CHCFC505A: Foster cognitive
development in early childhood
Assist children to develop thinking and problemsolving skills
Contents
Provide varied and appropriately challenging opportunities and
resources related to each child’s stage of development and
interests
What is cognitive development?
4
Using opportunities and resources at different ages and stages
6
Provide opportunities for children to experience the
consequences of their choices, actions and ideas
7
Challenges, questions and choices
7
Balance between challenging and allowing development of ideas
8
Encourage children to explore, understand and solve problems
in their environment
10
Discovery learning
10
Using opportunities and resources
11
Stimulate thinking skills
11
Using opportunities and resources in the centre environment
12
Providing encouragement and support
12
Use a variety of strategies to maintain children’s interest in
solving problems
15
Using everyday experiences and routines
15
Using learning centres
16
Planning cognitive experiences
16
Provide challenging and engaging experiences for each child to
develop their attention span and give them time to stay with the
activity until they are ready to move on
20
Developing attention spans
20
Providing time
21
Introduce new ideas/activities that may build on existing
knowledge, skills and interests
Providing opportunities to foster thinking skills
2
4
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Extending thinking skills
Use questioning and non-verbal communication to develop
children’s abilities to observe what is happening around them
25
Fostering children’s observation and reflection skills
25
Assist children to develop their understandings
25
Difficult concepts
26
Identify and monitor children’s cognitive development and
thinking skills
28
Fostering memory skills
28
Exploration
29
Piaget and toddlers
30
Memory and the preschooler
31
Appendix 1—Learning centres
33
Setting up areas
33
Using learning centres
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3
Provide varied and appropriately
challenging opportunities and
resources related to each child’s
stage of development and interests
What is cognitive development?
Cognitive development is the development of abilities and skills around memory,
imagination, problem solving, concept development and creativity.
Cognitive development in toddlers
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These skills emerge through the child’s interaction with their environment,
including the people they interact with. It involves trial and error, exploration,
investigation and discovery. There are a range of key concepts we need to
understand in order to appreciate the development of thinking skills.
Thinking about how we think and how we learnt to think the way we do is like
thinking about how we learnt to breathe. It is something that we do constantly
and automatically, but how we do it is not always the same throughout our life
spans.
In this unit we will be examining how we developed the ability to think through
complex tasks, such as where we left the car keys or whether we turned the iron
off before we left. While these may seem like simple problems compared to a
solution to global warfare, many of the thinking skills we have learned in day-today problem solving will be similar to those used in solving big picture problems.
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With enough information and an ability to think through issues and processes, you
can both find the car keys and a strategy for world peace.
Caregivers have an important role to play in the development of children’s
thinking skills, and therefore need to understand the development of this
important set of skills, just as they need to understand the development of social
skills, language, or physical skills. Without that knowledge, planning interactions
and activities will not be appropriately pitched to meet the needs of children at
different times in their development.
Activity: Reflection on thinking
When you were thinking about these things, you were probably linking tasks to be
done with actions needed to do them. Perhaps you needed to put the tasks into a
mental list of priorities, give yourself reasons why they should or should not be
done now, and finally think about what you needed to have out to start this
module. Well done! I’m sure you made the right decision.
These are all thinking skills we have developed. We are not born with the ability to
think through complex actions, make mental connections, or reflect on our
reasons for doing something. All these skills have developed over time with
encouragement and modelling from those around us.
Thinking skills include our ability to:
•
•
•
•
•
Think through tasks i.e. don’t just hit it harder, try another approach.
Solve problems through trial and error and deduction eg. Boxes usually
open. If this side doesn’t, another side might.
Understand logical consequences of actions eg. I spilt the drink on the
chair. If I sit on the chair I will get wet.
Anticipate change through remembered past experiences and logical
thought eg. Last time I heard that ‘vroom vroom’ sound daddy arrived
home. If I go to the door he might come through it.
Imagine and be creative about the problems we face. Through imagining
the consequences of different approaches we can choose the one we feel
will be most effective, and perhaps at the same time come up with a
solution no one has previously considered.
The ability to remember and to reflect on our memories is an important part of
learning. We will look closely at how this skill can be fostered in the caregiving
environment.
It is important to think about how we think in order to encourage particular skills
in the children we work with.
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Using opportunities and resources at
different ages and stages
From your earlier exercises exploring the theories of thinking skills, and from your
own observations of children, you will have some ideas as to how children learn to
think at different stages. Use this information to respond to the following activity.
Activity 1
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Provide opportunities for children to
experience the consequences of their
choices, actions and ideas
Challenges, questions and choices
Children enjoy being challenged as long as they feel safe and secure within their
environment. It is the caregiver’s responsibility to ensure that children do feel safe
and secure and that the challenges in their environment are seen as fun rather
than threatening.
Carers can interact with children to maintain a child’s interests in what they are
doing
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Caregivers can use questions to maintain a child’s interest in what they are doing.
Questions should be more open than closed in the way they are structured and
the caregiver should also be sensitive to times when silence is more appropriate.
Children can be over-stimulated as well as under-stimulated and caregivers must
allow quiet time for children to assimilate and accommodate new information.
Children also need to make realistic choices about what is happening to them in
their environment. Choices should only be offered where all alternatives can be
accommodated by the carer. Never offer a choice you can’t manage. Children
must also be supported to understand the consequences of their choices—that if
they choose one thing, another may not be possible.
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Scenario 1
Lenny is playing Monopoly with a group of children. He looks at his watch and
says: ‘If we don’t go to the park now, there will not be time before your parents
come. What do you want to do?’ The children say they would like to continue. Ten
minutes later Emma wins the game. Jeremy asks: ‘Can we go to the park now?
Why not?’
It is important that Lenny sticks by his original choice that he offered the children
