Republic of Rwanda
Ministry of Education
National Curriculum Development Centre
Supported by UNICEF
A Guide
for Family and Neighbourhood Collections of
Educational Materials, Equipment and Toys
Playing is Freedom! Freedom is Play!
Freedom to play. Freedom to learn!
Book Seven
Produced from a workshop on Early Childhood Development (ECD)
held in Kigali in the period from December 2006 to April 2007
for the National Curriculum Development Centre (Ministry of Education)
with the support of UNICEF
Facilitators of workshop and draft production:
Ms. Margaret Irvine (International Consultant)
Dr. Erasme Rwanamiza (Local Consultant)
With the ECD Working Group
Bacumuwenda Néhémie, CNDP
Gatera Augestin,
Kabateta Césarine, Fondation Solide EER
Kanyemera Gregory. Gatsibo district
Muhongwanseko M. Emertha, CNDP
Mukankusi Flavia, Kayonza PNS
Ndayambaje Johnson, Inspection Générale
Ngabo Théoneste, APPRESCO Gisenyi
Nikuze Anastasie, CEAPS,
Nkurunziza Alex,
Ntakazemera Adalbert, CNDP
Ntambara Jean, CNDP
Nyirafaranga Thérèse, CNDP
Nyirandagijimana Anathalie, CNDP
Nyiransengimana Anne Marie,Ecole Maternelle chez Gisimba.
Tushabe Aurelie, Greenland Nursery School
Uwiringiyimana Marthe,CNDP,
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This Guide forms part of the following series:
An Early Childhood Development Curriculum and Guide :
Pre-Natal Development to the Age of Six Years
Book One
Overview
Book Two
Becoming Parents. An Informal Guide.
Book Three
Pre-Natal Development to Three Years (Home-Care Years)
Book Four
Three to Five Years (Nursery years) and Five to Six Years (Reception Year)
Book Five
A Guide for Family and Neighbourhood Animators
Book Six
A Guide for Guardians and Teachers Working in the ECD sector (Ages 03)(Ages 3-5)(Ages 5-6)
Book Seven
A Guide for Family and Neighbourhood Collection of Educational
Materials, Equipment and Toys
Each Guide Interlinks with each of the Other Guides.
Please use all of the Guides together!
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Contents
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this Guide
Using the Guide
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SECTION 1
KEY CONCEPTS
What is a collection?
What is a toy?
Why do children need toys?
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WHAT IS ‘PLAY’?
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Non-participatory play
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Solitary play
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Parallel play
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Cooperative play
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Structured play
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Unstructured play
The place of play in the primary school
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IN WHAT OTHER WAYS DO CHILDREN LEARN?
How does learning and especially ‘play’, fit into every day life?
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PSYCHOMOTOR SKILLS
Large motor play
Fine motor play
Eye-hand co-ordination
Practical life skills
Sensorial skills
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INTELLECTUAL SKILLS
Perceptual competence
Communication and language competence
Numeracy and mathematical competence
Constructive play
Sand play
Water play
Science play
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SOCIO-AFFECTIVE SKILLS
Social development
Emotional development
Fantasy play
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SECTION 2
A STARTER LIST OF EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
Introduction
Storage and maintenance
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PSYCHOMOTOR SKILLS
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3
orial Skills equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
Constructive play
Constructive play equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
Sand play
WLarge motor and eye-foot skills
Large Muscle equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
Fine motor skills
Small Muscle Educational equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
Practical life skills
Practical Life Skills equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
Sensorial skills
Sensater play
Constructive play equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
Language play
Language play equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
Mathematical play
Mathematical play equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
Science (discovery) play
Science play equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
Arts, Culture and Technology play
ACT play equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
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SOCIO-AFFECTIVE SKILLS
Fantasy play
Socio-affective play equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
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SECTION THREE GENERAL EQUIPMENT
General equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
General
Crèches
Nursery and Reception Year
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LIST OF REFERENCES
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Children playing (working hard)
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on their own development
Each as her body and brain needs right now.
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INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this Guide
a.
to assist key government ministries to plan a programme of parent and family education
which is sustainable and builds upon the principles inherent within the Constitution of
Rwanda:
b.
to assist government, NGO, CBO and FBO personnel to establish and to carry out a
programme of action in family education using educational materials, toys and equipment
c.
to assist family educator personnel to build the capacity of village or cell family members
to establish, use and to maintain an Educational Materials Collection for the benefits of
their young children.
d.
to act as a guide, together with the Guide to the Curriculum, the Guide to Teacher
Education and the Guide to Parent and Family Education, for teacher and family educator
courses and modules.
Using the Guide
The Guide is arranged into two sections.
The first section deals with the key concepts of educational toy collections : collections; learning,
play educational materials, toys and equipment; establishment protocol.
The second section deals with types of educational toy, materials and equipment suitable for
locally established, managed and maintained Village and Cell based collections. It gives
examples of educational materials and toys for each aspect of development which families in
community can collect, make and buy for the use of their young children in a borrowing and
lending collection.
NB
The Guide privileges the resources which are available to ALL families in Rwanda.
These consist of found and natural materials as well as safe waste materials and
household equipment and materials. All of these natural and found materials are
useful for education. They can be collected by families and in neighbourhoods for
use by children in their play.
In addition, Rwandan crafters living and working in villages and neighbourhoods
will be able to make equipment and materials for educational play. These can be
gathered, through funding, for the education collections at neighbourhood and cell
levels.
There are ideas for Crafters to use to make the equipment. In addition, some
internet-based sites are noted for ideas.
The most useful materials for collections consist of children’s books.
Arguably, the only tools which need to be bought are scissors.
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SECTION 1
KEY CONCEPTS
Please note that these key concepts have been separately categorised and explained.
In reality, however, children integrate their play and learning so that intellectual,
psychomotor and socio-affective development occurs simultaneously in any one activity in
which the child is involved.
What is a collection?
A collection is a number of items chosen for a specific reason. A collection of books, for
example, or a collection of music, and now a collection of children’s toys, educational
materials and equipment.
The point of a collection is to house the items safely in some way or another, and to make
sure that the items can be borrowed and used by the members and returned for others to
borrow and to use in turn.
The kind of collection we are talking about here, is a Village or Cell collection which is
used by about thirty families within the neighbourhood.
The families elect a collection committee to establish and to maintain the collection.
The collection is housed in a central room which is accessible to all at set times of the
week. The collection can be set up next door to the reception year class or nursery school.
It can be near to other amenities like the local clinic or welfare offices. It does not matter,
as long as space is available, it is accessible to families with young children and it is used.
The collection houses educational equipment, materials and toys as well as children’s
books, for families to borrow.
There is a system of recording the items, and for borrowing and returning them, as well as
for repairing the items. This system can be very simple, ie numbered and described in a
book or on cards, with space to write names of borrowers and returns and damage to be
repaired.
What is a toy?
Toys are materials and equipment which children use in their play. They are
a. ‘found’ materials e.g. stones and sticks, leaves
b. ‘waste’ materials such as maize cobs, dried pumpkin shells, plastic ware, tins, cardboard
c. Household goods e.g. chairs, pots, cloths, brooms
d. ‘toys’ made by hand by family members and neighbours
e. ‘toys’ made by Rwandan craftspeople
f. ‘toys’ bought from a Rwandan shop
Educational toys (with which we are concerned for the toy collections) are those which assist
children to learn what they need and want to learn.
