Friday, June 10, 2011

Learning by game

I wish I had hours to ponder connections between learning and game play. The child with whom I'm working is learning how to take turns and what to say when doing so. But he's using games that he clearly does not enjoy.

When he plays Trouble, he is never sure which piece to move. There's no competition in him, and that gets in the way of even following a game like Trouble. He's been trained to say, "I won"/"You won" -- without necessarily understanding the concept of victory.

Couldn't he learn to say the appropriate things playing Tic-Tac-Toe? Most children respond to that game. Could I train him with some variation on Slamwich? He does make and eat a sandwich as part of each day's session. What I want the hours to ponder is whether I can make the case that new games (or old ones: Spinning Tops? Dynamite Shack?) stand a better chance of truly engaging him than the ones that he plays now. I'd love for him to actually have fun at play.

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