Play, Toys, and the Kid Culture

Whenever I help babysit my sister, niece, or nephew, it makes me remember how fun it used to be a kid back in the old days. With all the toys, running around and naptimes that you can possibly get, I miss those precious moments. I started school when I just turned five years-old, and that was a long time ago. I can remember how in Kindergarten, my teacher always allowed the students to bring in their favorite toy to sleep with for nap time. I always brought a different teddy bear every time, and my teacher would always ask me this question: “How many teddy bears do you have?” And my answer was always a quick shrugged and “A lot.”

Toys and Play
Toys are the tools of children’s play. Toys influence play. Toys of value enhance children’s own ideas. They help the child to engage in imaginative, meaningful play by allowing them to solve the problems (White and Walker, p. 144).

Back then, I loved buying new toys just for the reason that I wanted it and that I have one. Now that I think about it, I see toys as a waste of money because kids will only play with it for a while and at the end of the day, they’ll loose it or it ends up in the trash. However, it’s still an important value to kids. Toys and playtime give them a boost to interact with other people, especially if they are in day care or in preschool. “Play is very important in early childhood education because children learn so much while play is taking place” (White and Walker, p. 144). Although toys are good for kids, we can sometimes over look the image that these toys can display to them.

Some Kind of Interesting Fact: Tooning In, page 147
In 1959, the United Nations adopted the Rights of the Child, which included a “full opportunity to play” as one basic right of childhood…it means providing an environment in which children have the freedom to construct their own dramas built out of their own interpretations of reality.

Media Image
“Many of the messages in the media can undermine their sense of safety and trust” (White and Walker, p. 146). Everyday, toy industries are coming up with fresh ideas on designing new toys and yet, the toy companies and enterprises main target is to make toys that children will want to buy based. Most of the time, these are based off of interest surveys and records of what actually sells in the markets. However, exploit of bad images and ideas are still a problem in society today. It’s already bad enough in society that there’s violent television shows and R-rated commercials, but toys…isn’t that a little too much? The media is exploiting way too much – in considering that their target is also young children too. Creating the perfect image for women, advertising products, and all those other things puts pressure on them, thus making them think that that’s what they want and desire.

Kid Culture
Kid culture such as movies, television, music, media, toys, technology, sports, food, fashion, and fads can be used in a number of ways in education (White and Walker, p. 76).

Kid culture is the most important step prior to helping a young student learn. They need the interaction, the fun, and the exciting facts that would encourage the student to engage more in education. According to White and Walker, from their book Tooning In, “one area of kid culture that could easily be integrated into social education is television cartoons” (p. 77). I totally agree with them. What else can possibly influence a young mind more other than television itself? I have a 4 year-old sister and she’s always having the television turned on to PBS Kids. One of her favorite shows is Arthur, and it’s also one of my absolute favorite PBS Kids Show of all time. Arthur Just like Liberty’s Kids, Histeria, and Time Squad, PBS Kids provide effective learning tools and teachings that can allow kids to integrate into their education.

Kindergarten is the best time to affiliate a young student into learning. They understand best when visual things are used to be demonstrate the lesson of the day or an activity. Young minds need that extra explanation to help plant critical skills and help them build a more sufficient understanding. In our last blog about shopping, using play money and play toys such as vegetables and a fake register can enable a young student to incorporate math lessons. For example, they can learn to add and subtract money. Toys and kids play are every essential factors that plays into education. Most learners are visual learners and needs that extra step for a better education.

Integrating kid culture for social education can enhance a critical and active citizenry able to think for itself and engage in problem solving (White and Walker, p. 76).

Shop 'til you Drop!

*** Note: My laptop totally let me down for two weeks, and I lost everything! I'm really mad >.<; I think that it's about time I get a new one...so sorry for the late!!!! blogging. I'm trying to write as much as I can remember, so please bare with me on this***


So, this topic is on "the Mall".




I am a person who you can consider a shopper but not really. I love shopping, but not to the extreme point where I go to the mall every weekend. I starting a shopping hobby when I got into college, yeah, I know right?! During my school years, the mall was not as important as my school work but now that I think about it, I should have started earlier. I remember when my friends would always invite me to go shopping with them, and I would say something like "Oh, I can't today because I have to go study" or "I have to help babysit my niece today, sorry" --- I regret saying that because I was always preoccupied with thoughts on achieving a good education, and yet at the same time, I'm putting more stress on my shoulders. I never considered about giving myself a little treat for all the work I did, and now, I'm trying to catch up with it...living with life.

Malls are a place of conversation and interaction. Especially for teens who wants to go have fun with their friends, or just to be away from home and school. The mall provides the space for them to relieve any stressful moments behind for an hour or two. It provides the environment for teens and adults to get along together and meet new people everyday. ( Imagine the workers who has to deal with customers! ) But really, its about interaction.