It is possible that many ‘toys’ manufactured and sold in shops are not at all educational. These
include weapons, such as guns, knives, bows and arrows, and cheap, plastic items which have
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very little value and which break easily.
All of the toys are for play, since this is the most widespread way in which children learn.
NB: a decision needs to be made as to the use of toy weapons of destruction, once Rwanda
begins to import toys from other countries. These are many and varied. They have no
place at all in children’s toy collections.
Why do children need toys?
Children learn by playing. They use materials and equipment to play. Educational toys are th ose
pieces of equipment which usually have specific purpose, but may also have a general purpose,
with which children learn while they play.
What is ‘play’?
Play is often described as the ‘work of children’.
In their early years, children learn best by choosing what they want to do. An example of this is
• A toddling child wanting to climb the steps over and over and over.
• A baby wanting to drop objects over and over and over
• A young child wanting to play dolls for a long time with a friend
• A group of children being happily focused upon playing with cars in the sand
• A child of four needing to be moving all the time- climbing, running, skipping, unable to
keep still
By playing, children are mastering skills and mastering their environment. They are gaining
knowledge that they need by experimenting, by actively engaging, by solving problems they
meet.
Children know what they want to learn and when, and children know what they need to learn and
why.
There are different stages and types of play. They are
• Non-participatory play
Children tend when they are very young or in a strange or different ]environment, to
watch other children playing. By doing this they learn the patterns of interactions, the
possible use of materials and the themes of the play. They see where they may be able to
join in. This is an important stage in play.
•
Solitary play
Very young children and those who are in a new environment, as well as all children at
one time or another, play alone. This is an important step to take in the stages of
development. When children play alone, they concentrate on their own relationship with
the materials they are manipulating and using. They may not mind when others come to
join them. They may on the other hand, resent social play if they are focusing entirely
upon the material at hand.
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Parallel play
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Children when they are very young, tend to play next to each other but without socialising
or cooperating. This is similar to solitary play, except that the children involved enjoy
playing next to another child.
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Cooperative play
When children are slightly older (perhaps at the age of three and older, though this
depends entirely upon the children themselves) they tend to play cooperatively, sharing
the game or the materials and working together to add value to the play. This happens
particularly with constructive play, and with fantasy play.
•
Structured play
Structured play is structured by the adult. The materials are structured, as is the
environment, and very often the play is ‘themed’ e.g. ‘hospitals’, or ‘the post office’ or
‘the farmers’.
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Unstructured play
Unstructured play is that which the children devise for themselves without adult
intervention.
The place of play in the primary school
As children grow up, they still need to play. Indeed, as adults, if we have the time in our busy
lives, we also need time to play.
Formal schooling, however, has traditionally frowned upon play as a means of learning.
Instead, the schooling system forces children to sit still, in rows, at desks, to be quiet, to keep
their hands still, to listen and to write down, to memorise, to be tested, to be silent and to be still.
This goes against all our own knowledge of what it is to be a child, all theories of learning
for young children.
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Children do need to listen: to instructions; to music; to stories (but for short periods)
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Children do need to sit still: to draw; to write; to listen to stories; and to use some sorts of
educational equipment such as puzzles; sorting; arranging (but for short periods)
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Children do need to be active: to experiment; to use their senses; to use their large
muscles; to use their small muscles; to run and to skip and to dance and to play
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Children do need to learn: by asking questions; by being motivated through their own
interests; by finding out; by being allowed, by being encouraged, by being free to learn.
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Children learn by focusing on what they are interested and motivated to learn, for
the concentration span that they need themselves to learn.
In what other ways do children learn?
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Children learn by
• watching others doing; talking; behaving, and watching
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copying others and especially their adults and older children
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making meaning through the arts: creating drawings; using clay; singing; dancing;
painting; moving….
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listening to stories about their families, about their neighbourhood, about their past, and
from their culture and the cultures of others at different times
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using numbers; finding patterns; collecting information; asking questions; discussing
issues; looking for shapes and sizes.
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speaking; listening; reading; writing; reasoning and learning how language is structured in
order to communicate in the most subtle and clearest ways.
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observing and interacting with their environments:
• plants (edible; poisonous; trees; bushes; grasses; flowers; fruits; fungus; algae; cycles
of life, growth and death; parts of plants….);
• animals (insects; reptiles; fish; mammals; cycles of life, growth and death; parts of
animals);
• the land (land types; components of the earth (sand, rock, contours; clays; soils;
weather; climate….)
• manufactured materials (steel; iron; roofing; china, glass, cloth; plastic; papers;
furniture; ….)
• methods (building; cooking; sewing; carpentering; growing crops; animal husbandry;
shopping; housekeeping; crafting….)
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asking questions: Why? What? When? Where? Who? How?
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experimenting; making mistakes; finding out; being given freedom within safety to do all
of these things
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How does learning and especially ‘play’, fit into every day life?
There are three domains or areas into which we human beings have categorised our own
development. They are the psychomotor domain (physical development), intellectual domain
(thinking and solving problems, communicating etc.) and the socio-affective domain (social and
emotional development).
Here are some ways in which children learn, mainly through play:
Psychomotor skills
Children develop their sensory and their physical skills from the moment they are born
(and while they are in the womb from about the age of 26 weeks). The senses are sight,
hearing, smell, taste and touch. The physical development includes development of large
muscles (large motor) that is torso, arms and legs, and small muscles (small motor) that is,
hands, fingers, feet and toes.
Children learn to use these skills by using them.
Adults need to give them every opportunity to use their psychomotor skills in play.
Large motor play
These skills include waving, crawling, jumping, climbing, dancing, hopping, galloping,
balancing, running, walking, standing on one leg, skipping, swinging, sliding, swimming,
kicking and throwing, and so on.
Children learn to use these skills by using them.
Adults need to give them every opportunity to use their large motor skills in play.
Fine motor play
These include holding, pincer grip, dropping, picking up, placing, holding tools of
different sorts , drawing, painting, building, pouring, eating, pointing, moulding,
manipulating.
Children learn to use these skills by using them.
Adults need to give them every opportunity to use their small motor skills in play.
Eye-hand co-ordination
This term describes the ability of the child’s brain to ensure that the eyes and hands work
together so that the child sees what her hand must do, and her hand will follow her eyes.
This same mechanism occurs with the eyes and feet – for example for kicking a soccer
ball.
Children learn to use these skills by using them.
Adults need to give them every opportunity to use their eye-hand skills in play.
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“Playing to learn balancing”
Practical life skills
These are skills that children learn for every day living. They include dressing skills,
pouring water, using a spoon, washing hands, blowing the nose.
Children learn to use these skills by using them.
Adults need to give them every opportunity to develop their practical life skills in play.
Sensorial skills
These skills derive from the five senses and the ways in which they recognise and tell the
differences between smells, textures, sounds, sights and tastes.
Children want and need to learn to recognise and to discriminate between objects and
ideas. They require the communication skills to accompany these activities.
Intellectual skills
These include thinking skills such as gathering data, making meaning, using technology,
integrating knowledge, problem-solving, creating and thinking creatively, sorting,
making decisions, remembering and so on..
Children learn to use these skills by using them.
Adults need to give them every opportunity to use their intellectual skills in play.
