SHANGHAI – The role of play in the early childhood development is indisputable. Aside from benefiting the physiological development, play has the power to unlock learning in a child, enabling the kid to learn new skills and support academic learning.
Capitalizing on the power of play in learning, Little Village Pre School in Singapore, has partnered global creative agency Geometry Global Singapore to develop the very first Brick Book Learning Kit (Brick Book). A learning tool that utilizes Lego bricks, teaching guides and specially designed games, the Brick Book uses play to hone creativity, impart skills such as problem solving and teach basic mathematics to pre-school students.
Adaptable to each child’s ability, the Brick Book has a total of six games that teach and reinforce simple mathematical concepts such as spatial awareness, pattern recognition, addition, subtraction, and multiplication. By using Lego bricks and gamification, the Brick Book brings a new level of engagement and learning through play, inculcating a love for learning.
Ms. Vicki Teo, Executive Director for Little Village, said, “Our teaching philosophy is centred around meaningful learning for our children. We want them to not only be equipped with the necessary knowledge and understanding of concepts, but to do so in a manner that is fun, to inculcate the love of learning through play. The Brick Book is a tool that allows us to do so, where children use everyday toys that they are familiar with like Lego bricks, to play and in the process, learn.”
The Brick Book project took 7 months of planning, design and curation of games. As part of the creation of the first Brick Book, the team shared this learning tool with underprivileged children in Myanmar. Through public donations, over 8,000 Lego bricks were collected. The team then created more than 20 Brick Books which were shared with 100 students in Myanmar. The hope is that the Brick Books will also help to keep more young students engaged in classrooms and equip local teachers with the much-needed support to make learning fun, making a difference in the lives of children in Myanmar.
Jorge Thauby, Creative Director, Geometry Singapore said, “We saw a unique opportunity to combine creative thinking and design with an existing need in early childhood education – helping young children learn to love learning through play. The Brick Book brings together carefully designed learning games and Lego bricks to create a versatile teaching tool that is adaptable to each child’s interest and needs, and allows the teaching of different skills or subjects. We hope that this tool will support teachers, parents and most importantly the young children in helping them build a good foundation and interest in education.”
Little Village and Geometry Singapore are hoping to continue to share the Brick Book with other disadvantaged communities, to expand access and support for early childhood education both in Singapore and overseas. For the next round of Brick Book Kit developments, Little Village is calling out to the public to donate their unwanted Lego bricks, more details on their Facebook.
