Recently, I had the pleasure of being asked to participate in a celebration event at Madison Elementary in Davenport. The event honored students who achieved over 95% attendance during the second quarter. A room was transformed into a creative space with a vast array of LEGO bricks, where rewarded students engaged in a challenge…to design a new animal species.
Quick Powerful Bursts of Creativity
In a matter of 20-30 minutes, as the schedule allowed, students formed teams and accepted the mission. The twist was this..... students had to create a new animal that was at least a combination of two animals. They had to collaborate and listen to hear ideas from their friends and build a new animal. The energy in the room was a constant ebb and flow among grade levels, students coming and going, as these young minds collaborated, designed, and built their creations, which we displayed as a "school zoo" by the day's end.
View photos of the event here.
Being Ready to Pivot and Not Always Be Scripted (Extending the Experience)
It was incredible what they created in such a short amount of time. Students organized themselves into teams, brainstormed what their animal would be along with the habitat design, and then set to work to bring their ideas to life. At the end of the day, we had a school zoo of all the builds.
The excitement was high and also contagious among students and staff. The enthusiasm was so infectious that we decided to extend the LEGO zoo for an additional week. This allowed students to earn more building time, create explanatory videos, and motivate their peers to strive for attendance rewards in the future.
Structured for Success and Process
District and MBAEA staff scheduled the day and transformed a classroom into a LEGO playground with accessible bricks and ample building space. Although we had educational resources like zoo videos from our local zoo, the students' eagerness to build took center stage.
Staff created a schedule for the day so all grade levels would have 20-30 minutes to bring the students down.
We transformed a classroom into a LEGO build space with tables on the perimeter for building or they could build on the floor. LEGO pieces were placed down the center for easy access and pickup.
A slide deck was created to give them some ideas to consider. Most have never been to a zoo so we had to provide context. A video from our local zoo was available to talk about what they do for animal health and happiness. We did not always get a chance to use it due to time constraints and volume was hard. Plus the kids were ready to build!
After rules and explanations of the zoo were presented, students were placed in teams, given a baseplate, and were set free to build until the time to clean up arrived.
Adding to the excitement, the local college St. Ambrose basketball team joined us, offering assistance and camaraderie. Their presence was a highlight for the students, who enjoyed building alongside athletes from diverse backgrounds.
As we neared the end of each session we took a post-it note and wrote down what the animal combo was so we could help explain to others.
Overcoming Challenges: Mindset Shift With Tangible Purposeful Play
It is not uncommon to meet resistance when this type of creative challenge is presented to people of any age.
Initially, some students expressed doubts about their creative abilities, echoing common concerns about play-based activities. With encouragement and strategic prompts, they quickly overcame these barriers, leading to a flurry of innovation and storytelling.
When this work is done with adults in PD and workshops, we are often met with resistance. They think this is:
dumb
a waste of time
pointless
too hard
But what they are actually expressing is:
I am scared
I don't have confidence in my creativity skills
Am I brave enough to share my ideas with someone else?
What if someone does not like my ideas?
The culture of the building/space does not lend itself to a space of vulnerability to be expressive, creative, and critical thinkers
The same thing happens with students. Kids don't play like they used to. So much is scripted in and outside of school. And so much of our day we put ourselves and kids in front of a screen instead of engaging in play and wonder.
Here are some phrases I hear time and time again when we open up to build-time:
I can’t do this because nobody is helping me.
How can I build if I don’t have animal pieces?
I can’t do this.
How am I supposed to build myself?
This is too hard.
The beauty of LEGO and hands-on learning is that we can overcome these short barriers by offering ideas such as:
What if we put two 2x2 bricks together as a leg?
Ooh! I saw this piece and think it would be perfect for your animal (the piece is irrelevant, it is just a confidence boost).
I love that you are making a ......(whatever two animals they have).
What colors are you going to use and maybe you should put those colors in the pile.
Simply ask what they are building.
It does not take long and all of a sudden the ideas come flooding. They start to see that their ideas can be built by any piece. The click of a LEGO to another LEGO connects further ideas in their mind. They start to talk and discuss and all of a sudden time flies by and we have creations…and we can't get them to stop talking!
The Power of Purposeful Play
This event was another testament to the transformative nature of purposeful play and why I believe in it so passionately. It not only fostered creativity and problem-solving but also boosted confidence and collaboration among students. The joy and pride in their accomplishments were evident, proving that play is an essential component of learning.
In the examples, it might be hard to see the build concepts due to lack of time, but trust me there are incredible stories. Stories like the dog selling chicken outside of a 7/11 to a kangaroo or a beautiful city destroyed by their dinosaur creation.
And as a result, we have magic! Mindset changes, confidence increases, and creativity juices start flowing! When this happens, I get statements that warm my heart like, "Uh oh! I think we have an idea!"
Check out all the builds in the gallery. I cannot wait to see their video explanations of these builds. This is the beauty of purposeful play!
Additional Research on Supporting Purposeful Play
Research consistently shows that purposeful play is crucial for cognitive and social development. It nurtures creativity, problem-solving skills, and resilience in the face of failure. Quality preschool programs that incorporate purposeful play can significantly improve language, literacy, and mathematics outcomes. Moreover, playful learning is a powerful medium for engaging children with content and making learning more enjoyable and effective.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.751801/full
https://learningthroughplay.com/explore-the-research/the-scientific-case-for-learning-through-play
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2022-10-24-how-purposeful-play-opens-the-door-to-lifelong-learning
https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/summer2022/power-playful-learning
https://education.lego.com/en-us/power-of-play-engaging-whole-student/
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/23/05/embracing-learning-through-play