Transcript Playful RE How can Religious Education make better use of

Playful RE
How can Religious Education make
better use of children’s play for
learning?
Lat Blaylock
This presentation from the RE Today website
supports the article in the April 2013 issue of
REToday magazine
A free download for RE today subscribers from the
website
RE Today would like to thank teachers who have provided images and
ideas for this presentation.
Fresh ideas for playful RE
• Do you agree that RE for younger children needs
more play and playfulness?
• We asked some teachers of RE who work with 4-7
year olds for ideas they like about RE in this age
group where play is a key part of the learning.
• Here are some fresh and simple ways of making
your RE more playful. Which ones will you try?
• Thanks to Deborah, Donna, Claire and Dominic
for their ideas
Fresh Ideas: How to make RE more
playful for young learners
Claire Rivers, Head Teacher at St Mark’s School in East Sussex
• “The new Early Years guidance from the Department for Education,
‘Development Matters’ (2013) has play as a one of the key areas in
the ‘Characteristics of Effective Learning’ and I believe it is through
play that children make sense of the world in which they live,
starting with the known and moving into exploration of the
unknown.
• In my teaching and leading of RE I have encouraged that approach
regardless of age- to begin with the known and move into the
unknown in order to make good connections in learning and to
ensure there is understanding.
• Play enables multisensory experiences and high quality
personalised learning. Through role play children can explore
relationships, cultures, faiths and attitudes, key themes in RE.
• By playing collaboratively and cooperatively, with expert adult
interaction, children will develop respect, a set of values and
communication skills.”
Playful RE needs lego!
Playful RE needs lego and duplo. The
boys are busy making lego models of
some of what they saw on their
church visit.
Playful RE: look at the Vicar, Cross
and congregation.
Playful RE
An ambitious
recreation of a
lego church by
some older pupils.
Detail is invisible
from this angle,
but it’s all there
Playful RE: After touch and feel sessions with
Jewish artefacts, why not get your pupils to
make some artefacts from lego? Here’s a lovely
Jewish menorah, complete with 7 light bulbs.
Playful RE: The Easter story. This
block and mat kit from TTS learning
is a great way for the teacher to tell
the story of Holy Week, and for the
children to follow up with play.
Playful RE: Children can use the map
on the mat to recall the outline of
the story and play with the
characters in it.
Playful RE: stories make sense when
we play with the details and the
characters.
Role Play Church.
Donna:
“After exploring All Saints church in Bedworth we have
both indoor and outdoor role play areas as a church. This
area really takes off after we've had an enactment of
a wedding and baptism for our reception children as the
children then act out their experiences in the role play
area. Over the years we've been doing this children
have acted out Christmas and Easter services which
we attend at All Saints and Sunday School experiences as
well. Baskets of props are good, the children use these
to develop their play. Amongst things we've found children
playing with are Bibles and crosses in dens ("it’s a church.
It’s a quiet place to talk to God. Be quiet please!").
Once, I noticed the children wading across a large piece
of blue fabric, escaping from Pharaoh’s armies! We need
more play based RE: as well as promoting RE, play
develops personal and social skills and communication
skills.
Most of all play is fun!”
Playful RE: can you find a Church
minister who understands that play
is serious, not irreverent? If so, go to
church and do playful RE.
Or mosque. Or synagogue.
Playful RE: ritual and
worship can be a foreign
country to some children.
Dressing up brings it home.
Just look at his face!
Playful RE:
Younger children know
how to learn for
themselves.
Emotional depth can come
sometimes from a white
silk scarf. She decorated
this one with crosses
before the Church visit.
Playful RE:
Enacting a
wedding is
memorable, fun
and includes
dressing up!
This learning
from Islam
included quotes
from the Qur’an.
“We like dressing dolls we have
made out of pipe-cleaners or peg
dolls, or with modelling clay. We
help children to make cut out
"clothes" to create characters from
faith stories. It’s good to see how
this enables children to practise
and improvise language in informal
settings, with others. These playbased activities are good: informal,
adaptable, interesting. Because
they are fluid they can be replayed
many times &reinforce the
learning. We like the idea of more
play based RE learning: it must be
good when the children are less
aware of the pressure to achieve
and the enjoyment factor is high.”
