Have you noticed that your child does the same thing over and over again, has fascinations and likes to repeat the same actions? This is called a schema and its how children learn, how they make sense of the world and themselves.
What types of schema are there?
Here are the more common schemas:
Trajectory - creating lines in space by climbing up and jumping down. Dropping items from up high.
Positioning -putting things into groups and lining them up.
Enveloping - wrapping items up or putting them them in containers. Covering up objects or themselves.
Rotating - enjoys running around in circles. Likes turning objects around and around.
Enclosing - adding barriers to play areas e.g. fences around animals. Creating borders to their pictures.
Transporting - moving items from one area to another. containing the objects in bags/containers and taking them from one place to another.
Connecting - setting out and dismantling tracks, constructing, joining items together.
Orienteering – positioning themselves or objects in different places or positions for example the other way round or upside down.
The CBeebies website has recently published information that aims to help parents understand what's behind their child's play and help them learn by observing their patterns of behaviour or 'schemas', which can help to develop a range of important skills.
Find out more click the link on the sidebar.
Top Tip
Follow your child's lead with their play. Spend some time observing them playing, it will enable you to develop a greater understanding about how they play and learn. Knowing how they play and learn will help you to support their learning. For example if they are transporters they will like moving objects around, so providing them with containers and portable resources in order for them to move the items around such as a buggy, wheelbarrow etc It will also help you understand why they do what they do; for example why they always move the toys around instead of playing them in one place.