and explains again that there is now insufficient time to get to the park, play and
be back in time, however fast they run. The children will learn that there are
consequences for all decisions; they will not persist with requests if they
understand this concept.
Activity 2
Balance between challenging and
allowing development of ideas
It is important to remember there is a balance between challenging and allowing
children time to develop their own ideas. There are no rules on this one—you
have to use your own skills in observation and know the children you work with in
order to keep this balance.
It’s a skill to balance between challenging and allowing children to develop their
own ideas
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Children will have their own questions, sometimes constantly, and it is useful to
have thought out how you will best respond to them. At the end of a long day it
can be hard to keep responding to the number of questions young children have
but where possible it is most useful to put the question back onto the child, eg
‘Why do planes stay up in the sky and not fall on us?’ ‘Why do you think, Fiona?
Does anyone else here have any ideas on this?’ With young children there are also
a range of reference books and computer programs available for a range of
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abilities. These are well worth investing in so that both you and the child can
benefit from additional knowledge.
Sometimes children’s questions may be inappropriate or embarrassing, for
example, ‘Why is that lady so fat?’ However, children are driven to find out
everything they can, to build on their knowledge of the world. They learn very fast
and one talk about what questions are appropriate in different situations should
be enough. Other than this, it is fascinating to wait as children process chunks of
information and form a whole new question to follow the last one, even more
challenging to the adult than before, eg ‘If she is so fat because she has a baby in
her tummy, who put the baby there? How?’
Some problem solving is easy, some is much more complex. Once learnt, the skills
of thinking through issues logically and using tried and proven strategies can be
applied to a range of problems. Caregivers have a vital role to play in helping
children develop these skills.
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Encourage children to explore,
understand and solve problems in
their environment
Fostering the thinking skills of children is more than provision of a stimulating
environment and the use of encouragement by the caregiver, though these things
are important. Another thinking skill that is important to begin developing in early
childhood is the ability to solve problems. While ‘problems’ may have negative
associations for many, try putting in the word ‘challenges’ instead!
Caregivers play an important role in encouraging children to solve their own
challenges positively, and to begin to learn the wide range of skills necessary to
continue doing this in life.
Problems or challenges are decisions and reactions we face daily. Figuring out
how to get to work or college when the car is broken or there is a transport strike
is a problem. How to convince your teacher not to take off marks for a late
assignment is a problem. When and how to introduce solids to a highly allergic
baby, or how to deal with an acting-out 10 year old—these are all problems or
challenges.
Activity 3
Discovery learning
Piaget alerted us to the fact that children enjoy actively exploring their
environments, adjusting their thinking to new discoveries. Vygotsky, another
theorist, emphasised the role of the adult in that learning and how the adult can
shape a child’s learning so they can understand their culture and society. While
Piaget advocated a more ‘hands off’ approach to programming, Vygotsky
emphasised more adult intervention. The discovery learning approach reflects
parts of both these theories.
Discovery learning is one approach where the adult works with the child,
following their interests and supporting them in discovering new ways of
gathering and understanding information. In discovery learning, the adult follows
the child’s lead in identifying topics of interest, then supports the child’s interests
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through the provision of an environment rich in resources and information
relevant to the child’s interests. However, the child is left to make the connections
and organise the information themself.
Activity 4
Children exploring
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Using opportunities and resources
It is important for caregivers to use opportunities in their environment, both the
physical and the human, to foster children’s thinking skills. Once we have some
knowledge about what these skills involve, we become more aware of
opportunities within the environment to foster their development.
Activity 5
Activity 6
Stimulate thinking skills
Children need to be presented with opportunities and provided with resources to
stimulate their thinking skills. Environments should be colourful and have
movement, accessible toys and equipment, and space to explore. Adults need to
be interested in what the children are doing, ready to ask questions and provide
further challenges at different points.
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A colourful, stimulating environment
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Using opportunities and resources in
the centre environment
Let’s now put our thoughts so far into looking at the resources in a room in a
children’s service.
Activity 7
Providing encouragement and support
Activity 8
Scenario 2
Lizzy, four years, and Daniel, five, are building a castle. They are up to the
windows and can’t decide on the cellophane colour they would like. Their
caregiver comes over and says: ‘ I think we have a book of castles in the book
corner. You might get an idea of what they used if you look. After looking at the
book, Lizzy and Daniel are disappointed to see that most castles didn’t have glass
windows, but Lizzy points out that big churches had windows of lots of different
colours, so they happily begin to transform the castle into a cathedral.
Lizzy and Daniel can use a variety of resources to explore and solve problems in
their environment. It is the caregiver’s role to ensure that the resources are
available and accessible and that the problem solving becomes fun rather than a
chore.
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Scenario 3
Costa, two years, is trying to fit a shape in a box. It is the wrong shape for the
hole. Costa hits the box with the shape several times, then throws it across the
room. Costa’s caregiver, Rima, picks it up and comes over to Costa. ‘Did you have
problems fitting the shapes in?’ Costa nods. ‘How about I hand you the shapes
one at a time and you try them. We can do it together’. Costa nods again and
Rima sits comfortably with the pile of shapes in her lap. ‘Which one shall we try
first?’, she asks.
Costa is a toddler and unlikely to have a long attention span, as we noted earlier.
He is also mainly learning using trial and error rather than thinking through the
task logically. However, with Rima’s help he will be able to persist longer and
approach the problem logically. Next time he may move within what Vygotsky
called his ‘zone of proximal development’ in this skill, and be able to do it himself.
If he is still frustrated next time, Rima could talk him through it instead of handing
out the pieces, thus increasing his skill level a little at a time.
What caregivers need to do
Caregivers need to:
•
•
•
model approaches to solving problems, as with Costa—move children
beyond frustration with their current problem-solving approaches if they
don’t work
provide an environment where resources are available to problem solve
