Play/Active Learning

The children had so much fun playing with the castle that wedecided to take them to a local castle for a treasure hunt. Weexpected the hunt to last about 30 minutes but the childrenwere so engrossed we were there for two hours. None of thechildren wanted to leave when the time came and they all saidthey would return with their parents.When we hadbeen at thecastle I hadbought somequills and thechildren eagerlyused them towrite on theirscrolls.On subsequent days, the castle (in role-play corner) came alive.The children wanted to re-enact their treasure hunt. Between uswe found the props we needed around the setting, placed themin a bag, and away the children went reliving the experiencepiece by piece, correcting each other if they got the orderwrong, and sharing the objects so that they could all carry them.Later in the day, we made some scrolls. When we had been atthe castle I had bought some quills and the children eagerlyused them to write on their scrolls. When they had finished theirdrawings/writing each scroll was tied up with red ribbon and wemade seals out of red-coloured dough.The children continued to play with the castle for several moredays. We have found that they play better with props that theyhave made themselves; we think that this is because they feelthey have ownership of them.Play/Active Learning 45