How does my child learn?

Feb 5, 2021Educational Toys

How does my child learn?

Children are curious creatures and they learn a lot from their immediate environment through observing, playing, listening, experimenting, exploring and asking plenty of questions. As soon as they start school, it is important to keep them interested, engaged and motivated to learn. It is also beneficial for them to understand the need for them to learn so as they grow, they will take an active part in the learning process, become more involved and take more responsibility in decision making and organising learning activities. 

As a parent, your child learns so much from you, even from the day to day activities you do. Although learning may not always be easy, to help them develop a positive attitude towards learning you need to start by setting a positive example. That is your primary role in the learning process of your child.

Learning through play    

Children learn so many things through play. Several schools even encourage children to play not only because it is very fun and enjoyable, it also gives children the opportunity to further develop their decision-making skills by encouraging them to settle on a choice or choose a specific action to do, it helps with their social skills if playing with other children and provides a safe environment where they can explore, experiment and try out new ideas. 

Unlike taking lessons from their teacher, meaningful play allows children to become active participants by taking active roles, playing along with others and responding to them in accordance to the game they have set for their imaginative play. 

How is learning made possible through play? Play is a vital aspect of the learning process of children because it combines the creative and logical aspects of their brain, which are gathered through imagination, feelings, interacting with people and physical experiences.

Play also gives children the opportunity to develop their physical growth as it is often a full-body endeavour for them. Activities such as rolling, dancing, climbing and running can promote healthy muscle development and regulate their gross and fine motor skills. Aside from developing their physical growth, play also fosters their emotional and mental muscles as children are encouraged to develop a system of rules that govern their play, elaborate different scenarios as they go along and create worlds that fill their vivid imagination.

According to several studies, children learn to think before they act and regulate their emotions whenever they play. For instance, if your child is pretending to be a chef, he or she may be pretending to receive menu orders from the waiter, cook a dish, serve the dish and wait for other additional orders to follow. Whatever the scenario is, meaningful play encourages their mental, emotional and physical faculties to anticipate the next possible action to take and how they should react whenever a specific situation arrives. Creative role-playing allows children to develop their social skills early on in life, helping them thrive in any kind of environment as adults.

At home, there are many ways in which you can develop an environment that is suitable for meaningful play. For instance, you can let your kids play with ride-on toys and let them pretend to be a fireman or bus driver. Another option is to let them play with wooden toys that will help develop their fine and gross motor skills. Lastly, to encourage their emotional and mental growth, soft toys can serve as a fine medium for learning, everyone loves a teddy bears picnic! 

Developing a growth mindset    

Growth mindset refers to our capacity to overcome any challenges that we encounter in various areas of learning. This is an important skill that must be developed as having a growth mindset will allow children to persist whenever they encounter struggles in learning and development. For instance, a young child struggling with their school spellings, if they have a good growth mindset, this will allow them to persist through their difficulties and find new ways to improve their skills in spelling.  

Ask plenty of questions

Studies have shown that children can ask hundreds of questions in a single day and about 40,000 by the time they reach 5 years old. The studies also show that as they begin their formal education, the number of questions declines as they get older. There are varying reasons for their decreasing inquisitiveness. 

Asking questions, when you look deeper into it, is actually the children’s urge to learn something. It is simply a part of human existence and it is something that comes naturally with children. As they encounter something new, they get curious and begin to learn about it, then continue to find out more with every new exploration and discovery. If fostered at an early age, children’s capacity for inquisitiveness will encourage them to make way for new learnings.

As a parent, it is your duty to support your child’s eagerness to learn. As we have mentioned earlier, become a positive example yourself and encourage your child to stay curious. 

Here at Beehive Toy Factory, we believe that learning should be as fun and educational as possible. Which is why we offer a wide range of traditional wooden toys and ride-on toys that are great for fostering imaginative and independent play among children. On top of that, our wonderful collection of soft toys can serve as an ideal present for children and kids at heart!

If you are looking for uniquely designed toys that you and your kids will love, check out our website today. You can reach us through 01460 241800 or fill out our contact form. We have been established since 2016 and we have experienced dramatic growth since then, thanks to our hardworking team and our dedication to providing kids high-quality toys and exceptional customer service!