"Play is the highest form of research." - Albert Einstein
From July 9th to 31st, Speakeasy Solutions hosted its first summer camp, Work, Craft & Play! In an effort to present children with an hollistic educational package, camp included a number of various activities: academic revision, field trips, film, Health & Family Life Education, art and craft and games. The goal was also to present children new ideas about the ways information can be learned - mainly that learning can be and is FUN!
It was by chance that I stumbled upon the above quote from Albert Einstein. There are some variations of it floating around the Internet. Some sources quote Einsten as saying "Imagination is the highest form of research." Either way, I liked the quote and it spoke to me because play was a key component of camp.
While it was clear that the children enjoyed most of the activities, what was truly surprising was the first day I introduced the idea of Logic. Of course it was a concept they were somewhat familiar with, but still we looked up the definition of logic and discussed its importance and usage in real life situations. Then, I presented students with a large pile of puzzles - sudoku, word search, crowsswords, arithmagons, karuko, mazes word wheels and more.
I was totally shocked by the amount of excitement these puzzles created because I wasn't sure how the puzzles would be recieved. These are children accustomed to video games and action movies. Yet, I ran out of puzzles and had to print some extras. When you take away the fact that these were puzzles, the children were actually reading and doing math and arithmetic. When it was just me in front of the board, handing out worksheets for revision on these same topics, there certainly wasn't that much excitement. I also believe that children learn more on their own (with a little guidance) than from having an adult lecture to them.