Power in Play: Play with Purpose

Play is more than fun for young children. Play is the way children learn about the world, themselves, and others. Providing the space, time, and freedom for children to play, no matter how they play, also provides the opportunity to learn.. The power in play is harnessed by our Young Einsteins program. 

When our Young Einsteins program first began, it was to offer childcare for the younger siblings of FUL scholars. We wanted to provide a childcare service to save families from making two trips to pick up their kids from school. In more recent years however, we have grown the program to utilize STEAM learning and lessons to help even our youngest scholars begin to play with purpose to build the foundation for success. 

By definition, STEAM Education is an approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking. Research shows that STEAM education leads to youth who take thoughtful risks, engage in experiential learning, persist in problem-solving, embrace collaboration, and work through the creative process - all of these are tools we want to help scholars add to their toolbox at an early age. 

Our Young Einsteins have the opportunity to explore art projects and science-related game-based activities as part of their play.

“Kids at this age tend to miss out on science, because there is such a focus on reading, literacy and math. This is why our Young Einstein’s programming offers science and game-based topics - to help fill in the gaps of their exploration and learning,” stated Emily, FUL’s Young Einsteins Program Coordinator.

In 2022, our goal is to assimilate our Young Einsteins program to align more closely with our other FUL programs. We plan to do this through aligning our STEAM learning with standards-based learning to provide more structure to lessons and play activities we offer our Young Einsteins. 

Another exciting venture we are eager to dive into this year is bringing basic coding  through games to our Young Einsteins experience. Coding and computer science is in essence another language that, with early exposure, is easier to master. As a part of our STEAM programming, we are excited to allow our students to create and explore programming in its simplest form through coding.