When teachers introduce games that emphasize hands-on and interactive learning, children develop STEM concepts and habits of mind. Games that interest children and stimulate their thinking support logical thinking, number sense, oral language, reading, writing. They also provide opportunities to reason about strategies, learn to take turns, take another person’s perspective, and negotiate.
Workshop format: face-to-face
Length of workshop: 3 hours
Number of participants: limited to 24
To view the experience sheet for this workshop, please click here.
Part One: Young children who play fun games that have elements of chance, skill, and/or strategy not only have more developed social skills, but also learning dispositions. Well-selected games provide opportunities for children to develop number sense, oral language, reading, and writing. Playing games is a rich and meaningful context for learning to take turns, consider another’s perspective, negotiate, and the development of logical thinking as children reason about strategies.
In this virtual session, participants will be introduced to games that can be played with young children from ages 3-8. The games can be downloaded for no charge and printed from the Iowa Regents’ Center for Early Developmental Education website. Participants will have an opportunity to play games that can be introduced to the children in their settings. Photos and video exemplars from early childhood classrooms will be shared.
Workshop format: virtual
Length of workshop: 1.5 hours
Number of participants: limited to 50
To view the experience sheet for this workshop, please click here.
Part Two: In this virtual workshop, participants will be introduced to a variety of high-quality games that suggest something interesting and challenging for children to figure out how to do, make it possible for children to judge their own success, and permit all players to participate actively throughout the game. Participants will consider games that address standards and the full range of developmental levels present in their classrooms. They will play examples of cooperative games and discuss how these games encourage children to work together and build an ability to regulate their own behavior. Tips for monitoring children while they are playing games will be shared to enable a teacher to recognize when games become too easy for children, and then make modifications or select a more challenging game in order to meet the needs of all children.
In this virtual session, participants will be introduced to games that can be played with young children from ages 3-8. The games can be downloaded for no charge and printed from the Iowa Regents’ Center for Early Developmental Education website. Participants will have an opportunity to play games that can be introduced to the children in their settings. Photos and video exemplars from early childhood classrooms will be shared.
Workshop format: virtual
Length of workshop: 1.5 hours
Number of participants: limited to 50
To view the experience sheet for this workshop, please click here.