LUCY WRAY: PRAGATI SCHOOL, BORIVALI PLAY SESSIONS, 13TH SEPTEMBER 2017
As my time here at
Toybank continues and with every play session I attend I have come to learn
that each and every experience I have will be different and unique in its own
way. On Wednesday 13th September I attended two sessions at Pragati School, Borivali with field officer Caswina, one session for primary children and
the other for secondary.
In contrast to my
previous play sessions this school appeared much more established, with better
equipped classrooms and walls covered with posters. Additionally, unlike my
previous sessions the teachers were more involved in helping the students with
the games. I found the day’s sessions particularly interesting to participate
in as Caswina told me the theme for her sessions was empathy. It was
eye-opening to me how she was able to teach such a complex emotion, which many
adults find hard to grasp, to young children. Empathy is so important for individuals
to learn as it allows them to place themselves in somebody else’s shoes and
identify with another’s feelings and emotions.
Empathy is
integral in developing a child’s emotional intelligence, which is why it is so
beneficial that Toybank uses is as one of the themes for their play sessions.
The premise of Caswina’s icebreaker was to encourage the students to understand
one another’s similarities and differences and that everybody is unique and
different. A principle which in turn helps evoke and develop a child’s ability
to empathise with another.
For the activity
the children were split into pairs and given the task of discussing their similarities
and differences. After having talked between themselves for 5 minutes, a child
from each pair then stood up and told the class three similarities and three
differences between them and their partner. For instance, unsurprisingly two
boys both loved cricket yet one liked dancing and the other didn’t. This
encouraged the students to appreciate that even between friends we all have
differences. Ultimately it teaching them that we are all unique.
Following the
icebreakers we then played board games, which varied between the two sessions
as the first session was for primary children and the second for older
secondary children. I found the primary school games easier to play with the
children as they often took less explaining so were simpler to communicate. There
was one girl who was playing with a jigsaw where different English words could
be paired up, such as ‘pencil’ and ‘sharpener’ I was amazed at how quickly she
completed it and how when I asked her what the words were she was able to
pronounce and say them.
Similarly, the
selection of secondary games also included a jigsaw, however it was little more
complex. The jigsaw was a complete map of India, initially the students didn’t
quite know where to start as there was quite a few pieces and a complicated
pattern. However I taught them to look at the final image of the jigsaw on the
box and use that to help them connect the pieces together - a tactic I always
used as a child! By the end of the session they had almost completed the jigsaw
and in turn developed their geography and puzzle skills.
In between the
sessions Caswina went through the games and counted how many of each type of
game there was, from general games and logic games to numerical and word games.
This alongside the empathy themed icebreakers really made me realise how
through play these children are able to learn and develop not only their
education but also invaluable life skills. With every play session I attend,
the importance of Toybanks work becomes more and more evident to me.
- Lucy Wray, UK Toybank Intern
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