Design • Build • Play

Kompan Newsletter

Education director Debbie Kray of the Tacoma Children’s Museum in Washington State describes how they’ve used KOMPAN’s new toddler products in their recent exhibition: Design • Build • Play.

You’ve had four of KOMPAN’s toddler play products in your indoor exhibition now for about a month (the Cottage, Funny Fence, Magic Garden and Coupe car). What is your most significant impression about kids playing in the new play pieces?

The new toddler play pieces create a natural place to play for children. The basic shapes give enough structure that children of all ages know how to use them. At the same time, the open- ended nature of the design allows room for them to bring their own imagination to the structures.

They are working beautifully in our space, serving as a focal point for an exhibit we created around designing, building, and playing in structures including additional block play and design work at a light table.

How do you think the designs cater to toddlers in particular?

Our museum focuses on children from birth to age 8. I have seen all ages engaged in the play products, even older children enjoy playing in the smaller scale pieces. However, in recent assessment of the space we have found the majority of children playing in the area are between ages 2 and 5, about half toddler and half preschool. Both groups were equally engaged.

For the toddler age, the height of the structures, with firm ledges and some small holes, allows them to practice their gross motor skills, edging their way along the exterior of the spaces com- fortably. With the house, they can sit on the little bench in the back, sit inside, or work at the table top shelf in the front.

The car poses an interesting exploration of how things work as they navigate getting through the soft door. They often practice moving in and out of the car until they figure out how it works.

The bush offers fun discoveries with the talking tube at their height and the shelf in the middle to interact or play peek-a-boo around. Also the fence, house, and bush have small moveable items attached (rings and spinning pieces), allowing for motor manipulation.

Beyond motor play, the structures offer many meaningful ways to engage toddlers. The objects we introduce into the space offer items to manipulate and to play games with their favorite playmate (Mom, Dad, or caregiver). They can move them around or work on the concept of object permanence as they drop them over the side of the shelf and the parent hands them back. Older toddlers can start to use the objects in pretend play sharing what they are doing as their adult playmate listens and responds. They also start to engage with other children in the structures and with the objects as they move from parallel play to interactive play.

I have observed you have taken a very proactive approach to enriching the play experience in the designs. Describe examples. How would you takethese ideas outside?

It is always important to us to extend the play in all of our exhibit areas. We work to scaffold the learning or enrich the play experiences by providing hands-on materials that are appropriate for a variety of ages.

We have added pretend play pieces to encourage links to our Design • Build •  Play theme, including: empty paint cans with dry brushes, measuring tapes, construction vests and hats, handheld stop signs, wooden tools and tool boxes, bowls, cups, brooms, dustpans, and strips of fabric. The children enjoy pretending to build or paint the house with all the construction props. They use the small wooden pegs to hammer into the holes around the house as they “build”. They also engage in a lot of house play with the cleaning and house play props. The strips of fabric are used to weave through the fence or add personal touches to the house. In addition, items such as pretend money and more kitchen play props float in from other exhibits, allowing for pretend tea parties or lemonade stands. Stuffed animals and puppets visit from other exhibit areas to make homes for animals, snakes hiding in the bushes, and temporary puppet theaters.

Any of these props could be added to the structures outside. If I had these structures in an outdoor play area, I would introduce sand and/or water. There is a metal disk with holes embedded in the shelf of the house. I could see lots of exploration, pouring water/sand through the hole into buckets. A variety of sticks, pebbles, and rocks could become props. Lots of baskets, a small wheelbarrow, or boxes would allow them to play on their own, collecting, sorting, and managing objects or imagining a variety of pretend scenarios. If these pieces were in a childcare space, blankets and clothespins, along with some costumes, puppets, or musical instruments, could create hours of activity.

What role does color play in play pieces, in your opinion?

Color is an interesting subject since it evokes a very subjective and personal response. Many adults think that strictly primary colors (bright red, blue, green, and yellow) are best for children. But studies of children themselves suggest the results are much more varied. In that case, multiple colors are desirable, allowing for a variety of preferences.

The KOMPAN pieces are made of a variety of strong colors, but on the warm end of the spectrum instead to bright primary colors. In the case of our space, there is a lot going on, so the color does draw attention to the play pieces and encourages children to come and explore.

In order to allow the pieces to be the focal point, we left our walls and floor very plain, with receding colors. If I were to incorporate these pieces into an out- door space, I would want lots of natural materials to soften the experience and highlight the pieces, almost like a small discovery lost deep in a forest. The natural materials would then give lots of props to play with inside and around the structures.

Describe different types of play that you have observed and how each of them stood out to you.

By engaging in and around the play structures with added objects and people, children engage in all types of play — motor/physical play, object/cognitive play, symbolic/imaginary play, and social/emotional play.

As I listen to children in the structures and play with them, I have seen very active “construction”, testing both gross and fine motor skills. I have observed some toddlers’ brains ticking (cognitive skills) as they focus on understanding how the door to the car works or what can fit through the star holes in the house. I have watched the bush become a lemonade stand and “eaten” many tasty treats. Or had tea parties in the house, filled up the gas in the car, or found pretend animals hiding in the bushes. I have also watched children build their social skills as they navigate the challenges of sharing and playing together or as they stomp out of the house acting angry.

What stands out to me is the creative imagination of children. Each day with each child is different. And the open-ended nature of the structures allows all these different types of play to combine and happen together, or allows for a child to become engrossed in one aspect of play.

To learn more about the Children’s Museum of Tacoma or some of the ideas shared by Debbie Kray, check out these resources:
more about the Museum: www.childrensmuseumoftacoma.org
more about Play:
www.naeyc.org/yc/pastissues/2003/may
www.childrensmuseums.org/programs/
playingforkeeps.htm#resources
more about Color and Environments: www.reggioemilia.org.nz/conten/view/

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