encourage children to think of different solutions and be creative in their
approaches.
They also need to challenge children with their questions and make finding the
answers a shared experience. Examples of this can be seen in almost any activity.
Piaget used to do an exercise with playdough to challenge the thinking of
preschoolers, which you may have seen in earlier reading. He would take two
pieces of playdough and roll them into two balls. He would make sure the child
agreed that the two balls were exactly the same then he would roll one into a
snake. He would then ask the child: ‘Do they still have the same amount of dough,
or does one have more?’ When the child answered, he would then ask: ‘Why?’
Their answers teach you a lot about how they think, especially the ‘why’ bit.
Simple questions about what they might think will happen, or suggestions on how
they might see something differently, will all extend a child’s thinking skills.
We can draw out further ways of fostering children’s thinking skills by using a
variety of situations such as those described in the previous collaborative activity.
With the four year old, a simple question like: ‘What do you think they should do?
Why?’ will extend the thinking skills; with the older child you could encourage
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them to put themselves in the other’s situation with: ‘I wonder what it would be
like to … ?’
With the eternal questions of younger children, use them best by putting them
back onto the child: ‘Why do you think we need to wear shoes outside?’. With the
baby it is a matter of watching her efforts to move her body, encouraging her to
find ways of getting to the rattle and perhaps moving the rattle closer so that the
task is more immediately achievable. Every little victory counts at this age!
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Use a variety of strategies to maintain
children’s interest in solving problems
Using everyday experiences and
routines
Everyday experiences and routines are regular providers of challenges for young
children. Asking children what usually happens next is one way of focusing a
child’s attention on routines. Asking children to help you set out play materials
and discussing the reasons for including certain activities or objects and the
placing of provisions encourages children to consider issues wider than what they
want to play with.
Scenario 4
Hean is involved in a simplified soccer game with some 5 year old children. One of
the younger girls wants to play and the older ones complain that it will spoil their
game if they have to worry about her too. Hean asks: ‘Is there any way that you
can think of that Holly can play and you can still have a good game?’ One of the
children responds: ‘We could play a game of kicking the ball with the younger
children after our game, so they can have a turn too.’ Hean responds: ‘That’s a
great idea. Perhaps Holly could go and ask who is interested while you continue
your game, then we could set up a game for the younger children.’
It is just as likely that the group of children would come up with a range of
unrealistic ideas in response to Hean’s question, and in that case it would be
important for Hean to guide them through the pros and cons of each suggestion
until they came up with a reasonable alternative to just excluding Holly. The more
Hean set up a culture of group problem-solving, the more the children will
respond with positive and serious suggestions. This will happen as the children
begin to trust that their ideas will be respected and taken seriously by the adults.
Activity 9
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Using learning centres
If you would like to recap what you know about learning centres go to Appendix 1:
Learning centres.
Planning cognitive experiences
You may already understand the planning process and know how to complete an
experience plan format. For a general overview go and read Planning experiences
in children’s services in the Shared Resources section.
Now you are familiar with the experience plan format, it is time to come to terms
with the project approach to planning experiences. Using this approach we are
observing the interests of the children and following through these interests in a
collaborative approach with the children. Don’t be confused here as we are not
talking about what was considered a traditional thematic approach.
Project approach to planning experiences
A project is developed in collaboration with the children on an identified topic.
We establish the information and knowledge the children already have and then
plan a series of learning events to extend this knowledge. Careful documentation
of these learning events leads to careful recording of the children’s knowledge.
‘A project is an in-depth investigation of a topic worth learning more
about. The investigation is usually undertaken by a small group of children
within a class, sometimes by a whole class, and occasionally by an
individual child. The key feature of a project is that it is a research effort,
deliberately focused on finding answers to questions about a topic posed
either by the children, the teacher or the teacher working with the
children.’ (Katz, 1994 p1)
‘Projects provide the backbone of the children’s and teachers’ learning
experiences. They are based on the strong conviction that learning by
doing is of great importance and that to discuss in a group and to revisit
ideas and experiences is the premier way of gaining better understanding
and learning.’ Gandini (1997 p 7)
As said earlier, a project is not to be confused with what was traditionally thought
of as a theme, which is simply a collection or resources and learning experiences
around a central theme set by the teacher, eg fire officers. When embarking on a
theme, everyone in the class would be immersed in the topic whether it
interested them or not.
A unit of work is a series of pre-planned lessons and activities on a specific topic
that the teacher considers is important to know, for example magnets. A more
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recent introduction is the learning centre which is an area of the room designated
for the investigation or development of certain knowledge and skills, eg ‘block
area’.
To begin a project with children we would be observing for the interests of the
children. Work through the following example of how a child’s interest could be
developed.
Activity 10
Mind maps
Now would be the place to create an anticipatory web to explore possible learning
and questions that the child might pose. This anticipatory web is simply a
brainstorming on your part showing the types of questions or experiences that
the child might want to explore. It is also known as a mind map.
Mind map or anticipatory web
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The next step is to plan an experience appropriate for this child. The following
headings may be useful as a guide. You will find they fit in very closely with the
experience plan shown above.
•
•
•
•
Observation/rationale that made you decide that this would be
appropriate to do with this child.
Development priorities or opportunities
Materials/preparation required
How you will involve the children in your learning experience
Activity 11a
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Activity 11b
Activity 11c
Activity 11d
Here is Jake’s completed experience plan
Jake’s experience plan
Learner’s name:
Plan number:
Name of experience:
Date/s presented:
Number of children:
Name/age of children:
Reasons for your experience
Jake (5.1 years) made the statement that: ‘I saw the moon last night and it looked
like a fingernail.’
I am going to explore the different phases of the moon with Jake and the other
children to determine if this is an interest for the children.
Identify developmental priorities or learning opportunities

