Secret Garden Playschool Group

MAKING LEARNING ORGANIC

Being an educator of twenty-two years and now a mommy of twin toddlers, I am a firm believer and advocate that the world is our classroom, and our learning and development should never stop, no matter our age or stage. So, when it comes to inputting into my daughters’ understanding and growth, my aim each day is to find ‘in the moment’ opportunities to broaden their learning. When I speak of learning, I mean holistic learning, not just cognitive. For me education in its truest sense is about the development of the whole person. Daily life is full of ripe, rich learning platforms that simply need an adult caregiver to give a nudge here or there for the child to gain from that moment. There is so much that could be said about this topic. Here are some ideas to add to your treasure chest of keeping learning with young children organic.

1. Observe your child’s interests and build on them.
As my children keep developing and being exposed to different contexts and experiences, so their interests take on new focus points. I try to go with the flow of their interests, without it becoming a fixation or all-consuming. If they are interested in something at a certain stage, they are more likely to be open to learning more about it. We aim as parents to find books, video clips, places of interest and so on, that link to their current interests. Even just conversations about their interests grow understanding and asking them questions pique their curiosity and desire to delve deeper.

2. Capitalising on nature’s bounty and diversity
I feel that Nature spoils us with the opportunity to explore her and learn from her. Just one outing in nature somewhere with my children can encompass all kinds of learning, from respect of how we interact with nature, to seeing a novel creepy crawly we’ve never seen before, to counting seeds, or packing sticks in a straight row. Gross motor, fine motor and sensory activities can definitely be optimised on nature outings. My daughters love trying to balance on fallen branches or to swing on a farm fence, to pick up tiny stones and plop them into water pools and to select and feel diverse bits of foliage and seed types that have fallen from local plants. Naming plants, rubbing their leaves and smelling them, all add to the stimulating experience.

3. Teaching respect and responsibilities
I feel that teaching respect and responsibilities from young is important. I believe a very powerful means of teaching these values is by modelling. Adult behaviour is most certainly mimicked by children. So, in daily life I aim to model to my children how we care for our possessions. For example, this is how we turn the pages of a book with care. We don’t stand on our reading books, nor do we throw our crayons on the floor to break them on purpose. Modelling manners is important in our household. A “thank you” to my child for waiting for my help or “please” when asking them to listen to me, goes a long way. We should not just expect “please” and “thank you” from our children, we should use the same language towards them.
Small, assisted responsibilities are already managed by my daughters of three years old. They help to give our cat fresh water and kibbles. They absolutely love helping me to water plants with their small buckets and mini watering cans. I always encourage them to help tidy up when they have finished playing and aim to make it fun with a song. Their faces beam when they help carry grocery items after a shop, to the kitchen for Daddy and Mommy. You can see how the responsibility builds their self-esteem and they feel set up for success.

4. Move, feel and remember!
Especially for toddlers who are so incredibly on the go, learning through movement needs to be a daily inclusion. Learning for the young one does not have to be compartmentalized into isolated boxes: “Now we are learning, now we switch over to playing.” No, learning happens while they move and while they play. Like most toddlers, my twins love nursery rhymes and moving to them, drumming to them or patting on their bodies while they say the rhyme. They love to dance together or in Daddy or Mommy’s arms, again, letting them feel rhythm. Having a feel of rhythm, I believe, is an important pre-literacy skill. Numbers and counting can also be taught kinaesthetically, and I believe the body holds that memory of the feel of the movement (let’s say hopping or jumping when counting), so that the brain holds the memory of the numbers more readily. “Let’s count the steps as we climb them up and down.” Or “Let’s draw numbers in the sand with our index finger.” Or “Let’s clap out the letters of our name to spell it out.” These are but some examples of how movement and sensory input can allow for more memorable play-learning.

5. Make the child the teacher at chosen times.
I have witnessed that one of the best ways to learn is to teach. You cannot teach something to someone else unless you truly understand it for yourself. It’s very empowering to a little one if you ask them to teach you or tell you as an adult caregiver about topic X or Y, no matter how simple. My little Grace loves to see what’s in the pots, pans and steamer when I am preparing food. I ask her to tell me what she sees, rather than me describing everything. Her ability to name items and describe processes in the kitchen, has grown as a result. I set up playdates for my girls with other children and if one of the friends knows a lot about a topic, let’s say about beetles, I ask them as much as I can on the topic, so that the friend can teach and consolidate her own knowledge, while my daughters can gain new knowledge. Asking a child questions about their area of interest is a powerful way to strengthen their own understanding.

In conclusion, this topic about making learning organic seems inexhaustible. But, here’s hoping that this blog has sparked some ideas and has made us as adult caregivers excited about learning through day-to-day activities with our children, rather than seeing learning as something we have to find space for in our day as an add on or tag on. Learning happens while we live life. We use the teachable moments as they present themselves. If we model to our children that we ourselves are always learning even as adults, that will, in all likelihood, excite them to be life-long learners too.

Copyright ©
Delia Swart

Photo of Mika and Grace exploring the waterways at Babylonstoren

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