A rock can be a key fob. A rag can be a baby. A block can be a phone. Even marks on a page can be a story. That is how much power play holds in stretching the imaginations of children.
Just as the act of reading involves the scanning across of symbols which together make words that carry specific ideas, so do children make the same cerebral leaps when they play.
Sometimes, all a kid needs is a rock. Imagination does the rest.
Play is a serious business
However, oftentimes, play is talked about as if it were a relief or a break from serious learning. But, for children, it is serious learning. Play is the work of childhood.
Einstein once said “Play is the highest form of research” and it buttresses the fact that learning and playing are not mutually exclusive events. In fact, through play young minds are stretched and prepared for eventual literacy tasks. It prepares their brain for reading as play often goes hand in hand with language practice, dialogue development, and story structure.
The Critical Role of the Teacher
It takes a very well-trained and experienced teacher to design and deliver play sessions in the classroom that can invoke pupils’ imagination to places even beyond the classroom. Dress-up areas, sand tables, sensory tables, blocks, and the like usually characterize these classrooms.
In the early year’s education sector, one best bet for landing such talented, innovative, and proactive teachers for your center is by using an agency. Many are teaching agencies but the best teaching agencies like Quint Education are deeply committed to finding the best fits as early years education staff.
Learning to Play. Playing to Learn
Teachers recruited from the best teaching agencies like Quint Education can facilitate play sessions amongst pupils in ways that allow them to act out scenarios as a way to express concerns, ask questions, and crucially reshape a narrative. Children can drive the plot and can change the outcome of a scary situation or try out different solutions to a problem.
Through thorough training, our teachers are proactive and creative in the classroom with their pupils. They can innovate new and interesting play sessions that get kids to develop their problem-solving skills through negotiating roles and themes, perspective-taking as well as building their empathy.
We find temporary and permanent jobs for teachers, teaching assistants, and tutors for the early years sector in the UK. As one of the best teaching agencies in the UK, Quint Education specializes in finding jobs for teachers in the early years sector or special needs schools and units.
Our nurseries across London, Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, and Hertfordshire are friendly and supportive places to work.
We have a wide range of jobs from Early Years Practitioner, Nursery Practitioner, Nursery Agency bank staff, Nursery Manager, Nursery Teacher to Nursery Chef.
We’d love to see what you can bring, please call Quint Education today at 0207 1188 994 or email your CV stating the role you are interested in.
