Adults are used to communicating in words, so a course designed to help them use other forms of expression can be surprisingly challenging. ‘One of the hardest things for me as a practitioner is not going straight in there with questions,’ says nursery teacher Kumba Bangura, who used the training to develop circle time at Keir Hardie Primary School and nursery in Surrey.
‘It’s about enabling children to learn through their play without bombarding them with questions. Instead of saying, “What are you doing?”, you first of all observe. It helps you to take a step back and think about what the child is doing.’
Using role-play, physical movement sessions and listening exercises, The Playful Practitioner is a series of workshops designed to help grown-ups regain their ‘true playful selves’. Instead of words, practitioners are encouraged to use movement and sounds to convey feelings.
The course is devised by Roya Hamid, a drama therapist, who says, ‘You might have a good understanding that children learn through play, but if you don’t have a playful heart, it is not going to translate.’ Play for her is ‘not about being a clown’ but ‘an internal sense of availability and the invitation to be child-led. Then adults can develop play if the child gets stuck.’
Back at Keir Hardie nursery, the sessions are being used to help children be more autonomous at circle time. Ms Bangura used a ‘magic’ box full of objects, which children would take out and talk about.
‘We are giving children more opportunity to talk. They don’t think, “I have to answer questions about what I am doing when I don’t even know what I am doing.”
‘This means they come out of their shell. They might be inspired to do some writing or go and read a story, and you might see them telling a story to the group.’
For Ms Hamid, the course can also help identify problems. ‘Quite a lot of children out there don’t play. The course gives practitioners the skills to identify where intervention needs to happen.’
