How do young children learn?

This resource was originally created as part of the Early Years Outdoors membership scheme from Learning through Landscapes. To nd out more about membership call 01962 845 811 or visit www.ltl.org.uk

Curriculum Support
How do young children learn?
When planning for outdoor opportunities and experiences for your children, it is important to bear in mind how young children learn. What learning environments work best for young children? What experiences will ensure that learning will be satisfying and successful for them? In this Curriculum Support, we will look at some of these key areas. The outdoors offers some of the things young children need for learning such as room for movement and ample opportunity for hands-on activity. Think about providing small, quiet places, outside as well as indoors. In your short, medium or long term planning include these elements and features to create the conditions young children need to thrive best in their learning and development. Many of these elements interact and strong experiences with a lasting impact can be planned in quite simple ways. The best provision links experiences across the indoor and outdoor environments, making use of what each has to offer. Doing, movement and whole body involvement Young children like to move and some children, especially many boys, seem to need to move most of the time. It is now well known that movement helps learning and that young children learn through doing and moving they are kinaesthetic learners. Brainbuilding in young children actually takes place through movement of the body, so the more active the child can be and the more parts of their body they can use at once, the better the child understands and learns. Plan for experiences that encourage and enable children

to meet their desire to move and be actively involved, such as role-play contexts that allow movement and action. Look for ways of extending activities that encourage whole body involvement, such as in sand and water play. Using all the senses As adults we rely heavily on our eyes and listening to others talk. Young children use all their senses to nd out about the world around them. Their brains act like sponges, soaking up everything around and building literally millions of connections. It is only later that the ltering process takes place that makes us focused and direct as adults. It is important that we support young children during this phase to develop all their sensory receptors, interpret this sensory information and integrate this in their body and brain. Recent research on prioperceptors sensory nerve endings that sense changes in body position shows how we learn to store this knowledge for immediate or future use. For children, whole body movement opportunities and physical challenges are essential to hone these skills. They also listen to every sound and seem to be alert to tiny details in what they see that we have learned to lter out. Plan experiences that give children sensory input, rich in things to see, hear, smell, taste and touch and in which they can move all parts of the body. There is no shortage of sensory opportunities in the outdoors: ensure rich sensory content, such as growing in real soil and playing in the rain. Real and rst-hand experiences Until they have learned through concrete and direct hands-on experience, children are not ready for abstract thinking or second-hand knowledge. What does a metre mean unless you have travelled along many lines with your body and got a real feeling for the idea of distance? What does weight really mean until you have held something in your hand? Young children will get deeply absorbed in real experiences, often for surprisingly long periods of time, and gain hugely from everything that experience has to offer the benet maybe quite different from that which you had originally planned! Their experiences will help them make some wonderful connections and theories about how the world works. All questions and ideas are valid and an important part of learning. Children work like scientists, who dont assume they understand something until it has been thoroughly tested through experiment. The outdoors is rich in possibilities for real and rst-hand experiences and you will have many to choose from even in a small outdoor area: nature, the elements of the weather, digging and growing, exploring running water, sand and natural materials, woodwork, running and going up and down slopes or steps, the list goes on.

All photographs Learning through Landscapes unless otherwise stated.

Digging in deep sand with a long-handled spade provides a whole-body immersion in the concepts being explored and is a richer experience than reaching into a sand tray, using only hands and arms.

The importance of planning for play Young children are self-driven learners and are constantly curious and exploratory and discover through play. Although they love adult attention and interaction, they also want to follow their own ideas and nd it hard to do what adults want them to for very long. Childrens play is often based upon what they know about or are interested in making sense of experiences they have had by playing with the ideas, often repeatedly. The experiences could be from home or the setting. The best outdoor provision supplies plenty of play opportunities. Plan for ample time for children to be able to process ideas at their own pace, making the outdoors available every day for long periods. This will have a benecial impact on childrens learning and development and reward your planning. Social learning Young children are very sociable and learn best by interaction with other children and adults. By sharing interest and talking about what they are seeing and doing they build their thinking abilities and their understanding of how the world works. Encourage children to play and work outdoors with other children and with adults. Give time for long interactions to occur, supporting a social co-construction of knowledge. Activities that genuinely interest practitioners will offer many opportunities for sharing the focus (sustained shared thinking) where both parties are genuinely interested in something and nd out about it together.

Imitation Watching and imitating is a major way of learning for young children. We can teach young children through how we behave. Role modelling curiosity and enquiry will bring childrens attention to something interesting without needing to call them. Behave in a condent and careful way towards challenges to give children a positive approach to risk-taking. Value the outdoor environment, show this in planning creative activities and making it genuinely available. However, because of the sponge-like way young children absorb their surroundings, impressions have unconscious but lasting effects, including adult behaviour that give clues as to how they feel about being outside today! For those children who prefer to be outdoors, the perception that adults do not really value it can damage their self-esteem. Children of the same age and older children can be excellent tutors for play, communication and behaviour; so planning times when ages mix in outdoor play is well worth consideration. Repetition Young children like to repeat an activity that interests them again and again, until it is fully understood or mastered. They often like to return to something in order to practice and rene their ideas and skills, or simply to feel a sense of familiarity and competence. Plan for children to be able to go back to activities or experiences over a long period of time, giving them the chance to work at their own pace and repeat as much as necessary. Plan for long periods of time outdoors and for all weathers, so that children know they will be able to carry on the next day. Plan also for children to access resources themselves so that they can get involved in what they want to do without the need for adults to set things up for them. Making use of these suggestions and ideas in your setting will give you more time for the important tasks of interacting, talking and supporting childrens learning.

Future issues of Curriculum Support will offer more detailed guidance for planning effective outdoor play.

Suggested Reading
A Shared Vision for Outdoor Play poster in your Early Years Outdoors pack. Smart Moves: why learning is not all your head Carla Hannaford, 1995, Great Ocean Publishers, ISBN 0915556278. First hand experience: what matters to children D. Rich, D. Casanova, M.J. Drummond, A. Durrant and C. Myer, 2005, Rich Learning Opportunities, ISBN 0954968301. The Potential of a Puddle Claire Warden , 2005, Mindstretchers, ISBN 0954488350.
www.mindstretchers.co.uk

Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years, 2004, Research report No 356, DfES.
www.dfes.gov.uk