Learning through play is a good way of inspiring children, but how do you turn education into fun?
The simple answer is to make the lesson a hands-on challenge, involving laughter and engagement.
The Education Team put this into practice during a visit to a local Squirrels club, the junior branch of the Scouts, where they ran learning activities with a group of four and five-year-olds.
Activities included constructing towers out of foam bricks, and learning how an arch bridge is built. Both tasks challenged the children to consider loads and forces, while using trial and error to work out a solution.
Caroline Chisholm, Education Manager at the Rochester Bridge Trust explained: “These are great activities because they encourage the children to use critical thinking to create strong structures, developing their engineering skills as they go.
“They also experience the importance of learning from mistakes – realising that ‘failure’ is an opportunity to improve, rather than a reason to give up.”
After the children had completed their challenges, they ended the lesson with a period of rest and reflection during an engineering-themed story time.
The Rochester Bridge Trust provides all its learning activities free to download online, visit https://rochesterbridgetrust.org.uk/learning-activities/