To find out the correct names for the phases of the moon

To find out reasons for the moon changing shape

To compare the different phases of the moon with other shapes

To extend cognitive skills (recall memory, problem solving, research)
Describe how you will set up the learning environment for this experience
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
Set up for group time in book area.

Have displayed the following pictures (list them).

Have displayed the following books about night, the moon, etc (list them).

Small chair at front for carer

Easel set up with butchers paper and texta

Torches (5)

Round pieces of cardboard the same size as the torch front-piece
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How will you involve the child in the experience?
Here is the experience I have planned for Jake. Go through it and check that your
experience has a similar amount of detail.
Introduction

Gather children using song, ‘It’s time to come and sit’.

Say to the children: ‘Yesterday Jake said to me that he saw the moon last
night and it looked like a fingernail. What do you think he saw?’

Allow children time to respond. Accept responses. Ask children to explain
what they mean through questioning if needed.

Ask question: ‘Does the moon always look like a fingernail?’

‘What else does it look like?’
Main body

Say to children: ‘Well I was thinking about what Jake said and thought you
might like to learn a little bit more about the moon. Would you?’

If children say yes, then: ‘Let’s first of all write down all the things we know
about the moon.’

Ask them what kinds of things they would like to know. Record on butchers
paper all questions. Make a planning web with the children.

Ask children where they think we could find out this information.

Record answers.

Look at questions that children have asked.

Introduce fact if children don’t already know about how the moon goes
through certain phases. Show picture of phases of moon and introduce
correct terminology (full moon, etc).

‘I thought today we could do an experiment to see if we can make the
moon and show the different phases.’

Give each group of two children a torch and a piece of cardboard. Turn off
the lights. Ask: ‘How can we make this look like the different phases of the
moon?’

Allow children time to experiment with the torches and cardboard. After 5–
10 minutes; call the children together again.

Take photos of children involved in the experiment as a tool for discussion
later and also as evidence should this turn into a project.

Ask them what they found out. Discuss as a whole group. Record findings
if appropriate.
Conclusion

Ask children what else they would like to know about the moon—discuss
what else they need to find out and how they could find it out.

Recap some of the facts that they discovered today.

