"Where kids play to learn and parents learn to play” was the tagline of Nickelodeon’s affiliate site nickjr.com a few years back. But it could very well be the slogan of Playseum, the cheeriest new place in Cebu created especially for children aged one to five and their parents and caregivers.

Playseum founder and director Aina Arcilla-Lacson, also a seasoned educator and a mother of two, says she put up the center because she has always wished for a place where kids can just be kids, have fun and play, and converse and interact meaningfully with their peers.  Children likewise needed a place to play that was not as ridiculously expensive as the foreign franchised brands.  What’s more, Aina points out that children need to go back to reading real books.  “They are bombarded with too much technology and “fast food” learning through the computer, the iPad, the Wii, the PSP, etc.  Nothing will replace real reading.  Reading is a main determinant of a child’s success in school, and in life.”

So how are play, learning, and early literacy interconnected, and how do they all come together in Playseum?

Well, more than two decades of working with kids – interspersed with stints of living, studying, and teaching in the U.S. and Spain – has only strengthened Aina’s conviction that little ones learn best through play.  “Children will always learn through experience, through actual manipulation of objects, and this is through play. Play is, and will always be, the child’s work. He will always be happiest when he is playing. And when a child is happy, that’s when he will learn,” she says.

Through a play-oriented environment, kids will learn the basic skills needed to read. The child will realize that print has meaning and that he can make sense out of the letters and words that he sees.

Apparently, learning is optimized when a child involves his whole body and his senses. “When a child uses his entire body, or more of his senses (sight, sound, touch…) is used, the greater the learning and the retention. More synapses or connections in the brain take place when most of the human faculties are stimulated. Both [right and left] hemispheres of the brain are also utilized when experiences are concrete and relevant, not just “flashcards and rote learning,” which are quite monotonous. And as children are children, the more exciting and active, the more effective the teaching. Children have a natural thirst for learning.  When more of the brain is used up, more parts are also “exercised,” and the greater their craving for knowledge will be. They will want to know more and use up their knowledge to create more! The Chinese proverb summarizes it all: “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand,”” relates Aina.

Fittingly, Playseum has a delightful assortment of stations that lets youngsters explore, create, and imagine safely, freely and enthusiastically. There’s a Toddler Station for the youngest visitors, a Math and Reading Center or “Mini-Market, a Play House Center called “Welcome Home,” a Library Center, and a Construction Center called “Build It Zone.”  They are complemented by appealing, well thought-out programs that promote emergent literacy and school readiness skills through interactive play.

Playseum focuses not on direct teaching, stresses Aina, but on the fun the parent and the child will have, because she believes that how a child acquires knowledge – rather than content and product – is what counts and is most effective. Thus kids at her center are given numerous opportunities to express themselves and connect with others. “The traditional teaching style we have been used to is the direct teaching method, where the teacher gives information out-rightly to the student. The student does not need to question nor interact.  In a sense, the student is considered an empty basin, “catching” the information.  What Playseum strives to do is revamp that method of teaching and make the student a participant in the learning.  The teacher presents the topic or theme, and the child interacts with the teacher to explore the topic in-depth.  For example, if a storybook is read aloud, the teacher takes elements from the story and makes it relevant to the child by engaging in art activities, word games, costume playing (wearing hats, shoes, capes, etc.), and pretend play.  The child, in turn, is able to assimilate the information because it is brought to his level of understanding through play. When a child is having fun, he remembers best.  When he is at play, he learns.  Sometimes, “work” is taken home so that the child, together with the parent, gets to enjoy or shares the learning with family. A child’s parent after all, is the first teacher,” Aina explains.

So, have you played with your child today?

Playseum is at the 2nd Floor, MLD Building (right above Café Georg), Archbishop Reyes Avenue (Banilad Road), Cebu City.  Watch out for the opening of its Manila branch in early 2013.  For more information, call (+6332) 232-7815, (+6332) 318-4784 or 63917 322-1981, or visit playseum.net or its Facebook page (Playseum.Center for Early Literacy).