09/17/2022
Once you learn about childhood play schemas then it can be fascinating to watch children (especially toddler and preschooler age) play and try to spot the different schemas.
(This can sometimes carry over into early and later elementary, but it’s most common in younger children.)
It can also help you understand things that seem like “behavior problems”—for example, a 2-year-old who just cannot seem to stop throwing things may simply be in a Trajectory exploring phase. They *need* to throw tons of things in order to connect the dots in their brain that are currently extremely interested in all the components of throwing—the arc things make as they sail through the air, the different weights and other properties of objects, the response of objects to gravity, the way other objects respond when they’re hit by a flying object, etc. These are the foundational principles that make formally learning physics 15 years later feel like “Oh, of course this makes intuitive sense!” This is where that intuition comes from.
Does that mean you have to just let them throw breakable objects or hurt people? No, of course not. But it means you can set them up for success by putting away hard toys for now and giving them a bucket of beanbags or rolled-up socks or paper or feathers or stuffed animals or ball pit balls or all of the above. And maybe you create an amazing connection moment with them by joining in their play. “Let’s see how many of these we can get to land on that couch over there!”
[Image description:
The title of the image is “Early Childhood Schema Play Guide”.
It describes, “Schemas are described as a pattern of repeated behavior which allow children to explore and express their thoughts and ideas through play.”
Beneath the title and definition are 8 different-colored boxes, in red, pink, beige, and blue. The 8 boxes each have a title defining that specific play schema, “signs” indicating signs that a child might be in that play schema, and then “activity ideas” for what activities have to do with that schema.
Those read as follows:
Title: Connecting
Signs: Connecting things together, tying things using ropes, tapes, or ribbon
Activity ideas: Threading beads, build train tracks
Title: Enveloping
Signs: Conceal objects or themselves, wrapping things, hiding
Activity ideas: Use a box to stuff things into, wrapping objects with small blanket or wrapping paper
Title: Positioning
Signs: Ordering, lining, arranging objects by size, shape, and color
Activity ideas: Peg board games, stacking objects, lining up dolls or cars, sorting objects
Title: Transporting
Signs: Moving object from place to place in a container, bags, or wagon
Activity ideas: Transport small animals, dolls, scavenger hunt
Title: Enclosing
Signs: Building, fences, drawing borders, using materials to create enclosure
Activity ideas: Set up tunnels with stacking rainbow or blocks, build blanket tents, parachute games
Title: Orientation
Signs: Hanging upside-down, putting objects in different places or positions
Activity ideas: Use binoculars to look at objects, posting boxes
Title: Rotation
Signs: Rotating object or themselves, twisting, spinning, very energetic
Activity ideas: Musical box, explore different size of rotating wheels, using push/rotate toys
Title: Trajectory
Signs: Throwing, jumping, climbing, kicking
Activity ideas: Play [with] different size balls, climbing structure, throw bean bags
The image was made by whose watermark is on the image.
End description.]