Transition children to next experience.
Reflection and evaluation of the experience
Follow-up ideas
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Provide challenging and engaging
experiences for each child to develop
their attention span and give them
time to stay with the activity until they
are ready to move on
Developing attention spans
Our ability to stick at a task is not one we are born with, unless you count the
ability to feed until full or sleep until rested. Infants and toddlers have very short
attention spans, mainly related to their memory development. For infants, it is
often ‘out of sight, out of mind’, which makes them easier to distract. With
memory development, this becomes harder, as children remember that you put
their favourite toy in the washing machine, whether you want them to or not, and
later they can remember that on previous trips to the supermarket there were
lollies at the checkout, so they can start asking as soon as you enter the shop.
However, children who do not develop their memories and ability to stick at
activities also become harder to work with, as they constantly flit from one
activity to another, not staying long enough to fully explore any. This interferes
with their ability to develop skills in thinking and learning.
As a carer, there are a few strategies you can use to develop a child’s attention
span. Firstly, you need to know the children you are working with—it is easier to
develop skills based on activities the child enjoys rather then ones they find boring
to begin with. Once you have identified a child’s interests, when they are engaged
with that activity:
•
•
•
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join in and ask open questions and use non-verbal communication such as
eye contact and smiling to encourage the child to share his or her
knowledge of the activity
ask the child to demonstrate their skills to others
suggest challenges and extensions to the activity that might engage the
child’s interests
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•
model and encourage involvement in activities around setting up and
clearing away the activity so the child becomes able to manage the
activity more independently.
For example, Toni (three years) is playing with the playdough, rolling it as she has
seen the worker do previously. She often plays with playdough and uses it as a
safe place to engage other children in conversation, but she drifts off after two or
three minutes. The carer moves to the table and says: ‘Nice long snakes, Toni.
Look, Georgia, can you roll the snakes like Toni? Show Georgia how, Toni. How
about we roll them into sleeping snakes? Can you do that? … ‘
Scenario 5
Toby (five years) tends to wander around from activity to activity, half starting
activities and then moving on. He seems most interested in the construction
activities and tends to stay a little longer at those. You see him standing by a Lego
table, watching some of the older children build. He picks up some Lego and
fiddles with it’. How would you respond?
Toby is indicating an interest in joining in and this can be fostered by the caregiver
through actively encouraging him through words and physical help to join in with
the older children. Often a lack of an ability to access a group can make children
‘wanderers’ in a room, as can just not knowing how to follow things through. You
could join in with Toby and talk him through the activity as an interested adult.
Involving the other children in a discussion would help Toby feel more
comfortable with the group and the activity and would encourage him to persist
with it.
It is important to observe and assess the attention span of individual children as
there will be wide variations according to individual abilities and interests.
However, it is important to see that the attention span grows as children learn
new skills and respond to new challenges, particularly as children begin
transitioning to school.
Providing time
Children don’t have the same concept of time as adults and they certainly don’t
have the same priorities. Personally, I enjoy a child’s sense of time and sets of
priorities better than adult ones, and think they have a lot to teach us as to what
is important and what is not. Consider the following situation:
Beth, four years, is building a tower of blocks. She wants to use all the blocks in
the block corner and there are about one third left. Jackie the carer comes up and
says: ‘It’s pack-up time now Beth. You should have started this earlier! There is no
time to finish it now and we need to put the tables here so everyone can eat.’
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This is an easy situation for carers to fall into, with the pressure of daily routines
to get through. When routines begin to dominate interactions with children, it is
time to re-think them. In this situation they are interfering with Beth’s problem
solving, and it is probably not necessary. The tables could be put elsewhere, Beth
could have her meal later if she likes, or she could leave the blocks and come back
to it after her meal. The project could be an interesting topic of conversation over
the meal in that case, so that the energy is not lost.
Shoelaces are the best example of the need to provide time. How many of you
can tie your own shoelaces? Behind every successfully tied shoelace there is an
adult who has really held themselves back and allowed a child to painstakingly
work their way through the process. Without time, it is not possible to achieve
this complex task, and it is worth reflecting on how many problem-solving
activities also need time in the early stages of learning. Children might need an
adult to encourage them, or to suggest or model strategies, but they don’t need
adults to jump in and do it for them.
Scenario 6
William and Gina are working at puzzles and are having a good time helping each
other with the difficult bits. A group of boys runs through the room, knocking one
of the puzzles off the table. Another group of children begins putting on a singing
‘show’, and one of the carers calls out: ‘OK, let’s all stop and have some of the
muffins our group has made!’
It actually requires quite a bit of problem solving to provide a time and place for
children to do their own problem solving. It is necessary to provide space away
from distractions so that children can focus on what they are doing. That can be
difficult when quiet spaces are not readily available at a service. However, even if
only with the use of screens, spaces can be created which are seen as separate
from the open area, and children can be taught to respect this. Think creatively
about space and time to foster children’s thinking skills!
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Introduce new ideas/activities that
may build on existing knowledge,
skills and interests
Providing opportunities to foster
thinking skills
Children and adults learn best when they are presented with material which is
based on existing knowledge. We are wary of information, activities or objects
which are outside our familiarity or that is presented in ways we don’t
understand. It is important to understand how children in the early childhood
years think, and how their abilities change over time, in order to provide
appropriate activities.
We must also address children’s interests and questions to develop their
understanding of topics.
Scenario 7
Kym is playing with playdough with some five year olds. One child is making a
tower but as it gets higher it droops. He asks Kym: ‘Why is it doing this? It isn’t so
heavy on top, but it still bends over.’ Kym responds: ‘Playdough is not strong
enough or rigid enough to stand up against gravity. Does anyone here know what
gravity is?’
Kym is responding to the question simply. She introduces a new word ‘rigid’ along
with the familiar one ‘strong’ because she knows that children in this age group
are assimilating new words at a rapid rate. She also understands that using group
knowledge is a good starting point to build on, so rather than grabbing a book or
launching into an explanation, she asks what they know already as a group before
further discussion.
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Extending thinking skills
As caregivers we foster thinking skills through the presentation of challenges and
opportunities in the environment. We must also extend the skills we observe in
the children we work with through building on what we observe. This can only be
done if we take the time and use our skills to constantly observe what the children
are capable of. Thinking skills change and develop rapidly so ongoing observation
is essential.
Activity 12
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Use questioning and non-verbal
communication to develop children’s
abilities to observe what is happening
around them
Fostering children’s observation and
reflection skills
Caregivers are important supports to children in using language and non-verbal
communication to encourage them to think about what they see or do.
Consider this example: Gayle is outside with a group of preschoolers in the
playground. One child says: ‘The clouds look like sheep.’ Gayle squats down to the
children’s height and looks up. She places her hand on one child’s shoulder and
points to one cloud, saying: ‘Oh, that one looks like a dragon!’
Sometimes children will notice things in their environment themselves and
sometimes they need to be encouraged to do this. It is important that adults use
discussions, comments and gestures to include the children in their observations
whenever possible. Just as we model appropriate social or language skills, we
should model skills in observing and enjoying the world as from this we develop
our ability to reflect on or make sense of what we see.
