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Children have a natural need to discover the world around them. They do it through all their senses and movements, so they need to take part in activities to learn. This is called "active learning". At home, how can we accompany this curiosity and this need to move around?
Let your child explore the world and accompany this discovery with words.
At any age, but especially when we are young, we learn better when we are involved in meaningful experiences, which involve many senses and our emotions. It is through language, through speech, that the adult will help the child to gather information from all the senses and establish a link with past learning.
A child experiments all the time. You've already seen him/her open a game by throwing all the pieces on the floor to understand what's inside the box, look, touch, hear the sounds. As adults, we tend to forget that. Freedom of exploration and movement is essential: "Children learn by experiencing their world using all their senses. Restriction of movement, especially at a young age, hinders the process of experiential learning".
Support and encourage his/her curiosity
1. Value your child's interests.
Encourage his/her natural interests. If your child likes music, listen to it often, play instruments together, dance together. If he/her likes insects, give him/her a bucket and a net and go look for them in a park. Find books on insects and read them together.
2. Show your interest in the world surrounding us.
Walk outside and question the trees, the sky, the stars out loud. Let your child also see you pursue your own interests.
3. Answer his/her questions simply and clearly and according to his development.
The question "Where do babies come from?" will not have the same answer if your child is 3 or 13 old. At any age, ask him what he thinks about it before answering him. And if you don't have the answer, say so. What a great opportunity to show him that you can always learn, and take the opportunity to show him how, by looking for a book in the library, for example.
4. Make the library a regular output.
Books are windows into all kinds of worlds to delight the curious mind. Young children exposed to books become better readers. Let your child choose his or her own books, the important thing is that he or she be captivated so that reading becomes a habit and a pleasure. Paris is full of other activities to delight your child: toy libraries, the Cité des enfants à la Villette, theatres. The magazine Paris Môme4 lists every month the outings for children in the city.
5. Redirect explorations as necessary, without discouraging the child.
If your toddler is exploring houseplants, put them out of reach, but offer them a nearby alternative (an exit to the park where we will look at the soil and plants, or a small bowl with soil that they can touch, smell, play, inspect). Explain what you are doing and why, it will teach them important problem-solving techniques, as well as creative and acceptable ways to explore the world.
6. Allow time for open activities.
Unlike some toys designed to be used in a certain way, materials such as boxes, blocks, water, sand, pots and pans can be used with imagination. Do not tell your child what to do with the equipment, how to do it or what it should look like at the end. Let your child's curiosity be his guide.
7. Get out, and move!
As often as possible, go out with your child. He/she needs to work out and explore the world with his/her whole body. Enjoy parks because contact with nature is also very beneficial for its development.
How do these principles work in école M?
In our classrooms, children are very often on the move. This may give the impression of a "lack of structure", but it is a deliberate and thoughtful organization.
Children move to get the necessary equipment for an activity, to settle into a comfortable position for them, to wash a brush or to ask a question. Their games and activities use their movements, and their bodies are as important a learning tool as their brains!
Scientific research has repeatedly shown that children need opportunities to move around in class, so we have organized our classes and plan our days accordingly.
Jessica Escobar