Our partner schools face many challenges each day, one of which is a lack of resources. With very few teachers, books, and supplies, teaching any class can be challenging. But it is especially difficult to engage the youngest children in creative and playful learning activities when you have no resources to entertain them. But that is all about to change!
Singakwenza, an educational organization from South Africa meaning “We can do it”, taught all of our teachers how to make educational toys using recycled trash. From plastic bags to bottle caps to cereal boxes, they taught us how to bring both fun and learning in to our classrooms. Not only did the teachers get the chance to make new teaching materials for their classes, they also learned the purpose for each toy. They learned how playing with homemade plastic balls can strengthen a child’s shoulders to be able to sit properly in a desk. They learned how flicking a tiny paper ball between two bottle cap goals in Flick Soccer can help strengthen a child’s fingers to hold a pencil properly. They learned how tearing paper can develop a child’s brain by using both the right and left side simultaneously.
This workshop was full of practical skills and tons of fun. We are looking forward to seeing our teachers get creative in their classrooms this month. Thank you Singakwenza for teaching us how to use the resources we do have (tons of trash!) to improve the education we can give our students.
Our teachers often bring along their youngest babies to our training events. This little boy made a perfect test subject. Every time mama would finish a new toy, he would test out how it works. As you can see, he approves!