Implementation of “Why Board games”(Sol-GR -485)

INTRODUCTION

Games and especially board games represent one of the most common activities of learning in a fun way. This topic was the main theme the month of our eTwinning project “Cat walks in etwinning”. This SOI is based on the learning scenario  ”Why board games”  created by Jasmina Štefan. It was implemented in 12th Veria’s kindergarten at B2 and 21 children (age 4-6) participated. The site of Europeana offers a lot of resources for this topic. I have used most of the activities from this learning scenario: brainstorming, discussions and exhibition. We estemated on the “Snakes and ladders” game because it isvery popular among children of this age.

IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS

Initial Activity:

Initially, children were given an initial assessment sheet where they recorded if they have board games, if they like to play board games, with whom they play board games, and they drew a board game.

Main Activities:

The next day, I talked to them about Europeana, and explained that it is a repository of cultural heritage. I navigated them to the website and showed them various images of board games . The children observed the images and discovered several games, among which they recognized “Snakes and Ladders”.

The day after, they brought their favorite board games to kindergarten and presented them to their classmates. After that hen they created the Board Game Museum of their class. Among the games they brought was “Snakes and Ladders”. Children searched again in Europeana for the images with this particular board game. Then we divided them into groups of four and compared the “Snakes and Ladders” of Europeana with their own. They identified similarities and differences.

The following days we played  with the Board games that children brought in class. Since all the children were excited about this particular game (Snakes and Ladders), each child made his own “Snakes and Ladders” to take home and play with his family.  

Final Activity:

Also in the class plenary, we all created a floor “ Snakes and Ladders” to play with the help of Beebot. Thus, the children, in a playful way, took their first steps in computational thinking and learned to create their first algorithms.

In the following link you can see snapshots of our class work: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10qt4yDJBJecrt6Lbmm5P52VcsK_nzPVJvaNkTXJXdNA/edit?usp=sharing

OUTCOMES

By exploring Europeana, children were exposed to different cultures and historical periods through the lens of board games. They gained an appreciation for the preservation and sharing of cultural heritage through online resources. Children learned about the variety of board games existing around the world through Europeana. They compared their own board games with historical versions, understanding the evolution of games. They created their own versions of a specific game, demonstrating their understanding of its mechanics.

Through the Beebot activity with the floor “Snakes and Ladders”, children took their first steps in understanding basic coding concepts like sequencing and problem-solving. They also learned how to create simple algorithms to control the Beebot’s movement on the game board. They participated in creating a large floor version of the game together, requiring communication and coordination.They worked in groups to compare and contrast different versions of Snakes and Ladders, fostering collaboration teamwork.

In conclusion they were actively involved in various tasks, promoting engagement and a deeper understanding of the concepts.

Link to the learning scenario implemented: https://teachwitheuropeana.eun.org/learning-scenarios/why-board-games-en-cur-478/

Do you want to discover more stories of implementation? Click here.

CC BY 4.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana and has been provided by the Lusto – The Finnish Forest Museum.