Multigenerational Center Activity Links to an External Site-Workshop Proposal

For Piaget, children play in four diverse ways: fantasy, functional, games with rules, and constructive play. This kind of play happens in four stages of development. According to Piaget, children’s play shows their cognitive development level. The first type of play is functional play. This kind of pay is more physical and involves jumping, sliding, running, and experimenting with the world using the senses. This type of play happens in a sensorimotor stage between ages 0-2 years. At two years, children begin engaging in constructive play because, at this stage, children desire to play with toys and other objects to achieve a goal. As such, children will want to play with blocks and try to build towers or toss things. When children reach age three, they start fantasy play. Notably, symbolic/fantasy play enables children to engage in role-playing and make-believe games. (McLeod, 2018).

The teacher works with others to create environments that support individual and collaborative learning and encourage positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation. The third standard supports a solution to Roadblock #1 because it will help the teacher ensure that the learning environment is conducive and supports collaborative and individual learning, promoting active engagement in learning and social interaction (NAEYC, n.d.). Therefore, creating various play areas or learning centers within a class enhances play. I will ensure the learning environment is favorable for young learners as they can exploit various opportunities and develop their abilities through play in a conducive and welcoming environment.

The teacher uses an understanding of individual differences and diverse cultures and communities to ensure inclusive learning environments that enable each learner to meet high standards and support a solution to Roadblock #2 (NAEYC, n.d.). This is because the standard will enable the teacher to ensure that there are necessary accommodations, materials, and resources for all learners from diverse cultures and those with special needs. As a result, all the learners will feel supported and part of the class.

Specific to the Environment or Needs/Supplies

The teacher works with others to create environments that support individual and collaborative learning and encourage positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation (NAEYC, n.d.). This supports the solution to Roadblock #1 because the primary objective is to show parents and teachers that playing means learning. Therefore, this standard will ensure that the workshop coordinator or teacher chooses a venue or learning environment that is safe and conducive and can also not be affected by weather changes.

The teacher works with others to create environments that support individual and collaborative learning and encourage positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation (NAEYC, n.d.). This standard supports the solution to Roadblock #2 because the primary objective of the workshop is for parents and teachers to see that children learn as they play, and teachers must ensure that they provide an environment that is conducive to learning and accommodates the needs of all learners whether special needs or non-special needs. The workshop area or venue must accommodate the needs of all children; it must be a safe area with a floor area favorable for children’s play so that there are minimal chances of harm, like cases of children sliding and falling due to slippery floors.

·         BA Cognitive Studies (BACS)

·         BA Early Childhood Education (BAECE)

·         BA Early Childhood Administration (BAECEA)

·         BA Education Studies (BAES)

The four groups, BACS, BAECE, BAECEA, and BAES, will all benefit from this workshop because these programs educate young or adult learners. In addition, as already mentioned, Piaget noted that even adult learning occurs through play. As such, conducting a play workshop will educate educators from these programs on the essence of play to learners and enable them to learn and understand that play is more of learning and not just jumping and running around. Play helps children to develop socially, physically, emotionally, and cognitively. It also helps children gain vital skills and develop self-expression, confidence, and problem-solving skills. Thus, through this workshop, the four programs will learn a lot about play and how they can make it part of learning by using or creating learning centers and playing zones within their classrooms or outside to help students learn better. Besides, Stadler-Altmann (2021) asserts that early playing improves a child’s intelligence. As such, children should be allowed to play so they can learn.

Once all the children have freely engaged in various play activities, there will be a timed competition at different playing centers’ activities. A group of five learners will be required to engage in a play challenge, and the winning team or group will be awarded. For example, there will be a puzzle or racing competition on the PlayStation, and the winning group will be awarded various toys they can use at home to advance their skills and abilities. Apart from the learning centers being used for competition, they can be used by students later to build or improve their skills on specific play events as they will be allowed to spend as much time as possible in every play area or learning center. Subsequently, this will allow them to practice the skills they acquire in school or those that they have been taught previously.

The teacher should group the children or learners with high abilities and those with low abilities so that they can interact and play freely. The special needs learners can be grouped with other special needs students or with gifted learners to help them engage in play while learning.

The students will be grouped into six or eight depending on the total number of children.