Playshops: Creating a Theatre

What are Playshops?

Based on the article, All Rigor and No Play is No Way to Improve Learning (2015), playshops are learning areas that include four main domains of learning; arts, science, literacy, and technology. This allows for educators to construct unique experiences that best fit (Wohlwend & Peppler, 2015, p.24).

The benefits of having playshops in a learning setting are; inventive learning, enhancing collaboration, and sustaining diverse participation (Wohlwend & Peppler, 2015, p. 25).

I support this innovative concept because of its natural approach to learning in contrast to traditional class schedules with isolated time blocks for different subjects. Playshops provide limitless opportunities for exploration and application of knowledge. Children develop a meaningful experience interacting with it because the playshops would be focusing on the interests of the children. With these playshops, although one child may be interested in one aspect of the playshop, for example the arts, they also get exposure to the other domains which can create a bridge for them to gain more interest in, for example, science. I believe that playshops hold a strong influence on children's learning and should therefore be implemented more in classrooms.

The Gadget Gurus' Theater Playshop

The objectives of our team's playshop were focused on literacy skills, the arts, and social teamwork skills. The main materials used in the playshop includes; tin plates, Popsicle sticks, LED lights, aluminum foil, clay, pieces of burlap, and wooden blocks. The playshop also crosses into science through theory-building and experimenting while constructing. The role of the educator is to facilitate the children as they explore and construct the playshop. In addition to the theater, we provided the playshop with a notepad as tools for the children to use in their theater production. It allows them to practice their literacy writing skills as well as a way to organize their creative thinking into a script. This playshop offers multiple roles and opportunities for children to explore and learn from, by providing a theater, it allows children an outlet to express themselves in an open-ended way.

Here are more examples of playshops;