Sometimes we, educators, make mistakes…
One day, in our beloved yard, Chrysi got a cart, turned it upside down and tried to climb on it.
I hastily said “Chrysi, that’s not right“. She, however, stepped on it and proudly started playing by turning cart into a slide. The game started and Christos came to claim his turn.
All I had to say then was “next please!“. Chrysi’s “wrong” use of the cart turned out to be the right game!
(by Maria Gryllaki, teacher in babies’ class in Athens)
Andreas, a kindergarten kid, had the brilliant idea to create a springboard using loose parts, particularly old tires arranged in a pile and a pallet, serving as a ladder).
First step was to collect all the items needed for his idea. Second one was setting up his construction and testing, while the final step was…. the actual game!
In a few minutes, all pre-K and kindergarten class formed a long queue in order to jump off this makeshift springboard!
Its one more time I see waste material (items with no practical use from an adult’s point of view) to become the center of children’s outdoor play. Kids only add imagination and ingenuity- so easy for them!
(from Chrysa Vaitsi, cross-class projects’ coordinator in Athens school)
Free play emerges everywhere, you just need to let it happen.
Free play involves anything, you just need to have stuff around.
Free play can be more fascinating if you have a friend to mess with.
Free play can be relaxing, you just need to let yourself be.
Free play can be collaborative, you just need to share it with your friends.
Free play is natural, it’s play and it’s free!
(by Spyridoula Patouna, teacher in pre-K class, in Athens)
When we looked through our big plastic telescope, we noticed something very strange: everything had turned upside down!
So, we asked help from Yannis, an amateur astronomer!
He brought his professional telescope, let us see the sun through it and answered all our questions.
Children grabbed the opportunity to make constellations on the ground with sand and small stones.
But why not even form the whole universe!
(by Spyridoula Patouna, teacher in pre-K class in Athens)
(by Jenny Diamantopoulou, teacher in toddlers’ class, in Athens)
Participating in the International Fairy Tea Party day on September 18, our pre-K class goes in the woods around Athens to look for fairies and party!
(click on the picure to see more)
Life-derived Learning 