Teachers come clean
26.4.2016
Translation: machine translated
What do today's children play outside, do they still move around or do they just stand in front of the TV or tablet, or worse, are they allergic to grass? I put these questions to four teachers.
Teachers work with a lot of children and have plenty of time to observe them. So they need to be able to answer these questions. I interviewed four of my friends.
"Unfortunately I have to tell you that the children in my class prefer to play indoors." says Elisa, who teaches in a 2nd primary. Mmhhh, that confirms what I was thinking. The fact remains that many of the children in Elisa's class are members of the gymnastics club, where they play unihockey, do apparatus gymnastics or go to the youth centre. So they're not inactive. Like all other schoolchildren, these children have to go out for recess. In a way, they are encouraged to play. Interesting...
And what do the children do once they're outside? Nothing very exciting, at least not for little boys. They do the same thing over and over again as they did in my day: play football! Steffi, who teaches primary 3, argues: "football has been the boys' favourite break-time pastime for years." Can't you think of anything juicier to tell me?!
"Girls have more imagination" confides Steffi. I was kind of expecting that. The girls play on the games drawn on the floor and invent new games. Jsabelle also teaches primary 3 and says that the children are always coming up with new variations on the wolf and creating new rules. "At the moment, the game '13-14' is very fashionable. They've already explained the rules to me several times, but I still don't understand everything." According to Elisa, the girls also play hula hoop a lot and like to roller skate (rollerblades today). The children still use them, so there's still a little hope!
But that's far from all. Nina, a primary 2 teacher, tells me about the Pennyboard (colourful skateboards from the Penny brand): "a lot of pupils in my class have one and come to school on it." Going to school on a skateboard - these kids are really cool! But be warned: "they're not allowed to use it during recess.", explains Steffi. It's true, I remember: at school, there were endless rules. Does that limit the pleasure of playing?
Not at all! Because Steffi also shows you how to play with elastic. "The girls are super talented.". What's more, the school provides a whole infrastructure for playtime fun during the break. Jsabelle tells me: "At school, we have a box full of games. The children can borrow pedalos, diabolos, badminton sets and chalk. It's mainly the younger children who play there."
After gathering this first-hand information, I can conclude that it hasn't changed much over the last 20 years: "at home, many children have more modern and much more expensive games than those on offer at school. You can find a trampoline in almost every garden."
Playground products
Favourite outdoor toys
Irene Portmann
Senior Brand Communications Manager
Irene.Portmann@digitecgalaxus.chI love the strategy game “The Settlers of Catan”, the Ravensburger puzzle “Colourful Cupcakes” and the pink fluffy unicorn that sits on my desk (a birthday present from my workmates). Not only do I have a weakness for toys, I also get excited about good food and comedy TV shows.