The best ways to support children’s schemas in Early Years
Schemas can be described as patterns of repeatable behaviour; this can often be noticed in young children. As children acquire more skills and develop new ideas they will experience more, this will add to their existing schemas. As we begin to notice these recognisable patterns of behaviour it demonstrates how children are learning and it is a great way for Early Years practitioners to fully understand the children better.
As you become more aware and notice schemas you will become familiar to the typical schemas such as transporting, enveloping, enclosure, trajectory, rotation, connection, positioning and transforming. Skilful Early Years practitioners will be able to see these schemas during play as well as though children’s movements, their drawings and how they use items in the play space.
It is best practice to support children’s schemas and allow them to fully explore them. In some instances some schemas can be seen as displaying negative behaviour however this may not be the case and it can just be part of their development.
How can Early Years practitioners support children’s schemas?
To help support children’s schemas, first of all make yourself fully aware of the different types of schemas. The enabling environment is also important in regards to supporting children schemas, for example by having accessible resources to allow children to transport objects around the room, you are encouraging children to fully explore their transporting schema. Resources can be as simple as shopping baskets/trolley, trucks, fabric handled bags, boxes, buckets etc.
Think about your environment and evaluate your resources in regard to supporting schemas. Don’t be afraid to change resource around and add other ones to other areas, look at your children’s observations, are children taking the sand to the construction areas or are they posting objects into the holes in your role play units.
If you have a large delivery save those cardboard boxes as children will enjoy crawling through them. Supporting children’s schemas in the Early Years is about using your imagination and offering those children the right resources for them to use in their play to extend their skills.
Educational Early Years suppliers such as TTS have a sufficient amount of resources to support babies and toddlers patterns of behaviour. Take a look at what they have to offer, but remember it is also about how Early Years practitioners use their skilful knowledge to support these repeatable patterns of behaviour.