Learning Through Play

The lincoln logs have been getting a lot of use in the preschool classroom lately.  As I observe their play, Patrick and Malachi sit on the floor together building.  I can practically see their minds at work as they fit the pieces together.  Now, lincoln logs are a complicated thing for a three or four year old.  They fit together in a certain way, and the notches have to be in the right direction in order to put the next piece on.  When building a house they have to figure out how to fit four pieces together to construct walls.  But they know what to do and have a recognizable structure in a matter of seconds.

I watch Malachi as he instructs Patrick that the corner or the house he is building must be "the same".  They are fitting together the smallest lincoln logs on each corner of the house to make windows.  Patrick stacks a few pieces and asks "Is this the same?"  Malachi counts the pieces stacked on his side, then the pieces on Patrick's.  He holds his hand across the top to measure if it's even, and seems satisfied.  He notices that the notches are in the wrong direction to put the long log on top to form the top of the window.  He takes a small log off each corner and searches through the box for a longer log to add.

They continue to build and when they are finished, proud of their work, they take it over to the puzzle table to display.  "Hey!  Let's line them up by the biggest!",  Patrick says, and they line them up from biggest to littlest.  Satisfied, they go find the legos and begin a new project.

It is amazing to me when I sit back and take the time to just watch.  Children's minds are constantly deciphering, wondering, and figuring things out.  It's like a scaffold with each new discovery building on the last.  They learn so much through their play.  We often forget how hard at work they really are when they are "just playing".

-Amanda