Children learn
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•
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•
•
•
•
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perceptual competence
communication competence
numeracy and mathematical competence
constructive competence
science competence
creative competence
thinking competences
Perceptual competence
Children learn perceptual competence through their senses and their thinking skills. The
input from their senses is combined in their brain pathways to form perceptions which
manifest in their actions and behaviours. Examples of this include
• seeing a circle, and being able to draw a circle
• hearing a sound and being able to reproduce it and recognise it
• tasting a substance and being able to describe it and name it
• feeling a texture and being able to describe it and name it
• smelling an odour and being able to describe it and name it
• seeing a space and being able to describe it in terms of time taken to traverse it
• recognising time and time passing
Communication and language competence
Children learn to communicate from birth through language. Speaking, listening, reading,
writing, using grammar, and reasoning as well as body language and facial expressions.
Materials and equipment to enhance their learning comes in very many forms, and
especially in children’s books of three types:
• Picture books
• Story books
• Information books (and these may not only be children’s books, as long as they are
illustrated, such as history books, books on the animal kingdom, geography and so
on).
Numeracy and mathematical competence
Children learn about numbers, about manipulating them, finding patterns in them, finding
patterns in the world, finding shapes and sizes, mass and volume. They find information
and they analyse this to solve problems.
There are very many types of equipment and materials for learning mathematics. They
can be found, made and bought from commercial manufacturers.
Constructive play
Constructive play occurs when children are busy building things. Children learn the
strategies of building using various materials such as wooden blocks, stones, bricks, mud
and clay, jigsaw puzzles, wood, paper, cardboard, cloth and any other materials they can
find to use.
Children also learn by dismantling objects e.g. old mechanical equipment, clocks, etc,
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Constructive play enables children to learn concepts of space, shape, mass, stability,
strength, balance, height, width and length, three and two dimensional objects,
construction principles ….
Sand play
Playing with sand is an important aspect of play for development . All children love
playing with sand. It is a non-fail material. Children can gather it up, shape it, pour it; dig
it; form it into roads and houses, mix it with water, measure it, feel its mass, its texture;
plant in it, draw in it, make patterns with it, build with it….
Water play
Playing with water is also an important aspect for development. All children love playing
with water. It is a non-fail material. Children can pour it, drink it, measure it, listen to it,
watch its patterns, colour it, watch it boil and turn to steam (with adult supervision at all
times), watch it become solid, swim in it, float and sink various materials in it….
Science play
Science is about finding out about our world. We ask questions. We explore. We uses all
of our senses to find out. We look on the outside. We look on the inside. We use our
hands and feet to investigate. We use tools to investigate.
Children need to be given opportunities to find out. This happens through the use of
THEMES. Each theme gives opportunities to find out exactly how things work. The
theme on Fish in Book Six of this series is an example.
Opportunities include guest visitors, visits to local places, a ‘discovery table on which a
dead fish and a bowl of live fish may be placed for children to watch and discuss (the live
fish) and to touch and to cut (the dead fish) and discuss and to ask questions.
Next to this space, there might be story books, picture books and information books and
pictures about fish, so that children can extend their knowledge and their understandings.
Creative play
Creativity is about ideas and solutions to questions and problems. It is about thinking and
asking questions, and wrestling with a problem or the meaning of something in our
existence. It is about coming to terms with an issue, and being able to set it down in some
way: through stories, poetry, music, dance, drama, and visual art, through mathematical
pictures, and through telling others about it..
Thinking play
Thinking is about challenges and problems which face us in our lives, collecting
information about them, analysing the information, and making summaries, conclusions
and recommendations. We do this with every aspect of our lives and in every activity.
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Socio-affective skills
This explains the ways in which children learn to socialise with their own age group, their elders,
younger children, families as well as with strangers.
Social development
The skills that children learn are those of working together, solving problems together,
forming bonds, making strategies, defining goals and purposes, allocating roles and
responsibilities, managing conflict, playing the roles of leader and follower, and trying out
submissive, aggressive and assertive behaviours.
Emotional development
This explains the ways in which children learn to deal with their own emotions and those
of others. Children learn by interacting with adults, who guide them by their own
emotional behaviour, and by their example.
Play is very important in helping the child to develop emotionally.
When they are observing other children play, playing alongside other children, playing
cooperatively with each other, they learn to manage (or not) their emotions and they are
helped in this by their companions and by the adults looking after them.
Much emotional development is centred upon the child’s attachment to the adults and to
‘toys’.
Fantasy play
Fantasy play is also called ‘make-believe’ or imaginative play.
Children use this type of play to make sense of their experiences and in particular, of their
social and emotional experiences. In fantasy play, children take on different roles,
experiment with them, experience life from different points of view, and practise being
other persona.
Fantasy play develops communication skills, critical thinking, creative thinking and
problem solving.
Both boys and girls participate in fantasy play, and all children play make-believe alone,
with another person or in a group at different times. Sometimes children incorporate
adults into their play.
Children do not necessarily need special equipment, or materials or toys to play ‘makebelieve’. They will ‘make believe’ regardless of materials and toys. It is useful however,
to have various materials available for dressing up, and for using as ‘props’, such as cars,
dolls, cloth..
Ample time for fantasy play needs to be put aside for children every day. Children will
automatically choose to enter into fantasy play when they feel the need. It cannot be
‘timetabled’ into their activities. Children up to the age of nine years enter into fantasy
play on a regular basis. This type of play needs to be incorporated into the formal
schooling years as well as in the early years.
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Even after the age of nine, children use fantasy play. This can be seen in the basic
education phase of schooling amongst children.
All psycho-motor development is integrated with intellectual development and socioaffective development.
These descriptions and the lists of equipment to follow, serve only to simplify the lists of
activities and equipment required.
All activities and equipment will cross-integrate for the holistic development of the baby
and young child.
SECTION 2 A STARTER LIST OF EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
Introduction
There are hundreds of educational toys, materials and equipment available throughout the world.
This list is a starting guideline for the preliminary establishment of toy collections.
The list will be extended as time goes on.
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The list consists mainly of items which can be
• Gathered
• Found
• Made
Once the locally managed toy collections have been tried and tested, and are seen to be in
regular use by the families who are involved in their maintenance, then additional toys,
equipment and materials may be distributed from
• government departments
• donated by local businesses
• donated by international donor organisations
It is best to start in this way, in order to ensure that systems of management and distribution are
entrenched and initial challenges and problems are eliminated.
Storage and maintenance
Educational toy collections need to be established in a room which is safe and secure. There
should be shelves all around the room on which o store the materials in numbered order. There
should be a separate space for each piece of equipment.
The collection committee needs to open the collection at the times desired by the families it
serves. In addition, the committee needs to make sure that the families access the materials and
tha the children reap the full benefit of the collection.
The committee also needs to ensure ongoing repair and replacement of the materials, since it is
inevitable that all materials will wear, be broken or have sections lost during their usage.
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Psychomotor Skills
All psycho-motor development is integrated with intellectual development and socioaffective development. These lists serve only to simplify the lists of activities and equipment
required. All equipment will cross-integrate.
Large motor and eye-foot skills
Learning by
playing
Waving and
shaking
Found and natural materials and
traditional games and activities
• Playing waving games
• Twigs, fruit tree leaves,
seedpod rattles
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
• Flags, woven leaves,
rattles made from dried
maize seeds in gourds
Crawling
•
•
Matting
Walking
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Matting
Running
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Smooth areas for babies to
begin and to practice crawling
safely.