Children’s observation skills can best be fostered through use of their questions
and discoveries to focus these skills. In an earlier example, when a young child
comes in with a snail, the worker could encourage the children to observe the
swirls in the snail’s delicate shell, and to reproduce them in their creative work.
Children can be encouraged to reflect on what a snail is, and their ideas could be
developed into a simple poem with the worker’s help.
Assist children to develop their
understandings
We all spend a lot of our thinking time making sense of the world around us and
understanding it. As adults, we understand many things in the world and have
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perhaps made decisions that there are certain things we can live with but not
understand. How computers work, why cockroaches exist or why men must
always fiddle with the remote control—these are mysteries that some of us have
chosen not to pursue.
However, young children are still figuring out what they need to know and will
often ask questions that caregivers, despite their longer lives and formal
education, cannot answer. This is one reason why working with young children is
so enjoyable—they challenge the complacent view that we understand our world.
Children want to know it all, from complex physics or chemistry through to the
‘whys’ of warfare, international politics and human relationships. We don’t need
to have the answers but as caregivers we need to model strategies for finding out
and to do them with the child. This will encourage a life-long interest in learning
new things in both you and the child. From a very young age we are all
investigators—babies suck, bang and swipe at objects to find out what they do.
Toddlers stick their fingers into small holes just because they can and
preschoolers ask questions because they must. As children grow, they discover
which questions and topics are not OK in their society, and this shapes their
learning and understanding.
Some groups of parents or societies in general value academic achievement,
others emphasise spiritual reflection, and others may value self-discipline. The
values of families, societies and cultures will affect how children understand their
world. Children carry these understandings with them, as do we all.
Difficult concepts
Anything that is outside the child’s experience is a difficult concept. When
fostering thinking skills it is important that you, the caregiver, be aware of what
will work and what is less likely to work with young children. These difficult
concepts apply not only to preschoolers but into the transition to school years.
As children move through childhood they will become more comfortable with
their knowledge of abstract and relative concepts and their vocabulary will grow
to encompass new ideas and ways of phrasing things. However, even as adults we
like things to have some degree of familiarity in order to accept them. This is why
our friendly movie aliens look like ET with humanoid features, while the unfriendly
ones have few features we can relate to (like a Dalek from Dr Who).
It is also important not to assume what knowledge is widely known. I remember
doing an activity with city-born four year olds, where we squeezed oranges for
juice. This turned out to be way outside their experience, as they had never seen a
liquid come from anything except a bottle, carton or tap. We had to go back a few
steps in order to prepare them for this unknown new concept!
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Activity 13
The challenge here is to use existing incidents or interests to build on. Sometimes
it is difficult to think on your feet, such as with a strong wind warning, but giving
the children some knowledge about what is happening and what they might
expect will allay some of their anxiety better than furiously diverting them with
finger plays or songs. Children become more nervous when the adults will not give
them clear answers to their questions or information about what is happening.
They assume it is something you cannot protect them from.
With Christie, ‘germs’ would be a slightly alarming concept for a young child and
would need to be explained concretely and simply. For example: ‘When we go to
the toilet we might get dirt on our hands we don’t see. This can make us sick, so
we always wash our hands.’
Scenario 8
1. Shannon is working with children at the craft table, making cards. One of the
children says: ‘I would like some fluffy things on my card.’ Shannon says: ‘ What
would make it fluffy?’ and the child says: ‘Feathers!’ Shannon replies: ‘I saw some
of those yesterday’, and moves some boxes on the trolley. Two fall to the ground
and the children pick them up. Shannon goes into the storage room nearby and is
heard muttering: ‘It was just here … I’m sure I saw some.’
2. Hean is painting with a group of older children. They have decided to paint
pictures of their houses to show each other. Hean moves around, saying: ‘That’s a
very tall block of flats, Lenore. Can you all see how Lenore has made the top
smaller than the bottom so it looks taller? Oh look, Charlie has two dogs in his
yard. Can you see how he has made them jump up in the air? They must have a lot
of energy! Kristy’s house has lots of garden. Do you enjoy your garden Kristy?’
As you can see form your reading, Shannon starts out well by putting the
challenge back to the child rather than offering cotton wool or fabric without
comment. The child is allowed to make their own choice as to what is ‘fluffy’ but
Shannon then loses it, as her cluttered environment overwhelms her ability to
find what she is looking for.
Hean, however, (and we will assume he left spaces between those comments for
the children to respond), not only appreciated the children’s efforts but also
encouraged the children to appreciate each other’s efforts—an important aspect
of encouraging them to take on new challenges.
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Identify and monitor children’s
cognitive development and thinking
skills
Fostering memory skills
The development of memory is connected to Piagetian concepts of mental
representations. With infants, memory is very basic, and it is often ‘out-of-sight,
out-of-mind. In the second half of the first year, however, infants will clearly
discriminate between the familiar and the unfamiliar, and begin to anticipate
events beyond feeding. With the development of mental representations, the
development of internal thought can be observed. We will look at memory also in
later sections. At this stage we are only going to focus on object permanence.
The development of object permanence
Piaget observed that infants appeared to immediately forget what was not in
front of them at the time. Try it yourself. Wave an interesting toy in front of a
young baby — up to about 6 months. They will look interested and physically
respond to the toy. Then put the toy out of sight and look again at the child.
Within a second or two, they will be interested in something else and will appear
to have forgotten entirely about the object. Piaget called this a lack of ‘object
permanence’, an important prerequisite for the development of memory skills.
Piaget developed a number of experiments to test young children’s object
permanence.
Between six and nine months infants begin to develop what is known as ‘person
permanence’. They are able to remember when certain people leave such as the
primary caregiver when they leave. This is usually when we begin to see
separation anxiety. Object permanence takes a little longer. During the fourth
substage, infants are able to retrieve objects that are partially hidden under a
blanket. As they progress they will be able to retrieve objects totally hidden under
the blanket, but have not developed complete object permanence and they make
what is known by Piaget as the AB error. This error is made when the caregiver in
plain view puts an object underneath a yellow towel. Then while the child is
watching, the caregiver takes it from the yellow towel (A) and puts it under a blue
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towel (B). Rather than looking under the blue towel (B) first, the child will go again
to the yellow towel where it was first put, thus making the AB error.
By the time the child is in substage five, they will not make this error and will
begin to be able to follow objects through its displacement. This experiment
involves the caregiver putting an object in an ice cream container in front of the
child. The ice cream container is then placed under the towel. The caregiver tips
out the object from the ice cream container under the towel and bring out the
container out to show the child. When asked where the object is, children in this
stage should be able to locate it under the blanket.
Activity 14
Exploration
Children explore their environment from birth, using their senses of sight, touch,
hearing, taste, and the information gathered from the interaction of their bodies
with their environment and in space, known as kinaesthetic learning. Children on
a trampoline are learning kinaesthetically as they figure out how to balance, twist
and turn their bodies for different effects.
Piaget believed that development of a child’s thinking skills occurs through the
child’s explorations of their environment. The child was seen by Piaget as a ‘little
scientist’ armed with their own internal views of the world which need to be
tested out in real environments, just like scientists test out their hypotheses. Once
ideas are tested, they can be adjusted to fit different circumstances and
experiences. With young children, most of this testing is done in the physical
world. The structuring of the play environment to invite exploration is therefore a