In relation to the article that we had to read from The Washington Post, "He Told Us to Go Shopping. Now the Bill is Due", I found it quite ironic. First of all, I was in middle school when 9/11 happened, and knew nothing about our economy. I'm quite sickened at the fact that George W. Bush put American citizens into a gamble. Clearly, I'm not a fan of politics either --- so please don't think wrong of me! Then again, if you put everything aside and say to yourself that he wants us to not worry and just continue on with life without knowing what he had planned.

He said: But he simultaneously urged Americans to carry on as if there were no war. "Get down to Disney World in Florida," he urged just over two weeks after 9/11. "Take your families and enjoy life, the way we want it to be enjoyed." The Truth: Bush certainly wanted citizens to support his war -- he just wasn't going to require them actually to do anything.
- From the article

But I really don't have any opinion on this because economy is always going to have its up and downs, no doubt about that.

In addition to that, the article "Transforming Social Spaces: Female Identity and the Mall" --- I couldn't find myself relating to it. In my entire life, even though I live in Twin Cities, I've been to the Mall of America twice --- and yep, I haven't seen everything in there yet. Surprisingly, I don't find MOA such an attraction. But, according to the article, I believe that its true about "Your out-of-town friends are visiting and want to see the cities' most obvious landmark."
Many people that I know come to visit Minnesota just because of this highly-popularized mega-mall. Plus, I can't imagine myself trying to live there for a whole week. It's jsut not me. However, I truly admire the author of this article.

So, how does the mall revolve around education?

Math wise, spending and the mall is a good to start teaching the young children to save save save! They may think that anything can be affordable but they are wrong! By introducing shopping to young children in school, it allows for them to get a picture of how economy works. Students can aquire this through using money in math. They can be given a certain amount to spend on items. And from there, learn how to subtract or add to that amount given to them. ( We're going to make them math geeks ^o* --- hehehe )

To Game or Not to Game?!

*** Note: I was only able to open 2 of the 3 articles that the professor sent to us. That excludes the one with the e-mail. ***

After reading the articles, I thought to myself for a couple of minutes on what intrigue me the most. Then I wondered, why video games? What has video game done to support education and how does this fall together? I've always seen games as a distraction from anything. My boyfriend is one of them. When there's nothing to do, he turns on his PS2 and starts playing whatever's in there. It bigs me because it's hard for me to get him off the console just to do something for me. Video game is an addiction that may be good for the brain, depending on its purpose.

What I found most intriguing was from the article From Serious Games to Serious Gaming (Part Four): Labyrinth, by Scot Osterweil. Just the thought of creating a game that involves schooling curriculum surprised me. How on earth did they come up with such a brlliant idea? Creating a game that integrates math and literature and enabling students to play it in school --- the gaming industry must be thinking about the future of education I guess.

In the article, Scot noted: "needing to prepare their students for high-stakes tests, teachers were leery of committing precious class time to new technology, but they identified ideas that weren't getting through to their students and hoped we could somehow take care of them." This in fact is true --- in my opinion. There are students who are willing to take on challenges and there are those students who sits there in class and intakes the teachers words in one ear but somehow the words goes out the other ear. It's already hard enough for teachers to have the whole class pay attention to the curriculum.

I like the fact that Labyrinth address two components: math and literacy. "primarily a math game, it is also designed to promote literacy." Many kids don't like to write ( and I can think of a couple ) and Labyrinth uses that weakness from them to create these writing messages that they must write to their team players. With this, it can enable kids to think about what they are going to write. Besides writing, reading benefits are also enhanced as well as communication. On the other hand, there are the downfall of those who have the disadvantage to access the required hardware outside of the school and classroom. Not to mention, there are students that can not even stay after-school as well.

Another intriguing thought was from the article From inside the games industry: game + girl = advance; the Sims. I know it's a fact that the game industry itself is dominated by the world of mens. I work at Wal-Mart and everytime I pass by the Electronics area, I see young boys stand in front of the game case glaring at their most wanted game. It's an everyday case. However, I am not a gamer ---- but that doesn't mean that I don't play any games at all. Anyways, the industry seems to apply to it's male customers and designers. In this case, women does not really have a place in the gaming industry. Yet, that does not mean that women are not as skilled like the men. Not many women goes into the field of computer science or enigneering.

I was introduced to the Sims recently by my boyfriend's sister. I would have to say that I actually became fond of playing the Sims game because it's as close to reality as it can possibly be. I was playing the Sims 2 Deluxe, where I live by myself and I have to keep on living. Unfortunately, I got really bored and tired of it because I could not keep up with my character's needs anymore. It's hard --- and compared to reality, it's about the same thing. Which I think what made me became interested in it.

Overall, all the articles related to education. Involving technology with class lessons may be a key component in which it can intrigue the student to become interested in. Nevertheless, gaming in school isn't that bad after all, I mean, if students benefit from it though.