Little Village Preschool has created the very first Brick Book Learning Kit to enrich early childhood learning through play, in collaboration with global creative agency Geometry Global. Through public donations, they have collected over 8,000 Lego bricks that were used to create more than 20 Brick Books, which were shared with 100 students in Myanmar.
Most importantly, they’re hoping to continue to share the Brick Book with other disadvantaged communities in Singapore and overseas.
According to recent studies, parents in Singapore spend twice the global average on local education for their young children, to the tune of over $96,000 annually. Whether it is investing in enrichment classes or devoting time to tuition classes, education is the top priority for parents, leaving little time for the children to play. Yet the role of play in the early childhood development is indisputable – aside from benefiting the physiological development of a child, play has the power to unlock learning in a child, enabling the child to learn new skills and also support academic learning.
Capitalising on the power of play in learning, local pre-school Little Village has partnered global creative agency Geometry Global to develop the very first Brick Book Learning Kit (Brick Book). A learning tool that utilises Lego bricks, teaching guides and specially designed games, the Brick Book uses play to hone creativity, impart skills such as problem solving and teach basic mathematics to pre-school students.
Adaptable to each child’s ability, the Brick Book has a total of six games that teach and reinforce simple mathematical concepts such as spatial awareness, pattern recognition, addition, subtraction, and multiplication. By using Lego bricks and gamification, the Brick Book brings a new level of engagement and learning through play as opposed to traditional rote-learning, inculcating a love for learning from young.
Ms. Vicki Teo, Executive Director for Little Village Pre-School said, “Our teaching philosophy at the Little Village is centred around meaningful learning for our children, we place children at the heart of our curriculum. We want our children to not only be equipped with the necessary knowledge and understanding of concepts, but we want them to do so in a manner that is fun, to inculcate the love of learning from young through play. The Brick Book is a tool that allows us to do so, where children use everyday toys that they are familiar with like Lego bricks, to play and in the process, learn.”
The Brick Book took 7 months of planning, design and curation of games. As part of the creation of the first Brick Book, Little Village also partnered Geometry Global on a project to share this learning tool with underprivileged children in Myanmar. Through public donations, Little Village and Geometry Global collected over 8,000 Lego bricks that were used to create more than 20 Brick Books which were shared with 100 students in Myanmar. The hope is that the Brick Books will also help to keep more young students engaged in classrooms and equip local teachers with the much-needed support to make learning fun, making a difference in the lives of children in Myanmar.
Mr. Jorge Thauby, Creative Director, Geometry Global said, “We saw a unique opportunity to combine creative thinking and design with an existing need in early childhood education – helping young children learn to love learning through play and stay engaged in the classroom. The Brick Book brings together carefully crafted and designed learning games and Lego bricks to create a versatile teaching tool that is adaptable to each child’s interest and needs, and allows the teaching of different skills or subjects. We hope that this tool will support teachers, parents and most importantly the young children in helping them build a good foundation and interest in education.”
Please donate your unwanted Lego bricks so that more Brick Books can be created and shared with underprivileged kids.
Little Village and Geometry Global are hoping to continue to share the Brick Book with other disadvantaged communities, to expand access and support for early childhood education both in Singapore and overseas.
For the next round of Brick Book Kit developments, Little Village is calling out to the public to donate their unwanted Lego bricks, do follow the Little Village Facebook page for more updates on how you can do so.