key role for early childhood workers.
Vygotsky disagreed with Piaget’s emphasis on the child as a solitary explorer, but
believed that children learnt within their own social and cultural context, through
interactions with others. The adults’ role shifts from an emphasis on the provision
of a challenging environment to active teaching of information to children
through modelling, instructing, and shaping their learning (‘scaffolding’), a
concept we will examine later.
Vygotsky saw exploratory behaviour as an important prelude to playing with
objects, and you might recognise its characteristics in you when faced with
something new. We use exploratory behaviour when we are about to drive a car
we haven’t driven before, as we think about where different functions are
located, and explore knobs and buttons we are unsure of.
It is important to ensure that the child has time to explore. It is important not to
rush in and show the child how they ‘should’ play with any toy. Allow them time
to absorb the information they need to play effectively.
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Piaget and toddlers
Toddlers are typically aged between 18 months and 3 years. They are leaving the
infancy stage and becoming very active explores of the world around them. Let’s
look at what Piaget had to say. Firstly we are going to examine the last stage of
the Sensorimotor period.
In substage six, Piaget saw children as initially exploring the world and gathering
information through their senses. As children move into toddlerhood, this
information is internalised into thoughts. These thoughts are adapted constantly
by the child to include new information. There are two processes involved in this
adaption of existing information, and these are:
•
•
Assimilation, which involves gathering new information from the world
and fitting it into our existing thoughts eg while watching a TV show we
might see an unusual type of dog such as a Shih Tzu. While we may not
have seen this type of dog before, we can easily identify its characteristics
as belonging to the ‘dog’ concept, and fit it in there.
Accommodation, which is when we need to change our existing ideas in
order to fit in new information. For instance, a child might have a
definition of a bird as a smaller animal with wings that fly. This will have to
be adjusted quite a bit to fit in emus or cassowaries.
As children develop their concepts of things around them, they can increasingly
think independently of what they are doing, and think about what they have done
or would like to do. They show they can do this through the use of mental
representations. Mental representations emerge in Piaget’s preoperational stage,
and are seen in the young child’s use of language and mental imagery. The young
child who accompanies his parents to see someone off at the airport and is later
observed to wave a spoon in their air and making aircraft noises, is reflecting on
the new experiences he saw today. He is doing this through mentally representing
them with the spoon and noises.
Likewise, children will increasingly use words to explore things they have seen or
done, asking questions of adults and peers to gather more information.
The Preoperational Stage
Children aged from 2 years until they are 7 years old are considered to be in
Piaget’s Preoperational Stage. During this stage children build on skills of symbolic
thinking and deferred imitation. They develop the capacity to use symbols with
more proficiency, complexity and flexibility. Piaget identified two substages within
the preoperational stage
•
•
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Preconceptual substage: 2 and 3 year olds
Intuitive substage: 4 to 7 year olds
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Over the next five years the young child’s symbolic thinking will develop in the
following ways. These developments do not happen all at once. The two year old
will be showing signs of these developments in his thinking processes as it
becomes more flexible and faster. The child is able to think about different ideas,
experiences and events in rapid succession, thinking about actions, events and
objects in the past and future as well as in the present. The child will also develop
general ideas or concepts about features of objects (eg concepts of colour, shape
or time) and the child is able, with increasing skill, to translate thoughts into
symbols (that is, language) and these thoughts can be shared with other people.
Characteristics of the preoperational child’s thinking
The child is still an illogical thinker who cannot consistently apply the rules of
logic to their experiences and thoughts and problem solving. Their thinking is
egocentric; that is, they see things from their own point of view. They tend to
focus on single aspect of situation or object at a time, failing to take into account
other aspects or dimensions of the situation. This is called centring. They find it
difficult to separate reality from fantasy.
Activity 15
Activity 16
Activity 17
Activity 18
Characteristics of the preoperational period
Piaget has identified a number of particular characteristics to describe aspects of
the preoperational period. Try the following exercise to learn more about these.
Activity 19
Memory and the preschooler
Memory is our ability to retain information over time, and is a key concept in the
Information Processing approach to cognitive development. As adults, we employ
a range of strategies, some conscious and some not, to remember things. These
strategies have been developed throughout childhood, often with adult support,
to the point where they become automatic.
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Information processing approaches the mind with a model similar to a computer,
with data input and output being logically tracked. Our processes and capacities
change with age and experience, and an understanding of the developing
processes helps workers to foster the development of effective memory
strategies in children.
To reflect on what we see, past and present, we use our memories. We have
explored the acquisition of memories through the Information Processing model
earlier. While remembering something is so automatic a skill that we rarely think
about it, it has involved us in years of learning and skill development, a process
many of the children we work with will be just beginning. Recollection, and the
ability to recollect, is an important skill which fosters a child’s ability to reflect on
what they see and have seen around them.
Activity 20
Fostering memory skills
It is important to be aware of a child’s skill level in this area of thinking, so that it
can be extended through questioning and prompting when appropriate. For
example:
Kym (3 years) is looking at the set of zoo animals in the block corner. His caregiver
comes over and says ‘do you remember when we went to the zoo a few months
ago?’ Kym looks hesitant. The caregiver goes on ‘look at these photos - see if they
remind you about the day’. Kym looks brighter and says ‘we saw monkeys!’. The
caregiver says ‘let’s see…I think there was a photo of them, let’s find it’.
Activity 21
From the information above, let us explore how we can foster memory skills at
different developmental levels. Think about the range of activities in a program,
and about the abilities of children at different stages. Simple activities which are
repetitive and call on a child’s recent experiences are useful in developing
memory, such as the game ‘When I went to the shops I bought…’. Chants
themselves are useful eg ‘Farmer in the Dell’, for remembering sequences and
linking things logically. For even younger children, finger plays and simple rhymes
also help children anticipate an experience they remember eg ‘Round and round
the garden’.
With older children, it is important to foster their ability to recall specific
information for specific tasks, and it is often useful to prompt them and record
their information, then help them put it in logical order to arrive at solutions to
situations eg ‘Do you remember last time we did this puzzle? You started with all
the side pieces, then what?’
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Appendix 1—Learning centres
Learning centres are areas of space, both indoors and outdoors with a particular
collection of materials and resources designed to encourage children to explore
and learn at their own pace. They are usually planned around an interest of a child
or group of children or set up to challenge and stimulate the children to explore
and investigate the possibilities. Learning centres provide opportunities for
integrated learning across all areas of development.
Some learning centres will be set up for weeks or longer, with additions or
subtractions as the children’s interest, learning and development of skills
develops. Others might last only a few days. If it is not possible to leave learning
centres available at all times (space restrictions), set up the learning centres in the
same place every day – predictability and sureness are important for children.
Setting up areas
Reading area
Reading area
This would be a space in the environment which is comfortably furnished and
inviting to both children and adults. It needs to be able to accommodate a child
looking at a book alone, with a couple of other children or with an adult. This area
should be situated away from high traffic areas and in a quieter space in the
environment with boundaries created to give the area an ‘enclosed’ and special
feel.
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
Furniture and accessories may include a sofa, large cushions, book stands,
soft rugs, fabrics draped over to form a canopy and maybe a table where
children can sit and read if they choose.

