An early childhood classroom is filled with toys and resources that can be used to create and to be part of imaginary play. Children will always find ways, old and new, to put the materials to good use.
The other day, at a family get-together, I watched my 2-year-old grandson play with the dried, cut grass that he found on the lawn. Throughout the afternoon he would return to the grass, squishing it, manipulating it, exploring it, and throwing it. Children have creative and curious minds and anything and everything becomes an opportunity to discover and explore.
The classroom teacher, while observing and expanding on what children are doing with the resources available on a daily basis, also introduces new items or creates a vignette of sorts with the regular materials, putting them together in a way that piques the interest of the child and opens the door to further exploration.
This nudging of inquiring minds might look like:
- a new room arrangement
- an exchange of toys, putting some away and bringing some old ones back out
- a table or bulletin board displaying materials to observe and explore
- a single or mixture of art tools and materials
- a closed box containing … something
- a basket of objects
- something out of place — “what’s that doing there?”
- these provocations pinned on Pinterest by earlylearning4
- or these sites pinned by booknblues
In yesterday’s blog I posted the following quote by Dietze and Kashin: “If parents and educators try to label experiences as play, but in reality have specific requirements for the activity, then it becomes work not play.” This means that while we might have ideas about how the children will explore the material and how we might expand on the learning, we must also stay at arm’s length, at least at first, letting the children explore at their own pace and in their own way.
Deborah Stewart’s blog about her grandson’s exploration of paintbrushes is a perfect example of this “arm’s length” observation process. The materials were presented with the expectation of rolling paint but the child’s interest was in the variety of paintbrushes. Rather than re-directing the child’s interest Deborah, instead, shifted her “guidance” to fit with his focus of curiosity.
Everyone has different ways of thinking and different interests which can change in any given moment. Imagine a train going down a track headed to a certain destination. Now imagine the train being shoved off the track and sent, suddenly, in a different direction. That is what we do when we interrupt play, heading it towards the learning that “we” want to see happen. A jolted redirection.
Now imagine the new track to be made from pebbles and stones – imagine the difficulties of the train as it tries to navigate its way to the destination – stumbling and fumbling, not able to get traction, putting more effort into the movement than the journey itself. This, too, is what we do when we interrupt the discovery process and try to impose our way of thinking and exploring.
Learning through play – discovering and exploring not only the materials available but also how their brains work, how they question, discover, and explore.
The Teacher’s Role
1. Provide the materials or setting to explore.
2. Stand back and observe. (Have a camera ready to document the exploring.)
3. Watch and listen to how the children observe and explore.
4. Make note of what they are interested in, how they use the materials.
5. Be ready to follow their lead and to enhance the exploration.
How have you piqued the interest of the children in your care? We’d love to hear your stories and try them out as well.
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