Learning begins with DOING. And doing requires our hands in particular. Young children are usually constantly busy reaching for things, wanting to „have“ them and take them in their hands. And this is of crucial importance, because this is how they learn about the world.
The next stage of a child's development is to be interested in putting things into containers, taking them out, lining them up, pushing them around and trying out endless combinations and finding out what else you can do with these objects.
1. completing the task is NOT the goal
It's not about achieving a certain result or completing a certain task to fulfill an adult's educational expectations. For some of our children, this expectation has led to them refusing to repeat an activity they have already completed. But repetition and the variations that come with it are absolutely necessary for learning.
2. use materials repeatedly and in many variations
The materials are used again and again, always with small variations, e.g. the container can be tipped out again and again so that the child can put the objects in again and again, with ever new variations in space, movement, fingering or speed.
3. mistakes are our friends
Especially when unexpected things happen (so-called „mistakes“!), you gain new insights and gain new experiences. If you do everything right, you don't learn anything new. For this reason, mistakes and unexpected situations are to be welcomed, as they are the best way to learn from experience. Our aim is therefore to create a situation in which as many new and unexpected experiences, including mistakes, can be made. Since our goal is not to achieve a specific result, we do not usually correct mistakes. It is interesting to see whether the child notices this on its own - and thus shows how its general understanding grows. And if not, that's fine too.
4. one item at a time
Since our goal is to provide the child with as many experiences as possible, we want the child to pick up only one item at a time, i.e. we prevent the child from picking up several items at once to save effort and effort - since the goal of effort avoidance is to „get it over with“ rather than engaging in doing and learning.
5. bigger is better
The larger the movement patterns that the adult encourages the child to perform, the greater the reinforcement and the more new neural connections can be created. Using larger or sometimes heavier play materials can help the child to feel their body better and focus their attention on what they are doing. In general, it is also the case that the eyes follow what the hands do.
6. focus on effort
The lesson is not about finishing something, but about the child engaging with space and their two hands. Our focus is always on extending the child's effort, grasping and physical integration without increasing the demands on the child's understanding, i.e. we might place the materials further away or higher to „prompt“ the child to grasp more effortfully or use larger/heavier materials to strengthen their grasping.
The focus is NOT on completing an activity
Since we are trying to simulate the way young children play, which is fluid and open-ended, the focus should NOT be on completing or finishing activities. Sometimes we repeat or restart a game while there are still items on the table. This can also encourage more flexibility and tolerance and avoid some children's fixation on „Done!“.
By starting the next activity before clearing up the previous one, you also convey the awareness that there is no specific goal, ensuring that the game is interesting, ongoing and ever-changing.
