LEMA – Literacy Education and Math Lab. Playful learning for the whole family.

LEMA – Literacy Education and Math Lab. Playful learning for the whole family.

Parents play a critical role in providing learning opportunities at home and linking what children learn at school to the broader context of everyday life with what happens elsewhere. As schools shut down for “social distancing,” parents are faced with an increased burden to provide more educational activities at home. Distance learning and virtual teaching can fill many educational needs for those who have reliable access to technology and the internet. For others, however, deep digital divides leave many families and children feeling isolated and pressured to achieve, leading to more stress. Learning in the times of “social distancing” can be a challenge. Finding activities to keep children learning and mentally healthy in times of self-isolation is taxing, but parents and children can take advantage of their time at home building, exploring, and learning together. 

LEMA (Literacy Education and Math Lab) offers a collection of playful learning activities that has been implemented widely in school contexts around the world but can also be easily used at home by parents and children for learning together. LEMA was developed by Literacy4All and engages learners in exploration, observation, hypothesis development, and testing to ensure children have the math and language skills they need to succeed in school and in life.

The learning process in LEMA is based on play, because play provides opportunities to explore, question, fail, learn, while building deeper bonds and connections between participants. Some activities require simple materials like a domino set, dice, paper, rocks. Many of these materials can be easily found or recreated at home. This collecting and “building” together is part of the learning/playful process. The content of the games takes players/learners from discovering fundamental math theorems and basic literacy developmental activities; to fractions, algebraic equations, and discussions involving ethical dilemmas in the 21st century. In this way, parents, grandparents and older siblings — regardless of their own level of education and literacy – become learning coaches and co-learners alongside the younger children. In our experience, learning through play can also support adult literacy learning, especially when connected to familiar cultural practices, such as domino and card games.  LEMA has been implemented in schools in the Dominic Republic, Panama, Colombia, India. LEMA -home version, makes the toolkit available to families in diverse communities ensuring learning is fun and bringing families together.