This tableau shows Jesus praying in
the garden.
Playful RE: Jewish festivals
The Jewish Festival of Sukkot uses living
in a den to remind the faithful of the
days when they camped 40 years in the
desert. What could be more fun than
making dens to learn about this?
Playful RE ~ Making dens is always
fun: Sukkoth at school
“At Harvest time the children were
able to explore natural materials and
construction through the building of
Sukkahs. The range of designs varied
greatly and some were more
successful than others but learning
through playing is all about
experimentation, making
connections, negotiating with others,
discussion and questioning.”
Playful RE ~ Making dens is always fun: Sukkoth at school
“I am always delighted when children ask questions, challenge and are prepared to listen to the
views of others, which play opportunities provide. I have found that the role of the adults
working with the children in their play is of key importance as they will help to take the play
forward through expert interaction, questioning and challenge.”
Playful RE:
Sukkot – look at the
details
Playful RE
Clay Crosses and Play Doh Fonts
“We make fun use of modelling
materials to recreate artefacts, e.g.
from our church visit, making a playdough font. It is an easier medium
for young children to make things
that look realistic, which they enjoy.
Being tactile & physical makes the
learning more memorable.
Construction kits can also be used
for e.g. making a stable, building an
ark.”
Editor adds: why not a play doh
‘Seven Days of Creation’ or ‘Visit to
the Gurdwara’ or ‘Three scenes from
the Parable of the Lost Sheep.’
Playful RE
Modelling clay of many kinds has a
hundred potential RE experiences in
every packet. Get some of them out!
Playful RE: Isla has made a lovely
figure of Moses, looking nervous.
Playful RE
Enact a Baby Welcoming
Ceremony.
Off we go to Church today with
Baby Querk, to make some
promises and say some
prayers. The whole class play
roles in the Big Day!
Playful RE
Enact a Baby Welcoming
Ceremony. At Church Father
David asks who is doing what
at the Baptism, and gets us all
ready.
Playful RE
Enact a Baby Welcoming
Ceremony.
The whole class play roles in
the Big Day!
Playful RE
Back at school, whisper the
things you remember about
the service – don’t wake the
baby.
Playful RE: Small world figures of
different kinds are great for RE.
This small world church becomes a
play area for all the children, and
they like the cardboard stained glass
removable windows.
Playful RE
Detail is remembered and
incorporated into play.
Playful RE
Here comes the Vicar to read the
Bible
Playful RE
RE needs engagement – you can see
it is getting it here.
The Small World Nativity
Donna Nagy works at Canon Evans CE Infant School, in Warwickshire. She has been
playing around as well...
“Children did a ‘Small World’ play session in a builder's tray, to make the Nativity. Over
the years we've used a variety of things for the characters. One year we had Duplo
figures for the characters in the story, another time we made dolly pegs into Mary,
Joseph, an Innkeeper, Shepherds and wise men, with the children choosing swatches of
fabric for the clothes, and drawing faces with sharpie pens. We used sand, gravel and
the stones that go in fish tanks for the terrain. The stable was easy to make from some
boxes. The children chose to use lollypop sticks for sheep pens!
We regularly do small world for other aspects of the life of Jesus. We have had gospel
small world versions of Jesus in the wilderness, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and rising
from the dead.”
Divali in the forest, with marshmallows
“Our 7 year olds have just completed a learning
journey based on ‘Festivals of Light’ and most of
their learning was play based giving the children
the opportunity to play with and explore stories,
cookery, art and crafts and poetry. As with all
outstanding personalised learning, which I see
as a tree, the staff plan the ‘trunk’ of the tree,
which is displayed for children to see, and the
children are encouraged to take the learning off
into their own ‘branches’. The children planned
independently a special celebration to be shared
with parents, carers and friends which was to be
held in the meadow we use. It’s an acre and
three quarters of meadow, woods and stream.
The Meadow was lit with individually designed
diva lamps with a bonfire, toasted
marshmallows and hot chocolate with poetry
readings linked to movement.
I love it when RE is shared with the community
in this way when the power of nature and
aesthetic experience linked to the play of the
children bring us all together in a very special
way which more formal RE would never do.”
