Learning through play with CUBORO

CUBORO visiting the day care center

We visited a daycare center near Bern, Switzerland, to learn how they integrate CUBORO into their educational practice and everyday daycare routine. CUBORO was developed back in the 1970s with a clear educational purpose. During our visit, we were impressed by the variety of ways the children experiment and play with CUBORO. We spoke to Marianne, the head of the daycare center, about her experiences with CUBORO .

CUBORO: You have been working as a daycare center manager for almost 20 years. What is particularly important to you in your work and in interacting with the children?

Marianne: An important part of our pedagogical concept is to create space for undisturbed play in the midst of the busy day-to-day life of the daycare center. The children learn to maintain the space they have created and at the time to respect the play spaces of others. We focus on the strengths of the individual child and support them in discovering and developing their abilities independently. Our aim is to enable the children to gain experience in their self-efficacy.

What does learning through play mean to you and why is it so important in children's development?

I firmly believe that the environment and the materials provided have a formative influence on a child's development. Our pedagogical principles are based on the assumption that every learning experience combines different dimensions. CUBORO is a toy with which children can learn on different levels. They can play with it according to their age and abilities. That's why we really appreciate CUBORO.

How do you incorporate CUBORO into your everyday life?

It is important to provide a room or a place for the children where they can play with CUBORO undisturbed. The toy works particularly well in groups of up to three children. We make sure that the children play with CUBORO in a similar way so that they can inspire each other in their play. In this protected environment, the children play with CUBORO for a very long time, very intensively and with great immersion. They try out new possibilities and celebrate their joint successes.

Which CUBORO sets do you use and for which children are they suitable?

We have both the CUBORO XL and the JUNIOR Set, which allows all children to play, from the little ones to the older ones. In our daycare center, we look after a mixed-age group from three months to school age. The youngest children simply roll the large XL marbles around the room and then crawl after them. Some build towers without connecting the marbles and elements. Then the three-year-olds come into play, starting to build long runs to train their fine motor skills. They push the marbles along the course, bump them or blow them forward.

And how do the older children play with it?

The older ones start to build in three dimensions. They insert an element at the end of a straight course through which the marble disappears and rolls out again at the bottom. Building tunnels is a challenge for most children, but there are also those who already understand it and can create courses with tunnels. Everyone is delighted when the marble disappears in one place and reappears in another.

Do the children already build according to building plans?

With the JUNIOR Set, the children often build the marble run shown on the box. Once they have set up the course, they can play with it for hours. They organize races in which the marbles have to be as fast as possible. Or they test whether each marble actually reaches the end. Sometimes they also test several marbles at the same time and watch intently to see what happens at the intersection.

Every now and then we are asked whether the CUBORO cubes should not be connected. You told us an interesting story about this beforehand.

To prevent the cubes from shifting so easily, a member of staff quickly stuck the elements in place with double-sided adhesive tape. At the next CUBORO play day, however, the children were less than enthusiastic about losing their flexibility and creativity in the game. The adhesive strips were therefore quickly removed again, much to the delight of the children. The children are aware that the individual elements can be moved and are therefore very careful to ensure that nothing shifts. If something does move in the course of play, they carefully move it back and enjoy the successful reconstruction of the track. They experience their self-efficacy directly through play. This fills them with satisfaction and pride.

Matthias, CUBORO Team
published on November 2, 2023