Smooth areas for younger
children to practice walking
safely.
Running races
Running games like ‘catchers’
for older children
Smooth areas for younger
children to run safely.
Low objects e.g. piles of grass,
piles of leaves, maize cobs,
small stones,
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Obstacle courses for older
children to traverse using
all skills
•
long jump pit, high jump
structure (at a low level of
course).
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Jumping
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Climbing
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Rocks, hilly areas, sturdy trees,
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Tree house, steps, ladder,
rope ladder in a tree,
jungle gym
Skipping
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•
Bark ropes
stones to pick up while
skipping
twine
•
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Individual skipping ropes,
lists of skipping rhymes
both local and traditional,
lists of skipping games
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Dancing
Hopping
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•
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Seed pods for shaking,
fruit tree leaves e.g. banana,
pawpaw,
flowers
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Hopscotch games
Hopping races
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Musical instruments
Traditional, local and
international dances
Anklets and wristlets,
Skirts, cloths, trousers,
headdresses, jewellery.
Stepping stones and
obstacle courses
Learning by
playing
Balancing
Found and natural materials and
traditional games and activities
• Logs
• Stones
• Walking along a line drawn in
the sand
• Goods on the head with a
headrest
• ‘Freeze in a position for a
minute’ games
Sliding
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•
Kicking
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•
•
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
• Stilts made from gourds
and twine
• Wooden structures for
climbing and balancing
• Stepping stones and
obstacle courses
Sliding down a smooth muddy
•
hill side
Sliding down a grassy hill using
a piece of cardboard
Playing soccer games
•
Playing aiming games (kicking
into a hole in the ground)
Using a gourd, a dried pumpkin
shell to kick
Trays for sliding down
slopes
Making a big kicking ball
out of twine and leaves,
out of paper, out of plastic
bags, from tines, and
plastic bottles.
•
Making slightly smaller
balls for older children
whose eye-foot skills have
developed sufficiently.
Catching and
throwing
•
•
Playing catch and throw games.
Playing marbles with round
seeds, round stones.
•
Making big, light, catching
balls for small toddlers and
smaller heavier balls for
older children as they
develop their eye-hand
coordination skills
sufficiently.
Swinging
•
Two adults gently swinging the
older child by arms and legs
•
A swing made of strong
rope and plank seat
A swing chair made from
wood
A rocking chair which the
child can manoeuvre
herself.
A swing made from strong
rope and a door
•
•
•
•
•
Adult-directed activities in a
• Objects to float upon
river or a dam or a reservoir or
a large basin for younger
children
Large Muscle equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
Swimming
•
19
or supplied by Rwandan businesses1
Note that ALL materials, including wood, paint, varnish and parts of the equipment must
be safe for
• touching and handling (smooth with rounded edges, not able to be swallowed, put into
the nose or ears)
• tasting (non-poisonous, easily washable, unable to be splintered or eaten)
• dropping or throwing (unbreakable, light)
• inhalation (fumes, types of stuffing, powder etc.)
All equipment must be
• strong and durable, safe and washable
• usable by both boy and girl babies and children
• able to be used roughly by children
1. storage containers suitable for storing the loose equipment:
2. balancing equipment
3. balls of all sizes
4. balls of all sizes and shapes
5. bicycles and tricycles
6. climbing frames
7. crawling tunnels
8. croquet
9. flags for waving
10. garden tools
11. horizontal bars (hanging bars)
12. jumping mats
13. pushing and pulling toys
14. quoits
15. rattles
16. rope ladders
17. skipping ropes
18. skittles
19. slides
20. stilts
21. swings
22. teething toys
23. tents
24. throwing games (magnet darts, balls into buckets, beanbags)
25. wheeled equipment such as wheelbarrows, tyres, push/pull toys
26. many story, picture and information books on large motor activity including
informative books about how our large muscles work.
Fine motor skills
Eye-hand co-ordination
20
Learning by
playing
Using the eyes
Found and natural materials
and traditional games and
activities
• Any objects which the
adults and older children
can use to enable the baby
to look, to follow with the
eyes.
•
Any safe medium sized
natural objects which the
baby can easily grasp.
•
Games played with the
baby such as ‘would you
like to hold this? Please
will you pass it to me
now?
•
For older babies toddlers
and children, (safety at
each age is of prime
importance ie the younger
the child, the larger and
safer the material) various
found objects which enable
the child to pick up and put
back, to sort, to arrange
such as seeds in a
vegetable or fruit, shells,
stones. E.g. picking seeds
from a pawpaw, kernels
from the maize cob.
Playing with old, cold fufu
(like clay)
Using clay to pound, roll,
make shapes from.
Using sticks in different
ways.
Playing pottery and
sculpture with clay
•
•
•
•
Fitting together
and taking apart
•
•
•
all books
•
Any safe made objects
such as spoons, tin or
plastic mugs, plates, rattles
•
Threading seeds, beads,
buttons, flowers, leaves,
popcorn (popped maize
kernels).
Placing cups onto plates,
Spoons into cups, objects
into different sized
containers
using a pencil, a wax
crayon, or a pen (the
younger the child however
the thicker the crayon)- it
is very important the
child’s finger grip is
correct from the start, by
gently adjusting it with
love and humour (no
shouting!)
using Plasticene or other
modelling clay which can
be stored and used again
and again.
Playing ‘peek-a-boo’
Grasping and
•
holding and passing
back and forth
Manipulating
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
putting pieces of cut
vegetables or fruit together
to form the whole
vegetable or fruit
pulling peas out of a
21
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
playing with jigsaws (the
older the child, the more
parts to the jigsaw)
drawing pictures, cutting
them apart and putting
Learning by
playing
Found and natural materials
and traditional games and
activities
peapod and putting them
back again
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
•
•
Tearing
•
•
•
Cutting
•
•
•
Drawing
•
•
•
Painting
•
•
•
•
them together again (paper
jigsaws)
finding printed pictures
and words and making
jigsaws out of them
toys which are designed to
be put together and taken
apart.
tearing maize leaves off
the maize cobs
tearing the skin off
mangoes
peeling fruit and
vegetables using the
fingers
•
•
tearing paper into shapes
unravelling twine into its
parts.
fruit and vegetables with a
kitchen knife under
supervision
sawing wood under
supervision (older
children)
cutting shapes out of
potatoes and other soft
vegetables before they are
cooked
•
using scissors to cut paper,
cloth, string, fine materials
using the index finger in
sand
using a stick to draw in
sand
using charcoal to draw on
wood or walls
•
using fat wax crayons, fat
pencils, slimmer pencils to
draw on paper
using ball point pens (more
slippery to handle)
drawing on waste paper,
waste cardboard, pieces of
plastic material, slates
painting with mud and the
fingers
painting with the toes
dripping mud from a gourd
onto a paint surface
making traditional art
22
•
•
Small Muscle Educational equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
or supplied by Rwandan businesses
Note that ALL materials, including wood, paint, varnish and parts of the equipment must
be safe for
• touching and handling (smooth with rounded edges, not able to be swallowed, put into
the nose or ears)
• tasting (non-poisonous, easily washable, unable to be splintered or eaten)
• dropping or throwing (unbreakable, light)
• inhalation (fumes, types of stuffing, powder, etc.)