• Thanks to Deborah, Donna, Dominic, Rebecca,
and Claire for all these ideas. Why is play
important for young children’s RE? What
makes a playful classroom in RE work well? Do
you have some more? Send them in to the
editor, [email protected]
What’s your favourite...
•
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•
•
•
•
•
•
View
Mountain
Swim
Fish
Bird
Reptile
Wild creature
Tame animal
• Insect
• Feature of a face
(eyes? Smile?
Hairstyle?
• Weather
• Season of the
year
• Flower
• Country
By George, 10:
Spiders, wasps, dung beetles too
Watch the Himalayas in the sky of blue
Sunset over the sea
Cliff tops, snow and ice
All creatures, great and small
Elephants, mice
Frameworks for reflection: tears, question
marks, leaves and lightbulbs
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today 2012
Rainbows
Colours
and
diversity.
Promises
Hope
through
trials
Natural
beauty
Working on the Noah story,
children finish their study
with a rainbow outline on
card, by writing ‘7 Hopes
for a Better World’ (for
myself, my family, my class,
my town, my country, my
world and one more) in
pairs. They collage the
colours. The rainbows are
cut out and hung from coat
hangers on the classroom
ceiling as mobiles.
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today 2012
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today 2012
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today 2012
Ali and Sophie, (both 9)
made a rainbow of
different religions:
“We think all the
colours make up the
rainbow, and all the
religions make up God’s
earth”
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today 2012
• Jacob is 14,
from Ashfield
Special School:
“My rainbow
has seven
colours. I am
hoping my mum
has a good day
and my cat is
safe”
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today 2012
Stars
After work on the Muslim
Small
way of life, including the
lights, big idea of ‘the moon to light
the way and the star to
darkness
guide’, pupils write 5
Mystery
people who are their
and
‘guiding lights’ on to a
distance
display star, and talk in
circle time about who
Being a
they chose and why. Or
star
using Jesus’ sayings about
Wonder
the light of the world,
pupils choose the people
and
they think light up the
curiosity
world today.
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today 2012
Stars
• Children drew on their stars the five things
they like about Christmas, and hung them on
a fence in the grounds. They wanted to hang
them up much higher, and that will happen
‘next time’
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today 2012
”The reflective activities were
undertaken in a genuine and
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today
2012
thoughtful
way by the children”
Tear drops
At the end of a unit on why
people suffer, pupils take a
big blue cut-out tear drop,
and write a meditation or
reflection or prayer (let
Sadness
them choose) on the theme
Suffering
‘Who helps the suffering?’
Bitterness
Pre-print onto it a quote
from Jesus (‘Come to me all
‘A good
you weary and I will give you
cry’
rest…’) or the Buddha
(‘Compassion for any living
Tragedy
being takes a step to a
better world…’) and they
will think about the meaning
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today 2012
as they work.
Hands
Touching
Connecting
with others
Caring and
helping
Work
Love in
action
Use a ‘drawn round’ hand to
write five words that show care,
mutuality, work: What sums up
Mother Teresa’s work for others?
What five things would Muslims
say Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
did best? What five things can
people in conflict do to build
peace? Or write inside the hand
words that describe ‘how I see
myself’ and round the outside
some ‘ways other people see
me’.
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today 2012
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today 2012
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today 2012
A mobile phone
Roles of angels in the first
revelation of the Holy Qur’an and
the Christmas story have been
Messengers
explored in stories and thinking.
and
Pupils take a mobile phone
messages
illustration, and create 5
messages to the human race,
Angels
from the angel of mercy, the
Prayer
angel of good news, the angel of
death, the angel of hope and the
Communicat
fallen angel – this expresses
ion
visions of life in a reflective and
interesting way. What would the
angels say to the humans today?
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today 2012
God’s blackberry
messages during
Genesis 3
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today 2012
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today 2012
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today 2012
What will you do with the 23
frameworks for reflection?
• Which do you use?
• Which are new ideas for you?
• Could you use these to inject 15 minutes
reflection into many more RE lessons?
• Can you use them to sharpen ideas about AT2
learning from religion?
• Do they help build respect for all?
Copyright Lat Blaylock RE Today 2012