Learning through play

When I was here in 2007/8 for a six month slot one of the things I worked really hard to introduce was active learning. It's got many names, experiential learning and learning through play being others. There was particular resistance to water play. To us in the UK, where sand and water play are part of the nursery and early years curriculum it seems odd when they are missing. To my amazement one of the reasons that my pupils' parents were resistant was because they worried their children might catch cold. I was delighted today to see the obvious enjoyment here. They were filling a sponge with water and squeezing it out into another container. Not just learning about absorbency and the properties of both sponge and water but also giving their hands a good physio workout squeezing the sponge. This was particularly useful for those whose hands had deformities or were weak for one reason or another. I loved the expressions on both staff and children's faces, clearly having fun and interacting with each other.
I spent the late afternoon and evening sorting out my room and I think it's all organised now. A very useful thing in India is that most shower rooms come equipped with a large bucket which local people use for their ablutions, but for me, comes in handy for soaking and washing clothes. If I soak them overnight, I can hang them out in the morning and they are dry when I get home from school - having had a good blow most survive without ironing.