All equipment must be
• strong
• durable
• safe
• washable
• usable by both boy and girl babies and children
• able to be used roughly by children
1. light, easy to carry storage containers for each one of the following
2. ball and cup games
3. ball games e.g. “ping-pong”
4. boxes and trays and workmats for storing and using equipment.
5. building blocks
6. buttoning, zipping, press stud, hook and eye, tying shoelaces, buckle frames
7. catching games using small ball and objects to pick up e.g. “Jacks”
8. checkers, chess, lotto, ludo, and all other games using small muscles
9. construction materials
10. jigsaws
11. moulds for sand and clay
12. pencils, crayons, wax crayons
13. pick-up-sticks
14. picture books for holding and turning
15. scales for weighing
16. scissors (children sized, for left and right-handers)
17. slates and sticks
18. spades and buckets
19. threading games
20. toy cars, buses, aeroplanes, trains
21. weaving and sewing and knitting materials
22. many story, picture and information books on small motor activity including
informative books about how our small muscles work with our brains to make
meaning.
23
Practical life skills
Learning by
playing
Found and natural materials
and traditional games and
activities
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
Traditional cleaning materials
and traditional methods
including storage, usage,
hygiene, efficacy
Western style soap and towel
in customary way in
accordance with nursing
guidelines.
Traditional instruments and
methods
Traditional clothing
Western style brush and comb
Using old clothing with
fastenings
Shoes
Frames with a different
fastening on each for use by
the children
Traditional water containers
and drinking vessels
Jugs and glasses of different
sizes
Traditional food and
containers and implements
Sliced brown bread and peanut
butter- with spreading and
cutting knife and plate
Washing hands
Washing whole
body
Combing hair
Dressing and
undressing
Press studs
Hooks and eyes
Buttons
Zips
Shoe laces
Buckles
Pouring
Making snack food
Fruit, knives and plates
Cutting fruit to eat
Basins, dishwasher, cloth or sponge, rinsing water, towels,
draining surface
Washing own
plates and cups
Brooms, brushes, dusters, waste bins, water in container, etc.
(all of child size)
Sweeping and
cleaning
Taking out an
activity, setting it
out to use, and
packing it away
again for the next
person to use
Western style clothing of
different types (which can be
used for fantasy play as well)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Activities all stored at child level shelves on separate trays.
Children first observe adult slowly and silently
demonstrating process of choosing and taking out activity
tray,
Placing the activity on a designated workspace
Using the activity
Finishing up the activity
Cleaning up or tidying up so that the tray is in the same state
as before,
Putting the tray back in its position
Choosing a new activity to do
Children then copy the procedures. Adults assist.
Children can then do this themselves and ask for assistance
24
Learning by
playing
Found and natural materials Locally made materials
and traditional games and
made for children’s use
activities
from other children and adults when they require it.
This system enables children to become as independent as
possible early on, and to respect the house, the materials and
equipment, and others at work.
These habits learned early on will assist children to continue
with the system in their later lives
Respect for self,
others and
environment
See above.
In addition, when a child wishes to play with another child, she
needs to ask politely first.
The adult demonstrates and requires this at all times.
Practising good
manners
Adults first explain the manner that they expect from each child
towards themselves, all others and the environment.
They demonstrate these or ask children to demonstrate them and
to try them out.
They assist the children to self-correct, correct each other and to
do this in a mannerly way.
“Very busy washing clothes”
Practical Life Skills equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
or supplied by Rwandan businesses
25
Note that ALL materials, including wood, paint, varnish and parts of the equipment must
be safe for
• tasting (non-poisonous, non-irritant)
• touching and feeling (non-irritant)
• smelling (non-irritant)
All equipment must be
• strong
• durable
• safe
• washable
• to be used by 2-6 year old children
1. small, light trays on which the following collections can be stored and which
children can independently take to their own workspace mat.
2. brooms and brushes, dustpans and mops, dusters, scrubbing brushes, buckets
3. Door handles mounted on a wooden frame for children to practice opening and closing,
locking and unlocking
4. glass and china plates, cups, saucers, glasses (children need to know how to use these
properly
5. jugs for pouring
6. light switches of different types mounted for children to practice switching on and off
7. plastic and metal utensils: plates, cups, saucers, glasses cutlery
8. polishing equipment: shoe, furniture, floor polishing, etc.
9. screw caps of different types so children can practice opening and closing bottles.
10. small frames with a different fastening on each
11. taps mounted on a frame so children can practice opening and closing different types
12. washing up, cloths, basins, drying towels
13. window opening mechanisms for children to practice opening different types.
14. many story, picture and information books on practical life activity, including
informative books about how our bodies and brains learn and use these activities to
make meaning.
For further information on Practical Life Skills, refer to Maria Montessori and the
Montessori Method.
26
Sensorial skills
Learning by
playing
Looking and seeing
and discussing:
Details
Similarities
Differences
Discrimination
between shapes,
colours, two and
three dimensional
objects, far and near,
up and down, high
and low, big and
small etc. and
meanings.
Found and natural materials and
traditional games and activities
• All natural objects and human
beings
• Learning and using relevant
vocabulary.
• Asking questions (what, who,
why, when, where, how)
• Playing looking games e.g. ‘I
spy’ and ‘What’s this?’
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
• Books for children
• Photographs
• Pictures
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Videos
Listening and
hearing and
discussing:
Details
Similarities
Differences
Discriminating
between pitch, tone,
tune, tempo, notes,
words, sound
sources, soft and
loud, meanings of
sounds
•
All natural sounds and human
sounds
Learning and using relevant
vocabulary.
Asking questions (what, who,
why, when, where, how)
Playing listening games e.g.
Guess this sound! And ‘what
sound does this make?
Making sound instruments e.g.
whistles, flutes, bottles filled
with water
Singing and music games
Traditional musical
instruments and songs
•
•
•
•
Tape recorder
CD player
Musical instruments
Sounds from different
materials such as
glass, plastic, metal,
cloth.
•
Smell and taste
containers for children
to use as an activity –
matching the smells
and tastes with the
pictures and words.
•
•
•
All natural smells and tastes
Learning and using relevant
vocabulary.
Asking questions (what, who,
why, when, where, how)
Playing tasting and smelling
games e.g. Guess this smell!
And ‘what taste is this?
Making smell and taste foods
Traditional songs and rhymes
Ensuring safety at all times
•
All natural textures
•
Collections of textures
Smelling and
tasting and
discussing
Details
Similarities
Differences
Discriminating
between sour, sweet,
hot, cold, salty,
alkaline, bitter,
scented, sources of
tastes and smells,
meanings of tastes
and smells.
Feeling and
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
27
Learning by
playing
touching and
discussing
Details
Similarities
Differences
Textures
Found and natural materials and Locally made materials
traditional games and activities
made for children’s use
glued onto boards for
• Learning and using relevant
children to take out
vocabulary.
and use as an activity,
• Asking questions (what, who,
and to match to
why, when, where, how)
pictures and to words.
• Playing feeling games e.g.
