Learning by Playing – Animals and Habitats

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Pretend play, I've observed, is close to every child's heart.

Trying out new roles by creating different situations from the world around them, makes them enter a fantasy world. This type of fantasy play gives wings to their fertile imagination and helps them learn concepts and words and ideas without they even being aware that they are actually learning.

Pretend play is a favourite play in our home. Give Pari an idea to role-play 'somebody' and she's ready to play even in the middle of the night! Recently, I suggested her to create 'habitats' for different type of animals and living beings and then be a caretaker of her reserve-park/sanctuary.

Everyday, I read her the Grolier book series "I wonder Why" that talks about extinct and endangered animals, habitats, animal kingdom classification and – "the biggest", "the tallest", "the longest", "the heaviest"of animals, birds, insects etc.

This recent pretend play about 'habitats' was a great reinforcement of all that I read to her and also a great way to integrate reading, playing and learning.

Collecting creatures, foliage and knick knack for her habitat turned out to be an amazing exercise in itself.

She undertook a massive hunt around the house as she went about picking up toy animals, birds, creepy crawlies, under-water creatures, foliage, fence and what have you – in every size and form – from closets, store room, living room, bed room and every possible corner of the house – to create the make-believe habitats and their dwellers.

The hunt encouraged imagination and creativity. Finding them all – in one cabinet – in a ready-to-make sort of way would have been boring and least challenging.

The sea creatures were her own handmade ones from last year's card board aquarium project.

The base for the habitat was created using blue and green tea towels and place-mats

The blue crepe paper served as Oasis in the desert.

The colourful crystal stones were salvaged from the coffee table tray.

The farm animals – the horse and the piggy were actually money/coin banks.

The blocks served as fence for the farm animals

Her green and blue hair bands were used as Coral Reefs.

The butterfly was recycled from an old key-ring.

 

• Once the animals and birds and sea creatures were safe in their habitat, I went to her as a visitor.
   
• She – 'the sanctuary caretaker and forest officer' explained to me why and where each creature lives, what they eat, how they sleep etc.
   
• She also asked me to watch how the Lion was tip-toing the Zebra and went for the kill. Poor zebra – she orchestrated his fall! Sad… He's one of my favourite animal…
   
• I alerted her to observe how the monkeys raise alarm call when any of the predators – Lion, Tiger, Leopard is anywhere close to the grass-eating animals. 
   
• We discussed about water holes, Oasis, animals that live on land as well as water, coral reefs.
   
• We discussed why Giraffes have long necks. She tried to make the Giraffe drink water but her Giraffe wouldn't stand! Exasperated, she made him sleep.
   
• Empathizing with the Giraffe's difficulty in drinking water, she quipped, how lucky the Elephant is to have a trunk!

Bonus – a great photo-shoot opportunity for the budding photographer in her. 

I had been clicking pictures all along. Toward the end, she clicked some pictures, too. Yeah, she's extremely fond of clicking. Good and bad! Good for her creativity but bad for me – well, in a way – because she's always grabbing my camera and I never have a peaceful moment to shoot. Shie…

This play kept her fully engrossed and buzzing with happiness for a good two hours or more!

Could it have been more satisfying, playful and meaningful!

No wonder, play is the most powerful tool for learning that we simply cannot choose to ignore or rubbish. 

And, let's not forget – play is every child's birth right.

What is your child playing today?

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I'm linking this post to these wonderful blogs that share a love for play for their children.

- Let the Children Play

- The Imagination Tree

- Hands On: As we Grow

- Messy Kids

Tagged as: creative learning, exploring the under water world through art and craft, handmade sea creatures, make believe pretend play, playful learning, playful learning ideas, playing habitats and animals, underwater creatures