Play and Learn has a very significant role in our Pedagogical Practices as educators.
It is important to understand that the things that children learn are not necessarily the result of what they have been taught, but an impression of what stays in the mind of a child and what has been registered while processing the information.
For me, the soul of teaching is ‘Joy’. Hence, it is completely pertinent to say, ‘If teaching is not joyful, learning will be painful’.
A few days ago, I brought a book from the Library and found it suitable for the children in our room. It was a book that I had read when I was a child… ‘The Gingerbread Man’.
I read the book a few times during the week with the children, and observed that the children were completely immersed in the story. They would not move an inch till I reached the last page of the book.
One fine day, after I had finished reading the book, I asked the children if they would love to bake the Gingerbread Man, like the old woman in the story.
On hearing this, the children sparked a humongous amount of energy!
So, it was… the children’s voices were the order of the day.
Our Chef allowed me to collect all the ingredients from the kitchen required for baking the Ginger Bread Man, place them on the trolley, and bring them to the room.
Our environment was absolutely prepared to allow the children to explore and create their own Ginger Bread Man for themselves. After washing our hands thoroughly, we invited all the children to sit around the table.
We showed the ingredients to the children to help them learn the names of each ingredient, and everyone took turns to measure the ingredients properly. With every child waiting patiently to knead the dough, we divided the dough into small portions.
Our curious children used rolling pins to roll out the dough into round shapes, which later, with the help of a cookie cutter, turned out to be the perfect gingerbread man.
Now, to give the finishing touch, sultanas were used for the eyes and pink icing for the smiles. The whole process, right from rolling to fine detailing of the eyes and smiles, added to hand-eye coordination and the development of fine motor skills.
It created an emotional climate, which deliberated many aspects of Montessori learning: Social, Sensorial, Language, and most importantly Emotional Development.
In addition, these help to develop basic math skills, measuring concepts, following directions, and sequencing, along with promoting literacy and language.
To conclude, teaching was fun, and so was the learning! The little fussy eaters were literally transformed to wait for the cookies to bake before they could eat them!
While the cookies baked, the whole centre was filled with a mouth-watering aroma, and by the time we brought them back to the room, the atmosphere was filled with excitement once again.
The young bakers relished every crumb of those cookies that we baked together as a big family!
Montessori Program at Hoppers Crossing
At Hoppers Crossing Montessori Centre, we believe every child deserves the highest quality program, and our goal is to help achieve this.
To know more about our program, schedule your centre tour today, or give us a call at (03) 8742 2349 or book a tour.
We look forward to meeting you!
We are located at 483 Sayers Road, Hoppers Crossing 3029
Hoppers Crossing Montessori Centre serves the local communities in Tarneit, Truganina, Werribee, Werribee South, Williams Landing & Wyndham Vale.
The blog is written by
Deepika Singh
(Room Leader & German Teacher)