• Glue and paper or
“Feely Box’ ‘Guess this
cardboard, so that
texture!’ ‘Feel this and guess
children can make
what it is!’
collages of different
• Collecting different textures
textures.
and making a display
• Singing and music games
• Story telling
Sensorial Skills equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
or supplied by Rwandan businesses
Note that ALL materials, including wood, paint, varnish and parts of the equipment must
be safe for
• touching and feeling
• tasting (non-poisonous, non-irritant)
• smelling (non-poisonous, non-irritant)
All equipment must be
• washable
• usable by both boy and girl babies and children
• make decisions about the age at which individual children can use each activity
1. small boxes, containers or trays for storing the following
2. seeing
a. colour tone cards (e.g. those which can be collected from paint shops)
b. size discrimination objects in a sorting box
c. shape discrimination objects in a sorting box.
d. magnifying glasses for looking closely at objects
e. binoculars for looking closely at far objects.
3. books about seeing and looking
4. listening
a. glass bottles with a jug and a funnel to pour different amounts of water into - play
them like a musical instrument and tell the high and low notes, make tunes,
experiment, differentiate
b. types of percussion instruments e.g. drums, triangles, cymbals, to experiment with.
c. Different types of shaking instruments- for sound discrimination
5. audio tape or CD recordings of
a. animal and natural sounds,
b. mechanical sounds
c. sounds of everyday life
28
d. children’s songs and rhymes in three languages
6. books about sounds
7. touching and feeling
a. drawstring bags containing different textured materials or objects for children to
feel and guess the texture / object (‘feely bags’)
b. different textures glued to wooden blocks for children to arrange in sequence, to
discuss and to describe and name.
c. hot and cold substances
d. creams, oils and waters
e. solids, liquids and gases
8. books about textures
9. smelling and tasting
a. little wooden or woven containers with lids on trays to store different smelling
substances
b. little wooden or woven containers with lids on trays to store different tasting
substances
c. containers to hold different plants which are scented
10. books about smells and tastes
11.
many story, picture and information books on the
senses including informative books about how our bodies and brains use our senses to make
meaning
29
12.
Intellectual skills
All intellectual development is integrated with psycho-motor development and socioaffective development. These lists serve only to simplify the lists of activities and equipment
required. All equipment will cross-integrate.
Constructive play
Learning by
playing
Building with
blocks
Found and natural materials
and traditional games and
activities
• Bricks
•
Building with sticks •
•
•
Building with
paper and
cardboard
•
Clay and sticks
Clay and grass
Used cardboard boxes
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Square unit blocks
Double unit blocks
5 unit blocks
10 unit blocks
I unit sticks (length)
2 unit sticks
5 unit sticks
10 unit sticks
Playing cards
“Busy concentrating on construction challenges.
Do not disturb”
30
Constructive play equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
or supplied by Rwandan businesses
1. boxes, containers or trays for storing the following
2. blocks made from wood in metric measurements
3. bricks
4. stones
5. wooden planks
6. thatch
7. plastic battery boxes (cleaned and empty)
8. tyres
9. pieces of cloth
10. hammers and nails
11. saws
12. cardboard boxes
13. construction games and sets (see catalogues from manufacturers of educational toys)
14. many story, picture and information books on the senses including informative
books about construction of houses, roads, machines, cars, aeroplanes, boats
31
Sand play
Learning by
playing
Found and natural materials
and traditional games and
activities
• Gourds, pumpkin shells,
maize cobs
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
Moulding sand
•
Gourds, pumpkin shells,
maize cobs
•
Digging sand
•
•
Additional items
•
Gourds, pumpkin shells,
flat wooden sticks
Stones, plant parts
Exploring sand
•
•
Buckets, plastic shapes,
measuring cylinders,
spoons, measuring scales,
pouring jugs, straws for
blowing, water containers
Buckets, plastic shapes,
measuring cylinders,
spoons, measuring scales
Spades, forks, scrapers,
toy bulldozers, cranes,
cars, ropes
Water play
Learning by
playing
Pouring and
measuring
Found and natural materials
and traditional games and
activities
• gourds, shells
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
•
•
•
•
Floating and
sinking
•
All types of natural objects
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Additional items
•
•
•
Small fish
Tadpoles
Water plants
32
•
•
•
•
•
•
jugs, measuring cylinders
of different sizes (litres,
500 ml, 250 ml, 100 ml
etc.
eye droppers
weighing scales
glass bottles to fill to
different levels and to play
with spoons for sound
funnels, straws,
Paper, silver foil, plastic
objects, metal objects,
balloons,
Toy boats, paper boats,
Plastic fish and water
animals
Ice
Oil
Corks
Refrigerator (making ice)
Kettle or stove (making
steam)
Magnifying glasses
Sieves
Squirt bottles
Plastic hose pipe
Learning by
playing
Adding water to
sand play
Found and natural materials
and traditional games and
activities
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
•
•
•
•
Drip bottles
Small bottles
Spouts
Evaporating dishes
•
•
Beetroot juice colouring
Soup ingredients (to boil
for lunch)
•
•
•
Soap (bubbles)
Colouring to drop in
Salt, sugar, sand to
dissolve
•
All sorts of natural objects
•
Boats, houses, dolls, cars,
Constructive play equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
or supplied by Rwandan businesses
1. boxes, containers or trays for storing the following
2. buckets and spades
3. containers of different sizes and shapes, calibrated to contain litres and kilograms etc.
4. pouring jugs
5. sieves
6. funnels
7. scales with weights
8. bottles with lids
9. hosepipes
10. paraffin pumps
11. moulds of different sizes and shapes
12. glass containers for storing types of sand, waters (dam, river, rain, chlorined, distilled)
13. objects to float and to sink. (see catalogues from manufacturers of educational toys)
14. many story, picture and information books on sand and water including informative
books about the composition, the water cycle, sand and soils, geology, hydrology,
rain….
33
Language play
Learning by
playing
Speaking
Found and natural materials
and traditional games and
activities
• Hollow bamboo to talk
through
• Interesting items to talk
about
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
•
•
•
•
Listening
•
•
•
Reading
Writing
Reasoning
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Traditional stories from
family members and elders
Traditional music from
family members and elders
Stories about careers from
local people e.g. business
men and women, police,
shopkeepers, farmers,
manufacturers, health
personnel
•
•
•
•
Puppets
Puppet theatre
Interesting items to talk
about
Tape recorder to record
voices
CD’s and tapes of stories
and rhymes
Story books
Story pictures
Sequencing pictures
Newspapers
Magazines
•
•
•
•
•
Storybooks
Letter cards
Name cards
Labels
Environmental print e.g.
traffic signs and
advertisements
Sand boxes
Clay
Fingers and sticks
•
Cards (above) for copying
at a writing table
Paper
Pencils and crayons
Writing Patterns e g. wave
patterns, (uuuuuuuuu)
zigzag patterns
(vvvvvvvv), mmmmmmm
patterns.
Traditional riddles and
jokes
34
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Problem solving stories
and puzzles
Riddles
Jokes
Language play equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
or supplied by Rwandan businesses
1.
2.
3.
4.
boxes, containers or trays for storing the following
puppets
CD’s and audiotapes
headphones attached to tape recorder or CD player for six children to listen at the same
time quietly
5. cushions and mats for a listening area
6. puzzles and games requiring recognition of letters, words and matching of pictures
7. memory game
8. sequencing games of pictures and words for stories
9. alphabet letters for arranging into words, as well as textured letters to feel and to trace
10. cell phones and landline telephones
11. typewriters and keyboards
12. (see catalogues from manufacturers of educational toys)
13. many story, picture and information books including Big Books, reading books and
charts
Mathematical play
Learning by
playing
Number
Found and natural materials
and traditional games and
activities
• Seeds, stones, twigs,
shells, leaves, etc. for
counting and for sorting
into sizes, shapes, colours,
35
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
•
•
•
•
Coloured counters
Counting sticks
Bottle tops
Flard cards*
Learning by
playing
Found and natural materials
and traditional games and
activities
or types, mass, texture.
