Not just play

At the beginning of the new school year, children are still in the process of adapting and getting to know each other. In EY3&4 have utilised elements of Drama in Education to create a pirate story. By progressing through the story, children can explore different and get to know each other, working together to complete challenges set in each part of the story. 

The story takes place on the vast sea. There is a group of adventurous pirates who lost their direction while exploring the high seas, uh oh, their pirate ship has a hole and starts to leak. The pirates embark on an adventure to find materials to repair their ship.

As adults, you can use your imagination to come up with your own solutions if you were a pirate in this situation. However, our children are still in the process of growing up, so they need to digest the story background and try to integrate themselves into their roles. Only when they enter the role of a pirate will they believe in what happens in the story and actively face the challenges.

Then the teachers encouraged the children to actively share, "What kind of pirate are you?"

• Milo: There is a cross on my pirate hat, which represents that we are different from other pirates! We are adventurous pirates!

• Iris: My hat has a picture of my family, my mom and Yuanbao. This way, when I am adventuring on the sea, I can look at my hat and think of them. There is also a flower on the back of the hat. The captain rewarded me with it, which represents that I am a great pirate.

• Rachel: Mine has the symbol of the pirates.

• Jennie: Mine has the pirate ship on it, which is very important!

After lively discussions, verbal sharing, and drawing on paper, the children were completely immersed in the role of pirates. Next, they will explore this new sea and work hard to repair the pirate ship!

We have designated different activity areas in the classroom as different islands in the story. This time, the children will explore the building area. The pirates landed on a small island piled with wood and met the islanders, explaining their purpose. Unexpectedly, the islanders refused to give them the wood directly and instead presented a challenge! The challenge is to use the wood on the island to help build a pirate ship.

This was the children's first time cooperating to complete a challenge. At first, they all worked separately. Some drew plans, some researched information about ships, and some had already started building. It was clear that the children did not realise they needed to work together to complete a task. So, we guided Iris, who was drawing plans, to introduce her ideas to other partners and reminded the other children that building a ship required plans and it was important to carefully listen to their peers' explanations. When a child started to act alone, we used the code of collective action of the pirates to help him return to cooperation. Although this was a "bumpy" collaboration, we were pleasantly surprised to see the children accepting each other's ideas and taking on their respective responsibilities. This is a good start!

During this short pirate career, children not only experience the fun of sailing and adventure but also realise the importance of teamwork when facing challenges: although each of them is doing their best to solve the problem, the team's advantage cannot be demonstrated without reasonable division of labour and cooperation.

The high level of engagement of children in the game also makes them willing to spontaneously promote the development of the story plot and actively face the difficulties and setbacks encountered. They constantly develop their thinking and imagination abilities, exercise their communication and expression abilities, and gain precious emotional experiences during the game.

If you would like to learn more about Hiba Academy Nantong, please get in touch with us using the links below. Our Co-Heads of Lower School would be delighted to welcome your family to the Nursery for a Day Pass experience so your child can participate in our wonderful learning opportunities with current Nursery students.