by on 24/10/2017 3166
Growing up, we have all played with building blocks at some point in our childhood. When it comes to building blocks the household name would be none other than LEGO®. Kids have always liked LEGO®, so do adults! There is no age limit at all for LEGO®, regardless whether it’s free build ideas or advanced model bricksets, there is a product that is suitable for each generation. As a kid, we have used LEGO® bricks to build our dream houses, dream cars and even creatures we create based on our imagination. It turns out that LEGO® play has far-reaching developmental benefits for kids, way more impactful than just fine motor coordination, and we go on benefitting from it as adults.
One of the programs offered at Powerbricks Kidz is the Bricks 4 Kidz® program catered for children between 2.5 – 13 years old. The program uses LEGO® bricks to deliver hands-on lessons where kids will design and build machines, catapults, pyramids, derby cars, buildings and other constructions out of LEGO® bricks. With a little coaching, kids can learn about engineering, architecture, physics and maths using specialized components. While learning fundamentals of engineering and architecture in a noncompetitive setting, students will also be able to socialize with friends and at the same time develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
Ms. Cindy Yew, who founded Powerbricks Kidz, explained to us about the classes in line with their motto “We Learn, We Build, We Play”:
First 15 minutes involves briefing and brainstorming session where teachers would brief the students on the day’s model and kids will learn about everything from general knowledge about the model to gears, torque and friction and more;
Followed by 30 minutes hands-on model-building; and
Final 15 minutes students would explore and unleash their own creativity through freeplay. Students may use this time to improvise their models as well.
Bricks 4 Kidz® programs distinguish itself by providing children the opportunity to build models from scratch under step by step guidance and when they encounter problems in completing the models they are encouraged to think of solutions to make it work. This helps them to enhance their self-esteem and confidence through solving problem and completing projects. Worksheets will be given in relation to the model built. Kids are taught to be respectful and organized as they will clean up and organize the LEGO® kits together. Photos will be taken of the completed model which will then be compiled together with the completed worksheets into a report and forwarded to parents every quarter of the year. This enables parents to keep track of the progress of their child in the Bricks 4 Kidz® program.
Powerbricks Kidz also offers another program, PlayFACTO Kids which is an early childhood program specialising in helping young kids learn maths subconsciously through the use of unique Korean learning tools. The program uses high quality wooden manipulatives and workbooks to assist children in understanding basic mathematics concept and functions. When Ms. Cindy was looking for enrichment classes to help her son who was struggling with basic maths concept that she stumbled upon the PlayFACTO program and found it to be very beneficial to kids’ development. She decided to bring this program to her centre so that she could help other parents and kids with similar struggles.
PlayFACTO is a fun and interesting program where it makes the whole learning experience very interactive. For kids age 2.5 - 5 years old, they are being introduced to maths concepts and functions using story-telling, pretend play, songs and rhymes and constructive play. What’s interesting is classes usually begin with a story telling, it raises curiosity in the child. Children are more engaged with the characters in the stories and stories are brought to life when combined with the use of matching manipulatives, triggering their creativity and imagination. On top of that, there are exclusive workbooks that are fun to work on and children will no longer dread learning maths. Instead they’ll enjoy and embrace a positive attitude towards learning.
One of the feature that we love about Powerbricks Kidz is its spacious room which is great for activities. For children who love LEGO®, it’s like being in paradise as different LEGO® model kits are displayed on the shelves. And then there is also full sets of PlayFACTO manipulatives that are imported from Korea to be used during classes. While I was there, I took the opportunity to play a PlayFACTO strategy game and immediately got pulled into the game. It was very engaging and challenging to the mind: in order to make your next move, you would need to do some mental arithmetic to calculate your next step, literally. As an adult I had so much fun, it’s not hard to imagine a child enjoying themselves with the Bricks 4 Kidz® program or the PlayFACTO games. Who knew Learning can be engaging, exciting, stimulating, imaginative and even pleasurable!