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
•
•
•
•
•
Shapes
•
•
Measurement
•
All types of natural shapes:
leaves, stones, sticks, seeds
Manufactured shapes:
paper, cardboard, tin,
plastic
All sorts of natural objects
for measuring length,
mass, height, breadth,
volume, area
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Data gathering
Additional items
2
*
•
•
All sorts of natural and
found objects
Traditional stories
including the concepts
above
Montessori equipment
36
•
•
•
•
•
100 charts
Number lines
Trays for sorting into
numbers and sets and
subsets (quantity); kind
(classification);
comparison; in order
(seriation).
Games using dice and
counting e.g. Ludo,
skipping, hopping
Money games e.g. playing
shops, post office
2 dimensional shapes
3 dimensional shapes
Puzzles to put together
Tangram puzzles
Shape games
Graded cylinders*
Rulers
Compasses
Thermometers
Scales (mass)
Measuring cups and
spoons (volume),
Measuring cylinders in
which to immerse oddly
shaped objects
Clocks
Calendars
Measuring sticks (divided
into units of one, two, five
and ten)
Golden Beads2 (measuring
in units, tens, hundreds,
thousands)
Tins with counters to note
numbers of times etc.
Bar charts graded into
units
Graphs graded into units
Story books and
Big Books about number
etc.
Mathematical play equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
or supplied by Rwandan businesses
1.
2.
3.
•
boxes, containers or trays for storing the following
blocks made from wood in metric measurements
mathematical games and sets dealing with manipulation of numbers, patterns and
shapes, sizes and mass,
4.
two dimensional shape games
5.
three dimensional shape games
6.
flard cards for making 1000’s, 100’s 10’s and units
7.
mathematical symbols such as +, -, x, ÷, =.
8.
number lines and 100’s cards
9.
measuring tools such as rulers, scales, height charts, weight scales, graded containers
for measuring
10.
abacuses,
11.
counting sets,
12.
seriation sets
13.
classification sets,
14.
number cards for tracing with the finger, for manipulating, with and without textures.
many story, picture and information books on the senses including informative books
about construction of houses, roads, machines, cars, aeroplanes, boats
37
Science (discovery) play
Learning by
playing
Natural science
Chemistry
Found and natural materials
and traditional games and
activities
• Minerals e,g, stones,
fossils, volcanic rock
• Insects: moths, butterflies,
flies, mosquito’s; spiders
• Reptiles* e.g. lizards,
snake skins, crocodile
teeth
• Fish* and fish parts
• Amphibians* : frogs and
toads, tadpoles
• Birds* and eggs, nests,
feather, bones
• Mammals*3 and mammal
parts: rats; mice; hamsters;
rabbits;
• Plants: roots, stems,
leaves, flowers, fruit, seeds
• Chalk
• Charcoal
• Jik (under supervision!)
• Vinegar
• Salt
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Magnifying glasses
Binoculars
Torches
Stethoscopes
Aquarium
Vivarium
Terrarium
Animal cages
Ant farm
Pots for growing plants
Gardening implements
Watering cans
•
Batteries (under
supervision!)
Common chemicals and
substances (safe household
ones e.g. bicarbonate of
soda, salt sugar, flour)
Rubber tubing
•
•
•
•
Physics
Forces
Levers
Light and dark
Economic science
Geography
•
•
•
•
•
Different types of money
Advertisements for goods
and services
Craft objects
Daylight and the
movements of the sun
Night and the movements
of the moon and stars
3
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Magnets
Simple tools e.g. pulleys,
wheels, wedges, screws,
levers, springs
Candles
Stethoscopes
Mirrors
Prisms
‘money’
Dramatic play areas:
(structured play): shops,
etc.
Compasses
Drawing equipment (land
forms)
Map making tools
Be sure never to hurt any living thing. Keep specimens for a day and then release them. Teach children to respect
all animals and plants and to take responsibility for them, even when they may be repulsive to humans e.g. snakes,
frogs, some insects.
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Learning by
playing
History
Found and natural materials
and traditional games and
activities
• Stories from local
travellers
•
•
Additional items
Stories from the past- local
people and elders
Objects from the past
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Map puzzles
Population graph shapes
Counting equipment
Tape recorders
Drawing materials and
equipment
Story books and picture
books of Rwanda’s past
Story books
Information books
Computers and internet
access
Videos
Films
Songs and rhymes
Science play equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
or supplied by Rwandan businesses
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
boxes, containers or trays for storing the following
graduated containers
tools such as cutting tools, microscopes, glass slides
containers for holding live insects and birds for a short time
magnets,
equipment to do with physics concepts such as electricity and other forms of energy)
equipment to do with chemistry concepts (see catalogues)
globes and maps
photographs and pictures of geographical concepts such as landforms
photographs and pictures of Rwandan and African history
‘toy’ money, stamps, official forms for use in a make believe area of shopping, post office,
bank.
many story, picture and information books on the sciences including informative books
about biology, physics, chemistry, geography, history and economics.
39
Arts, Culture and Technology play
Learning by
playing
Visual art
Performance art
Found and natural materials
and traditional games and
activities
• All types of interesting
objects and traditional art
objects: paintings
(imigongo), sculptures,
carvings, beadwork,
jewellery, pottery, utensils,
weaving, matting
• Modern visual art of
Rwanda
• Traditional paints
• Traditional stories about
all of these items
• Traditional and local visual
artists and craftspeople to
visit and to be visited.
•
•
•
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
•
•
•
•
Brushes, pencils, crayons,
paper, paints,
Easels fro painting
Small tables for working
with small chairs
Storage spaces for wet
work e.g. clothes horses
and pegs, shelving
Traditional dramatic
presentations
Community drama
Traditional story tellers
•
•
Dressing up clothes
Traditional drama
materials and equipment
Musical arts
•
•
•
Traditional instruments
Traditional musical artists
Modern musical artists
from local communities
•
Musical instruments of all
kinds: percussion in
particular
Dance art
•
Traditional dance
presentations
Community dancers
Traditional dance story
tellers
Traditional dance
equipment and materials
•
•
Dance clothes
Traditional dance materials
and equipment
Modern dance equipment
and materials
•
•
•
•
•
Additional items
40
Story books and picture
books and children’s
reference books about art
and culture
ACT play equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
or supplied by Rwandan businesses
1. boxes, containers or trays for storing the following
Visual arts
2. paint containers
3. paint brushes (of different sizes)
4. wax crayons (large ones)
5. pencils (thick HB pencils preferably shaped in profile like this for correct pencil
grip from the beginning of the child’s drawing and writing life:
6. Paper used on one side from various companies, industries and the public service,
for children to use for painting and drawing
7. Manufactured clay such as ‘plasticene’
8. Glue and glue pasters
9. Scissors (left and right-hander, children’s size)
10. Plastic place mats or (dampened) yellow dusters for working with clay (very easy
indeed to clean)
11. Washing facilities for all art equipment so that children can independently clean
up after themselves without feeling guilty about making a mistake or a mess. This
helps the children to learn that what is taken out for use must be put back in the
same state for the next user.
