Past projects 1
Learning Through Play!
Funded Sep 2, 2024Having this project funded has created immense joy and learning possibilities in my classroom. Each year students come into my classroom from diverse backgrounds, many low socioeconomic families, and I do my best to give them hands on learning and opportunities for expanding their imagination. With the addition of magna tiles, dollhouse people and furniture, baby doll materials, and dress up materials my students have been able to learn to play together and problem solve.
Within a few months of having these items in my classroom I have watched student language grow ten fold. These items are all high value items in my classroom, which naturally encourages group play. During our center time, from just these items, students are asking others to play, coming up with play ideas or building ideas, working together to problem solve how to let everyone join, or how to better design a magna tile building that keeps falling. The amount of social and language growth is something remarkable to watch.
My students were ecstatic to see the new additions to our classroom. These are all materials that students have asked about or indicated were missing in our classroom. They quickly became the most used in the classroom. As the teacher, what I find most interesting about each of these materials, is that students have not gotten bored. Typically we change out toys and try to keep rotations going to keep students engaged and having fun. With these toys students are still using them everyday and in many different ways. Their little imaginations have just taken off, using the dress up clothes for different jobs or creating families with the dress up clothes and babies, using the people for the dollhouse to go on train rides, and using the magna tiles to create things from rocket ships to zoos.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Vaulman
This classroom project was brought to life by Valhalla Foundation and one other donor.