Spectators watch as the action unfolds on the platform!
Play is for dads, too.
It is often tough for me to really “get into” playing when my son wants to play Legos. He has so many vivid storylines in his head that I must go along with in order for the play to progress that I often become restless. Not to mention, this vivid imagination shows itself to be a challenge for the less vivid and more “blocky” adult mind of “dad.”
This isn’t to say I’m some kind of old codger with no imagination, but just that as adults we are focused on different things, and it’s often tough to get back to that place where play is all-enveloping. That is how it should be, too, as play is the means by which children learn, and as adults, we’ve (hopefully) already learned a lot.
Anyway, today my son and I came up with a Lego-based game that we both really got into. We called it, simply, “TOURNAMENT!”
TOURNAMENT!
Here’s the tournament brackets all laid out.
As you can see in the image above, we started with some tournament brackets. This was a great chance to teach my son what “brackets” are and how a tournament works. He already somewhat understood the concept, I think, from playing video games. By the end, though, his understanding of the process was very clear.
He understood the order of operations, and how the guys waiting to start the semi-finals on one side, couldn’t start until the semi-final contestants had already been decided on the other side of the brackets as well.
None of this was planned “as a lesson.” It happened naturally because I just thought it would be fun to have a tournament, and he agreed when he felt my genuine enthusiasm in pitching the idea.
Here’s a video of the first round. The goal is to not fall off of the rolling platform. For me, this was actually very engaging!
”The Platform.”
The anticipation mounts!
The cop robot judge giving the go signal.
The losers of the earlier rounds become the spectators and cheer on their favorite contestants.
Semi-finals and Finals.
I explained to Isaiah that “semi” means half, and told him about things like semi-circles. Again, no silly “lesson plan” was needed. Learning myriad and diversely interconnected topics just happens, because learning is play and play is learning. And now, he’s not going to forget “semi,” because it has a real, rubber-meets-road meaning for him, and we were having a great time!
The Finals!!!!!!
The finals! A true David and Goliath matchup!
And the winner is....
BOMB-HEY!!! In an unprecedented upset of epic proportions!!!!!!
Bomb-Hey, showered in riches and glory as he prepares to ride the platform out of the stadium, reveling in waves of roaring adulation and praise from the crowd of thousands.
Well, that’s all there is to it. No "lessons." Just play.
Peace!
(Thanks for stopping by. If you missed the last installment of Unschooling Blog, Vol. 34: “JIYUU! FREEDOM! (My experiments with giving my son total freedom) Episode 1,” you can find that HERE. Please upvote and resteem if this post was valuable to you!)
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)