Your child is a natural learner, remove the obstacle of learning for them.
Children are naturally curious. They don't need help to be curious; when they are, they explore and learn from their explorations. They form ideas about how things work and test, re-test, and make sense of the world. While they explore, they invite others into their exploration and learn together.
Two elementary school-age girls found a unique piece in a park with different exercising equipment. There was a walkway with handles that ramped up and down, and next to it was a set of stairs, four steps up and four steps down, which was shorter than the ramp. They ran around and through the equipment for a few minutes, then one of the girls suggested they race to see who was faster. One chose to run through the ramps, while the other chose the stairs.
They got ready, and one girl said, “Go!” They both went from one side to the other, finishing simultaneously. They tried again and again, they finished at the same time. Even though the stairs were shorter in length, it still took the same amount of time to get through as the ramp.
“How about we trade places?” one girl asked the other. They traded places, and surprisingly, they finished at the same time again. “But this one is shorter!” one finally said. “I know,” the other replied. “That is so weird.”
These two girls invited two adults who were there with them to join them for the race, and they turned it into a relay. They got similar results, then they started trying to skip the steps on the stairs, trying hard to make a difference in the results, but their effort didn't produce a different result.
Simple exercise equipment kept the girls going back and forth for a while because something didn't make sense in their minds. They thought that shorter distances meant less time spent on the course, so they tested their theory over and over again, eventually realizing that it takes more energy to go up the stairs because it is higher. So length is not the only factor to consider, but one must also consider height.
These two elementary school girls were curious about something they observed in the real world, and they spent time trying to make sense of it by themselves. Learning is the process of making sense of the world and creating ways to test their knowledge. For these kids, their experimentation requires discipline to continue with their trial and error. So often, these incredible learning opportunities are interrupted by adults. There were so many possibilities of interruptions.
parents ask the children to take off their jackets or put them on depending on the weather.
telling them how to play on the equipment.
setting the rules of the experiments, which limits their creativity.
At the same time, there are opportunities to enhance their play:
Listen and ask follow-up questions to help them think.
Be near them and available for their questions if they have any.
Protect their play by setting physical and time boundaries.
After they finished playing, ask them what they were doing and what was something they discovered during their play.
Children are naturally curious and primed to learn. It is important to help them remove any obstacles that may hinder their learning, even if the obstacles are caused by our own interjections and interruptions. The more aware we are of our impact on our children, the better off they will be.
