Fun, what should we plan in advance of fun?

This quote says to me the content matters, is more effective than the attempts to first engage through a potentially fun activity.

And a tweet I liked a lot from @MissSayers1

 

I was thinking about fun and how it can be a distraction for children in a lesson. Should we design activities that are fun? I don’t want to design dour, misery-making activities so fun of some sort must matter. But where should it come in our list of planning priorities?

 

Here is my ordered list:

Plan for –

1. The requirements of the content. Different content may need a different type of activity.
2. The learning needs of children. What they already know and how this fits with the ‘new’ stuff.
3. A context that focuses on the learning content.
4. The resources. I could always have full experiments using large volumes of expensive chemicals. Is that best for learning?
5. Curiosity. If I can get children curious I am on to a winner.
6. Interest. Can they relate to the work we are going to learn? I use to relate and not relevance.
7. Fun, or enjoyment, or something. But way down the list.