Importance of Family Time for Childhood Education
July 30, 2019
When Does Learning Begin?
June 6, 2020
Pre-Schoolers and Kindergarteners often have a very active and over the top imagination and perception of the world. They tend to use their curiosity and imagination to explore themselves, their feelings, and the world around them. Curiosity helps children be more observant, to think about things and figuring them out. When children explore their curiosity, great things can come from that, their vocabulary, their ability to express themselves, describe what they are thinking, seeing, hearing, or experiencing. You, as a parent can help your child grow and development in their early years by supporting their curiosity.
You can encourage and nurture your child’s curiosity through unstructured play while giving your child the free time to play and fuel their curiosity and imagination. From the time of birth, children are driven by their curiosity. Your child’s curiosity serves their understanding – from a young age, children are voracious in their pursuit of information. Toddlers will work their way through a living room, like a wrecking ball, driven by curiosity, all in the hunt for knowledge. This is how they familiarize themselves with life and the world around them growing up. Try giving your child as many opportunities to play by themselves or with others, without your intervention, unless absolutely necessary. The Director of Rutgers Social-Emotional Learning Lab, Maurice Elias, states that when your child plays on their own or with others, the rules may not make sense, or that they will use toys, games, and other objects in ways that they are not intended to be used. This will only further fuel their curiosity and imagination; and over-scheduling and controlling what your child does and how and what they should think and do can more often than not stunt their curiosity and imagination.
Curiosity is the most important skill for the child to learn. It is a formidable skill that will help your child learn deeply and lastingly. In addition, curiosity helps children learn efficiently. It is a novelty detector; it teaches them to rationalize and explain the unexpected and to resolve uncertainty they may face. It requires them to use all of their senses to explore the unexplored and understand what they don’t until it no longer remains “unfamiliar” and “alien”.
Questions are tools of curiosity. A child’s approach to investigation is often described as “taste, twist and rattle.” However, in relation to the non-physical world, children want to learn, discover and explore the intangible world, the things that they can’t necessarily touch or feel. They may want to know what is at the end of the sky, where the end of the world is and what is at the edge?
To put it in simple terms, a child who does not cultivate and hone their curiosity will (most likely) be an adult that does not innovate. It is an essential skill in today’s world and in 15 years, when your now 3-year-old child is graduates High School, these skills will be essential in order to excel in the future. Some reasons to inspire curiosity and creativity within children:
- It counteracts boredom.
- It nurtures an active mind.
- It inspires diligence and tenacity.
- It sets up long-term success.
Asking questions and sparking their interests and thought process through is something that can easily be done with children. Communication is key with children, talk to them, ask them simple questions and encourage them to express what they are thinking and feeling. By asking intentional questions, you stretch the child’s imagination and ability to reason and rationalize; and in the process, encourage their creativity and independence. Provide the toddler with books for babies that tickle curiosity, and stimulate creativity.
The scientific research is clear that children who experience wonder and curiosity, and act on that feeling of curiosity and the urge to explore the world around them would perform better at school, at work, and end up being intelligent, creative, satisfied individuals.
A wise man said, “Judge a child by the questions he asks; not his answers”. Learning Time has a range of products that do just that. That is, make the child curious and look for answers.
The Learning Time A+ Program has everything a child taking her first steps in early learning and early childhood education needs. Be it awareness of themselves and the world, skills like language, communication, logical thinking, introduction to math, inculcating the right attitudes, and very importantly, learning to learn, these books for babies and preschoolers take them from the initiation to consolidation of the concepts.
It has audio stories for kids, fun math activities, learning activities to do at home; the Learning Time A+ Program ensures that the child has fun learning. And, that’s the best way children learn.
