At
Mighty Magic Factory, we strongly believe in working hard and playing
hard. both equally at the same time! And we want your kids to share this
healthy, balanced experience too.
In
this day and age, our fast paced lifestyle means we are constantly forced
to multi-task. As such, our attention span on a single task is greatly
decreased. Time is also always a rushing factor because there's just so
much to do in so little time!
This
fast-paced lifestyle has shortened our kids' attention span even more and
educators are always look for new and effective ways to reach out to
students.
One
approach is creating the right mix of education with entertainment and
presenting it to the kids; in the form of edutainment.
What
is Edutainment?
What
is edutainment? What does it do? How does it work? Believe it or not,
edutainment is not an entirely new concept. Here's a simple example of
an edutainment activity:
Remember
when you were a kid going on school excursions? Instead of spending the
day in a classroom, you and your friends took a trip to a farm, the zoo or
a discovery centre. You got to see, feel, listen and learn about something
new. You might have even watched a skit put up to spread an important
message. It made you feel excited about learning. It was even fun!
That's
edutainment!
The
term "edutainment" is not new. In fact it comes from the computer
industry. It is used to describe CD-ROM programs mainly designed for
educating children but also has a fun entertainment aspect to it.
As
you can see, edutainment is not restricted to just one form. A school
excursion, a computer game, watching a puppet show or even a film can be
used as edutainment. TV shows such as Dora the Explorer or the evergreen
Edutainment
allows children to learn through play. The key thing about edutainment is
that it allows children to learn through leisure or play activities.
Children naturally want to explore and manipulate their environment to
make their own discoveries.
Studies into early childhood development have shown that children at preschool level learn best through their own play activities rather than in a structured setting, such as school classes. As such, many pre-schools are aware that open-ended play is in fact the best approach for children to learn and develop socially, physically and mentally.
Parents and educators can practice edutainment at home and in school by 'sneaking in' entertainment or fun into teachings. This can be the form of creating skits, role playing, solving fun puzzles or infusing songs and dance into a lesson.
Edutainment on Stage
One form of edutainment is live stage shows that help to spread positive messages in a fun way. Key messages are customized or incorporated into stage performances that often use creative mediums and interactive tools.
Many
multi-national corporations and organizations today are also using
edutainment on stage as a tool to spread a positive message to young
students. Professional production companies are engaged to create creative
shows that are effective and help reach objectives. For example, the
Health Promotion Board utilized two custom-created puppet & magic
shows to spread the importance of good dental hygiene and harmful effects
of smoking.
At
Mighty Magic Factory, we create edutainment through the use of puppets,
ventriloquism, magic, juggling, comedy, music and audience interaction.
Judging by the positive response and feedback from past shows that the
team has produced, results are effective and on target!
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the Complete Mighty
Magic Factory Website