Deb Sugerman is a training manager in Boston for the Playworks Training team. She has over 20 years of experience teaching educators and believes youth workers who value play will positively impact children and organization.
Rock paper scissors…. Elephant man ant…. Just what is the culture of play around the world, and how would Playworks unique brand of play translate in Indonesia or Thailand or China?
That’s exactly what Mattel asked Playworks to find out. Thanks to Mattel I had the honor of travelling to Indonesia to deliver Playworks signature “Power of Play” training, explore how it could benefit local schools and communities, and capture learnings from the experience the Mattel and Playworks team could build upon.
When I arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia, I was immediately immersed in the sounds and smells (and traffic) of a huge metropolitan city. During the next five days I trained two groups of Mattel employees in Playworks games and strategies and visited three schools and two community playgrounds to introduce Playworks games and learn local Indonesian games and traditions.
The Mattel employees spoke English as their second or third language. Many of my words did not make sense to them until we played the games. For example, they didn’t understand the word “crow’s nest” in the game Shipwreck, but as soon as we went through the motions in the game, they understood and loved playing the game. My learning was to do less talking and more actual playing; a skill that translates well to working with young children!
With the help of several of the Mattel employees who had been at my training, we taught “Switch” at schools and community playgrounds. The first group of children had a difficult time saying the word “switch” (a strange combination of letters in their native language) and didn’t connect the word with the movement of switching places. I found out the word for “switch” in Indonesian was “pin dah,” so I adjusted and used “pin dah” in place of “switch” and the game took off! Students could say the word, understood what action was required to play and had a blast!.
We also played “Rock, Paper, Scissors” with the children – I quickly learned that every child in the world knows RPS, although they might know it by a different name! They taught me the Indonesian way to play with thumb (elephant), forefinger (person) and pinky (ant). The elephant squashes the person, the person squashes the ant, and the ant crawls into the elephant’s ear and drives it crazy. The game is started by brushing the two opponents’ palms against each other and throwing one of the three signs. I learned that the word for “high 5” is “toss,” and every time we played, we would give each other “toss,” no matter who won or lost.
At Playworks and Mattel we already know that play is good for children. This experience taught me that play is a way to communicate and connect — irrespective of age, language, culture, or gender.
Playworks and Mattel are continuing in their partnership to support all children having an opportunity to play for their health and well-being. I know what we learned from this experience will go a long way towards supporting this goal. I am excited about the possibilities!
Find out how you can bring a rock star Trainer, such as Deb Sugerman, to your school or afterschool program, check out Playworks Training.
