What can it look like when students lean into their ColLAB experience? It can look like a bunch of high schoolers learning about the vestibular sense and proprioception and neurodivergence and the importance of play for non-medical interventions in early childhood.
Mr. Magee says it this way:
Today in the Having Fun Yet?: The Value and Science of Play ColLAB, we studied Sensory and Tactile Play. We first focused on the (more than five!) senses: smell, taste, sight, touch, hearing, vestibular sense, and proprioception. We learned how sensory, tactile, and “messy” play can be quite important to the development of infants and to the non-medicinal interventions for myriad neurodivergencies. Finally, for our classroom portion in the morning, we touched on the purported ten benefits of playing with and making slime. Children who make and/or play with slime tend to see an increase in creativity, fine motor skills, problem-solving, meaningful family time, understanding of math/ratios, polymer science, mindfulness, focus, willingness to participate in independent play, and general calmness. In regards to the latter, playing with slime has been noted to be particularly good at helping children who experience various forms of sensory overload mitigate those experiences.
After our morning studies, we headed to @sloomooinstitute in Soho, where we experienced sensory play that touched on all the concepts we covered in the morning. We also got to make our own slime that catered to each individuals tastes for sensory play!
