Our games investigation grew out of my desire to challenge the kids to interact, create, and play in new ways. They had grown very comfortable building structures out of recycled materials in our creation station and building (and engaging in dramatic play with) castle/house-like structures in the block area, but I was beginning to notice that the same kids were often choosing to do the same things (and thus interact similarly) over and over again. I wanted to push them out of their comfort zones and challenge them to communicate, collaborate, and problem solve in new ways.
I'd also been reading a lot recently about the power and value of "game-play" in education and selfishly wanted to experiment with it (admittedly, in a very low-tech way) a little bit. Thus, I set out some games on a shelf in our classroom. I sat back and watched what (if anything) the kids would do with the games in order to gauge interest in the topic. Within a day, they were already busy playing...
My students have become such creative risk-takers, so I wasn't surprised a bit that within days they were already experimenting with and figuring out how to make their own games. The best part was watching them share their games with each other and seeing how one student's idea inspired the next student and so on.
By the end of the week I was confident that each child would each be able to design a well thought out board game that was both fun and made sense. Together we came up with a list of all the things our board games would need,
and we used our ideas to create a rubric to guide us.
Most kids came up with their own idea and got right to work, although one trio came up with an idea together and wanted to work collaboratively. The conversations and negotiation that took place among the three children was especially impressive. They shared ideas, inspired each other, and compromised along the way...and despite challenges they never wavered in their commitment to creating their game together.
Everyone's game included a board with movement paths on it, but it was SO much fun seeing the variety of ways they came up with to actually make their characters move along the path - everything from dice to spinners to cards. The kids were especially excited about the "surprise" element they added to make their games interesting and unique. The amount of thought, planning, strategy, revision, perseverance, and creativity that went into each of the games was quite impressive.
After creating their games, they made sure to test them out on each other in order to see if they needed any tweaking.
The best part was when Ms. Kelly's friends came over to play our games with us. The kids were SO proud of their hard work and the enthusiasm with which their games were received!
I could tell the kids had become very comfortable playing and creating board games, so I wanted to stretch them to think outside of the "board-game box." In the process of sorting and then webbing sticky notes with our favorite games drawn and labeled on them, we realized how many other categories of games there actually are.
I started bringing in a few additional types of games and enjoyed seeing how the kids interacted with them as well. I set this game out without giving any instruction, and within minutes there was a group of 5 boys crowded around working together to decipher the directions and figure out how to take turns fairly...all unprompted and on their own.
My daughter is always interested in our investigations and had been begging to bring in her favorite card game (Mermaid Beach) for the K kids. The only problem is that I still don't know how to play the game. So, she stopped by our classroom one afternoon and taught us all. I noticed the way the "teaching" experience both challenged and built her confidence simultaneously. I also notice HOW ENGAGED my students were while listening to her explain a very complicated game.
The kids had clearly listened because within moments they were busy playing Mermaid Beach (which I still I don't even understand) on their own,
Based on my daughter's experience, I decided there would be immense value in challenging each K kid to do the same thing. I sent an email to parents letting them know that each child was assigned a day to bring in a favorite game from home. When they brought in their game, they would officially become the teacher and let us all know how to play.
Not only did this assignment generate a LOT of interest in game playing, but it also allowed each child the opportunity to take on the role of teacher - they got to experience everything from explaining directions to answering questions to keeping all the participants "on task."
If playing games together for the past several weeks was the ONLY thing these kids had been doing, it would have unquestionably been a worthy endeavor. After all, check out the list of skills kids develop through playing games:
- math skills - number recognition, grouping, counting, detecting patterns
- reading skills - letter and word recognition
- social skills - communicating, sharing, waiting, taking turns, being a good sport, etc.
- ability to focus - stick with a game from start to finish
- ability to think ahead - actions and consequences
- critical thinking skills
- logic and reasoning
- and more...
However, they weren't JUST playing games during our investigation. By becoming teachers and actual game creators, they were accomplishing SO much more!
I noticed that the kids were using many of their free moments in the classroom to play games as well - as they settled in each morning, during choice time, and during our long string of snowy indoor recesses. As a teacher I learned SO much about each student by observing them while playing games - how and when they selected a game, how (and if) they politely joined in games already in process, how they worked together to figure out who would go first, whether or not they followed or enforced the game rules, how willing they were to help each other learn the rules or troubleshoot along the way, etc. For the most part, I was blown away by the maturity with which they engaged in game play.
I had recently stumbled upon the short documentary film Caine's Arcade and had a sneaky feeling it would appeal to my students' love of games and ongoing fascination with building and creating things. We watched the video together, and within minutes they were already planning our Room 12 Arcade.
It didn't take very long to have filled an entire sheet with their ideas...
Before we officially began working on the arcade, I noticed that at least half my class was already busy creating tickets and...
building their own arcade games. By now, we had confirmed that our chapel buddies would be able come Friday to play our games. The only problem was the weather - a snowstorm put us out of school for 2 days, immediately followed by a week of Spring Break.
I worried that too much momentum had been lost over our 11 days off to continue with our original plan, but I was quickly proven wrong. The first morning of our return the kids were (completely unprompted) right back to work creating games, testing them out, and making more tickets. One child even brought in an entire roll of tickets he had made over break.
Since we wouldn't have an entire Friday to work on our games, I challenged the kids to create them independently during the week. They used one set-aside classroom work time to get started, and then they completed, tweaked, and re-tweaked their games during their choice time throughout the week. The kids spent almost all of their free time working on and then playing each other's games. You could practically feel the excitement in the air each morning as the kids arrived at school and immediately bee-lined for their game.
I was amazed by the maturity of the many of the conversations I heard throughout our week of arcade preparation:
Sure, I can help you.
Wow, that's a really great idea.
Your game is SO cool.
Can you help me tape this?
Can I try out your game?
How does it work?
Your game is so much fun!
Once most games were complete, we came up with a to-do list of everything else that needed to be accomplished.
First each child thought of a name and added a label to their game.
Some kids even added color to make their games a little bit fancier.
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We also wrote how-to's to explain the steps for playing our games.
Arcade day had finally arrived! We added finishing touches to our games...
Then we finished making tickets and counted out 15 for each of our chapel buddies (so they would be able to play every game).
We worked together to create signs for our arcade,
tested out our games a final time (I've NEVER seen 5 and 6 year olds spend FIVE straight days maintaining focus and then revising and revising and revising their work!), added in starting lines and point values (think of all that math!), and even created prizes to give our chapel buddies once they had collected all of their points. The kids created gifts with their buddies in mind - foil balls, UVA fan signs, puppets, awards, and more.
It was hard to fully capture the magic of the arcade experience on camera. Nevertheless, I can assure you our Room 12 Arcade was a huge success! Our 4th grade visitors were impressed by the creativity of our games as well as by the sense of ownership and pride the K kids showed during their visit.
Based on recent conversations and interests in the classroom, I had a bunch of ideas about where to head next with our game investigation. However, it was past time to move on to our study of space since our Moon Party was just a week and a half away. So we packed away the games, and off to space we went.
I sure do love learning alongside these kiddos, and I can't wait to see what's in store for us next!
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