NO colouring in books, worksheets or pictures drawn commercially for children to copy.
This is extremely negative for children’s own creativity and confidence in their own
abilities! All children need to make their own drawings and diagrams.
The parent/teacher/guardian’s role is to help children to understand the shapes through
discussion, demonstration using the body (e.g. drawing in the air first), encouraging
children to feel and handle different shapes (their own ears, noses and features for example,
before drawing a picture, a 2 dimensional shape e.g. a rectangle, a three-dimensional shape
e.g. a cone.
Where individual children require further assistance, the parent/guardian/ teacher will
either first respond to the child’s request, or ask the child if she requires some assistance
BEFORE intervening.
When she is given permission to intervene, she will again ensure that the child learns to do
the action through her own work. The parent/guardian/teacher never does the child’s work
for the child. This demeans the child’s own feelings of confidence and exploration of
challenges.
Technology
1. containers for the following collections of tools relevant to age
2. clay sculpting tools
3. woodwork tools
4. cutting tools
5. gardening tools
6. general office supplies (elastic bands, paper clips, sticky tape)
7. staplers
8. punches
9. very large sewing needles
10. large blunt threading tools
41
11. short fat wooden or plastic knitting needles
12. weaving tools
13. cooking tools
Music
14. percussion instruments both Rwandan and international
15. stringed instruments both Rwandan and international
16. simple air instruments such as simple whistles and flutes both Rwandan and
international
17. shaking instruments such as bracelets and anklets of bells, seedpods.
18. enough for the whole group of children
Drama
19. various dramatic ‘props’ or materials such as
20. puppets and theatres
21. dressing up clothes (see fantasy play)
Dance
22. traditional dance ‘props’ and materials
Culture
23. traditional Rwandan cultural artifacts and clothing
24. artifacts and clothing from East Africa
25. many story, picture and information books on the arts, technology and
culture including informative books
Socio-affective skills
All socio-affective development is integrated with intellectual development and psychomotor development. These lists serve only to simplify the lists of activities and equipment
required. All equipment will cross-integrate.
Fantasy play
Learning by
playing
Home area
(structured play)
Found and natural materials
and traditional games and
activities
• All types of traditional
home ware set out as in a
home
42
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
•
•
•
•
•
All types of dressing up
clothes for famil and
neighbourhood members
Small furniture
Small crockery and cutlery
Houseware
House linens
Learning by
playing
Found and natural materials
and traditional games and
activities
Locally made materials
made for children’s use
•
•
Clinic area
(structured play)
•
All types of traditional
health ware set out as in a
clinic
•
•
•
Other structured
fantasy play areas
depending on local
interests and
services
•
•
•
•
E.g. traditional courts
Markets
Farms
Shops
43
•
•
Telephone and other
electronic equipment
(preferably ‘real’ but
otherwise toy)
Books, magazines and
newspapers for reading
All types of dressing up
clothes for health workers
Equipment and materials
found in clinics
Reading materials found in
clinics
Relevant materials
All types of story and
reference books for each
area.
Socio-affective play equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
or supplied by Rwandan businesses
1. boxes, containers or trays for storing the following
2. household goods for fantasy play (which can make up a ‘house-house’ play area,
including festivals and household routines
3. dressing up clothes (especially for different animals, and adult role playing)
4. Rwandan institutions ‘acting out’ equipment and materials such as military, police, health,
education, Gacaca, administrative, etc.
5. Career oriented materials for make believe role playing such as scholar, student, lawyer,
teacher, nurse, doctor, lawyer, farmer, businessperson, geologist and so on.
6. many story, picture and information books on social and emotional themes including
informative books about friends, families, sad times and happy times (tragedies and
celebrations), emotions (happiness, fear, sadness, thoughtfulness, laughter, crying,
post-traumatic stress-disorder, bereavement, illness and dying), physical
development, health and safety.
Playing in the garden.
Learning in the garden.
Psychomotor skills
Intellectual skills
Socio-affective skills.
SECTION THREE GENERAL EQUIPMENT
General equipment which can be made by Rwandan crafters
for Crèche, Nursery and Reception Year programmes
44
Note that ALL materials, including wood, paint, varnish and parts of the equipment must
be safe for
•
•
•
•
touching and handling (smooth with rounded edges, not able to be swallowed, put into
the nose or ears)
tasting (non-poisonous, easily washable, unable to be splintered or eaten)
dropping or throwing (unbreakable, light)
inhalation (fumes, types of stuffing, powder, etc.)
All equipment must be
•
•
•
•
•
•
strong
durable
safe
washable
usable by both boy and girl babies and children
able to be used roughly by children
General
• mattresses
• sheets
• blankets
• (no pillows required)
• Curtains
• Small tables for toddlers – square for four children
• Small sturdy chairs (enough for one per child)
• Low bookcase shelves for toddlers to help themselves to games and equipment
• High bookcase shelves for keeping equipment which cannot be used by a toddler without
assistance.
• Bookshelves for display of books
• Cupboards for storage of
o Medicine where given by parents/clinic
o First aid materials
o Record books
o Cleaning materials
• fridge (for keeping milk, some medicines where prescribed and food)
• cooker (high up and away)
• rainwater storage tanks where required
• large mats for the “ring times” when the children sit together in a circle for stories, discussion
and show-and-tell activities
• Playing mats for each child to put her playing materials upon and to designate her ‘own area’
• Storage equipment for drying wet art products e.g. low shelves, nappy during frame with
clothes pegs in place for handing paintings
• Equipment for displaying children’s work (scribbles, drawings, paintings, modellings,
constructions).
• (adults generally use the children’s low tables and chairs as well)
Crèches
45
Design and make very strong and sturdy equipment, because babies are crawling and toddlers are
learning to walk and will pull on furniture and equipment
• wooden cots
• floor mattresses for toddlers
• changing table (for changing nappies)
• storage cupboards for clean nappies etc.
• storage places for dirty nappies (buckets)
• storage places for dirty feeding equipment
• sterilising bucket for bottles and teats
• wooden frames for blocking off doorways to danger areas e.g. cooking, washing.
Nursery and Reception Year
•
•
•
low display tables for science and discovery exploratory displays
cushions to take out and use when reading quietly in the book area.
Storage for each piece of educational equipment so that children can independently take out
the items they wish to use .
46
List of References
See Book One:
Overview
All photographs are copyright to Unicef.
They are to be found on
Page number
Cover page
Website
www.unicef.org/turkey/ag1/img/ag1e.jpg
1
http://www.unicef.org/turkey/sy16/img/mc32c.jpg
4
www.unicef.org/oPt/Habla_CIDA_Rami_Munayer.jpg
11
www.unicef.org/sports/ecd4.sports_rwanda543.jpg
15
http://www.unicef.org/india/SSK_rs2.jpg
16
24
www.unicef.org/magic/bank/casepics/myeyes_1.jpeg
29
www.unicef.org/iran/IRN_10-Aug-06_Your-Rights.jpg
30
43
www.unicef.org/turkey/ag1/img/ag1d.jpg
47
This Guide must be read together
with all other guides
in this series.
A full understanding of
Early Childhood Development
will lead to fully integrated programmes for babies and children,
within baby- and child-friendly programmes whether at home or within the neighbourhood.
48