover how things work without getting frustrated. With modular parts that can often be put together in different ways, robotics kits should teach children not just to build the thing on the cover of the box. The right kit will help them discover what else they can make, what else they can build with the components in the kit, but also what they can add all of their own to create something new.
Other kits are more crafty than tech, but all are playful in their approach.
THE BEST OF KITS ARE NOT JUST ASSEMBLIES BUT PROMOTE A SENSE OF PLAY
by encouraging children to experiment, inventing and creating all the time. Depending on the parts, some caution is necessary so that you have a safe environment. And not all kits are suitable for children under 8 or 10 who may not have the small motor dexterity or concentration span for something complex. But teach a kid to sew a button, thread a needle – these are basic resourcefulness skills.
Kits should introduce challenges that can scale to the user. Kids choosing their own level of challenge encourages more play stlll. The idea is students will return to their kit and repeat what they did in class, adding their own ideas.
With one-on-one classes, it’s easy for our instructors to see where children are at. With group classes, children delight in an informal ‘show and tell’, sharing something they have just discovered with other students. With parent and child classes, you’ll see for yourself the learning that comes with joyful trial and error. The reaction that comes with discovering something for yourself is wonderful to witness.