Economics in "Bluey" Part 2

Calypso's Classroom Mini-Economy

Kids need practice with money, not just knowledge about it. Small children in particular are too young to absorb a lot of information about money. But they can learn and practice it through play.

Kids learn by playing. If a parent or teacher wants a child to practice something, the adult can help children with what is called “guided play” or “playful learning.” This can apply to kids learning economics, which is about how people make choices about scarce resources. Econ is about more than just money; it’s about choices in society. Can little kids learn about these? Of course they can. In Virginia schools there are economics standards for grades K-3.

According to one meta-analysis, guided play is a happy medium between direct instruction and free play, and it works best for teaching children basic numeracy, shapes, and task switching (an indication of executive function, i.e. mental self-control). Guided play has three characteristics:

1. The adult should have a clear learning goal in mind

2. The child should have some degree of choice during play

3. Adults should be flexible in their guidance of the play, for example, by asking open-ended questions

We see a great example of a preschool teacher using guided play methods in the episode of Bluey entitled “Calypso.” Bluey is a hit kids’ cartoon TV show about talking dogs that has made its way from Australian Public Television, to the BBC, to (where else?) Disney. Several Bluey episodes include examples of economics in action that are useful for kids’ learning. For example, my earlier post on family economics in Bluey discusses each family member’s priorities and choices while on a family trip to Home Depot – I mean, “Hammerbarn.”

In this episode (Season 1, Episode 17) we meet Calypso, Bluey’s preschool teacher. During free play time, Calypso sets the the children loose to play in the classroom’s “neighborhood” space. The kids are free to set up whatever games they want, but we see Calypso walking around the room, giving kids ideas about how to enrich their play.

Check out this clip from the episode. See if you can identify the different aspects of “guided play” that Calypso does: 1) a learning goal; 2) choice, and 3) guidance about how to expand the play.

Enjoy:

The second half of the episode:

Sadly, Calypso doesn’t seem to have a clear learning goal for economics in mind, but she could. Her classroom has a little mini-economy in it. Here’s some economics that we see:

1. Jobs: A community needs everyone’s help, but sometimes not everyone can find a job. In this episode, Pretzel is too tired to play at first and he doesn’t know what his role should be. He remains unemployed, even though the community needs him. Eventually, he catches the fish that the fish and chips shop needs.

2. Goods and services. These help satisfy some want or goal that people have. Goods are things we can touch; services are tasks people do for others.

3. Markets: Buyers and sellers make deals in what is called a “market.” In a market, people use the money they get from being a seller to get things as a buyer.

   In this episode, the kids make deals using money to exchange goods and services. Indy wants to move out of her crowded house with the other two “moms,” so she rents a room in her friend’s newly-built house. But then she needs a job at Bluey’s fish-and-chips shop so she can pay the rent. She doesn’t pay money for childcare, but her landlord is happy to watch her doll while she goes to work.

4. Interdependence. As I tell elementary students, “we depend on each other.” As Calypso moves around the room, she suggests to each of the kids how they could interact with others for their mutual benefit. The community depends on everyone: the restaurant for food, the Roman fort for protection (not invasion, Calypso ensures), the homebuilder, the “moms,” and the “childcare.” Later they add a fisherman to supply the fish and chips shop.

5. Public goods and services: There are some things that the whole community shares that are paid for by taxes. In “Calypso,” the kids are protected by the military (“Romans”), a public good. These soldiers mostly sit around doing nothing and are tempted to begin invading the town because they are bored! In the second clip above, the Roman soldiers eventually get to launch defensive maneuvers when Indy almost trips and wrecks the Gnome Village.

Calypso does a good job letting the kids choose what to do during playtime, while still encouraging them to interact with each other in their games. Too bad she didn’t have the list of economic concepts above! She could have really encouraged the kids to see how our economy works, and how everyone plays a role in it.

“We depend on each other:” that’s an economic concept that even the youngest schoolchildren can begin to understand.