Playful Learning Design for School Readiness Skills

Instructional Designer

Researcher

Learning Pirates started during the COVID lockdown. The project’s goal was to open up learning opportunities for children in a world that was closed.

We believed that:

School is disrupted by learning doesn’t need to be.

Children should have meaningful and relevant learning experiences while at home.

The project's goal was to support parents with children aged 3-6 in designing effective learning and play in the comfort of their homes.

This project was later turned into research by Navamindradhiraj University, Thailand.

Process

We brainstormed content themes appropriate for young children and integrated pedagogical frameworks to support school readiness skills. With the themes, we curated high-quality resources and designed extension activities targeting five key developmental focuses of young children (Language, Numeracy, Fine Motor, Critical Thinking, Social Skills).

Deliverable

Learning resources, designed with the busy parent in mind, that focus on learners’ outcomes and child developmental milestones to prepare their child’s transition when school can safely reopen.

A themed weekly planner that is easy to follow covering five key developmental focuses of young children (Language, Numeracy, Fine Motor, Critical Thinking, Social Skills)

A learning and sharing community with other parents

Workbooks for 6 weeks designed for the research project

Results from the research:

After completing 6 weeks of using the workbooks with their children, parents reported that they still feel empowered to support and extend their children’s learning after 3 months.

Feedback from parents (translated from Thai):

Change in a good way. We feel that our children really like art. And it makes us pay attention to what our children like. In the past, I didn't pay much attention to my children. I rarely get to talk and play with my children until I get to do good activities like this. It made us change our thinking in many ways.