University of Guelph-Humber

Students and faculty from the University of Guelph-Humber’s Early Childhood Studies program are taking to the airwaves over the coming months to spread the word about play. For 16 episodes, they’ll be appearing on Rogers TV – Peel Region’s program Insights: Towards Social Justice for a segment called Play Matters, where they’ll showcase play-based activities that help children learn.

“We all learn differently, with some people being visual learners and others being hands-on learners. Children though, learn through play, and sometimes parents, or even educators, shy away from letting children play because it looks like they’re just having fun,” says Elena Merenda, assistant program head of ECS. “In reality, something as simple as stacking blocks can help a child understand patterns, learn counting, see cause and effect and practice problem solving. If they’re playing with a friend it’s also a chance to develop social skills.” 

Ms. Merenda worked with a group of eight ECS students to design and plan the activities for the show. Each segment will have them demonstrating an activity that can be done at home to help children play and learn. Both Ms. Merenda and Dr. Nikki Martyn, program head of ECS will be appearing on the program to speak to the importance of play for childhood development.

“We want to show parents that this can have a big impact on how children learn,” she says. “Rather than fighting against play, we want them to embrace it.”

The idea for the series came about when one of the show’s producers visited UofGH’s campus. After touring ECS’ resource room and speaking with Dr. Martyn, they realized there was an opportunity to work together. The Play Matters segments were soon born.

Nicole Dulysh, 4th-year ECS Student, is one of the students hosting Play Matters segments. While she says she’s nervous about being on camera, she’s excited to help get the word out about the importance of play. For one of her segments, Nicole is demonstrating how to make play dough at home using ingredients most people have in their kitchens.

“I’m excited I get to take part in this,” she says. “These are great activities that a parent and child can do together at home. You don’t have to go out and buy toys, a lot of them can be made for hardly any cost — plus they’re fun to make together.”

After all of the Play Matters segments have aired, ECS and Insight are holding a final event that invites parents and children to come try out all of the activities they demonstrated on TV. The event is being held at Khalsa Community School on April 23rd from 10:00am-3:00pm.

“We want to promote play-based learning and we also want to make an opportunity to bring families together,” says Ms. Merenda.

Register to attend the Play Matters event Khalsa Community School on April 23rd. Tickets are free.

The show’s first episode will broadcast on March 7th on Rogers TV.
Check the Rogers TV website to find local listings.

Learn more about UofGH’s Early Childhood Studies program.