Pictures, posters and photographs can enhance the area/environment
when they are associated with children’s interests.

In the book area, rather than changing all the books at once,
consideration should be given to the interests of the whole group of
children and develop their knowledge with the inclusion of new books.

Displaying and caring for books is an important aspect of this area. Books
need to easily accessible to the children and displayed at their eye level.
Display the books facing outwards and maintain an aesthetically appealing
aspect, replacing the books on the shelf after use. If books are piled one
on top of another, this is giving the children a message that books are not
important. Talk with children about caring for books and model respect
for these resources.
Writing area
Writing area
A table with a variety of pens, pencils and papers, envelopes, computer, examples
of print forms, staplers, paper clips, bookmaking, hole puncher (this may be
transferred to the creative area). Store these materials attractively in small boxes
or small baskets on shelving close by.
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Creative area
Creative area
Set up in an area with open shelves so that children can access a variety of
materials easily- paste, paints, scissors, sticky tape, string or wool, collage
materials (you may wish to present these in colour coordinated shades), easels,
table, drying racks, examples of beautiful art work on display, noticeboards for
children to display their work, pens, bookmaking, hole puncher (this may be
transferred to the writing area). Again, make sure the materials are stored in
attractive containers.
Nature area
Nature area
Set up in a quiet but noticeable area with shells, pieces of seaweed al placed on a
tray of sand, books on shells and the beach, pictures of shells and the seaside,
magnifying glasses, a poem about the beach written on a poster on the wall and
materials for children to use to draw or paint the things they see.
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Visual arts areas
Visual arts area
Visual arts areas are always present in preschool and long day care settings,
though may be known as the craft or collage area. They provide a perfect
opportunity to develop social skills. Some considerations when setting up the area
include:

Craft trolleys can be positioned so that children working on different
activities can share and discuss their choices, ask others to help them find
some item, etc.

Craft should allow for children to make choices about whether they want
to work on their own or with others on a group project.

Adults should be involved in group projects, using opportunities to
encourage children to cooperate, resolve any conflicts or disagreements,
discuss their work and plan together.
Working with older children allows you to further extend both children and the
environment. Some adjustments to a craft area for older children include:

involving children in planning craft activities, eg group collages, posters or
construction works

allowing children to bring in ideas and materials to discuss and to develop
ideas around

letting children develop, write out and display their own agreed rules for
activities in the visual arts area

making activities more functional, eg posters for a dance or holiday care
activity.
A designated area for feltboards and pieces, magnet boards and pieces, letters
and symbols, pictures and charts, puppets, book making materials.
All of these can be integrated into other learning centres. Remember, an
integrated approach encompasses all areas of learning.
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Clay area
A special space where the clay and tools can stay (perhaps in a small cupboard)
continuously. Children can revisit the area to continue their works, with clay in
accessible bins, tools to use with clay, a little water in small containers to moisten
the clay, book showing pictures of made clay pieces or objects that the children
are interested in, to use as provocations. A nearby display of claywork to remind
children of previous experiences.
Music centre
Music area
Music centres for preschoolers can:

be set up as a permanent area with a wide range of instruments on open
shelves

provide a choice of instruments for children to be able to access in small
groups—ensure multiple instruments are available so different children
can play the same instrument at the same time

have a variety of music for children to play along to in small groups.
Provide a range of CDs for children to choose from collaboratively.
For older children:

provide blank manuscript paper so children can collaborate with others
and the teacher to compose their own music

encourage children to form a band and learn songs or accompaniment to
songs

include more tuneful equipment such as a keyboard or guitar.
There is potential to foster children’s social development in all activities,
structured or unstructured, in the child’s day. Children’s individual abilities to use
these opportunities will vary according to whether they are shy, aggressive, have
friends in the activity, or just how they are feeling at the time. However, the skill
of the adult in supporting their social development is a crucial part in allowing
them to get the most from activities.
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Science and technology area
This would be an area when children can explore the natural and physical world
by observing, classifying, communicating, measuring and making predictions. It
should foster a ‘hands-on’ approach rather than in producing an end product.
Science and technology involves:

discovering living things, for example, human body, animals, plants and
insects.

experiences that require exploration and experimentation of forces,
motion, machines, wheels, light and sound.

investigating and exploring the natural world such as: weather, soil,
rocks, sun and moon.

discovering and exploring how things work such as: pulleys, gears, ramps,
inclines, wheels, balance scales, nuts and bolts, machines, connectors,
magnets, electrical circuits and switches, electricity, telephones,
computers, digital equipment, household electrical products and so on.
The list is endless.

observing and analysing experiences that involve dissolving, evaporating,
changing shape/consistency, heating, mixing, freezing and absorption.
Cooking experiences are an important component of this topic.
The science and technology area should be set up with equipment to facilitate
children experimenting with all these concepts. Equipment need not be expensive
and can include such items as: magnifying glasses, magnets, prisms, torches,
kaleidoscopes, bots, screws, springs, compass, microscopes, scales, tweezers,
stethoscope, bones, shells, globe of the world…
A ‘medical centre’ children dressed as medical staff, a skeleton and other
medical equipment
Displays
Displays can enhance children’s learning when associated with children’s interests
and emerging skills. Display children’s work and quality adult objects nearby to
the learning centres.
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Using learning centres
Learning centres have an important role to play in developing children’s problemsolving skills. Learning centres can be set up for children of any age or ability. Even
infants have commercially-made ‘learning centres’ that can be purchased for
them, consisting of knobs, buttons and dials that can be manipulated in different
ways to make a variety of noises. You can make similar learning centres for small
children yourself with items such as bicycle bells and cotton reels on sticks—the
same principle of exploration can be applied to all age groups.
A learning centre is like a study area, somewhat separate from the free-play areas
in order to invite quiet reflection or discussion with others. Learning centres
encourage problem solving and learning in an open-ended manner, providing a
range of materials and resources for children to pursue current interests. Learning
centres may from time to time focus on particular areas of group interest such as
outer space or volcanoes, but at other times it will be the focus of individual or
small-group research into the world around us. The focus of topics within a
learning centre should be open and child-centred, not imposed by adults who
think it is time to ‘do’ Spring.
Learning centres can be an area where there are a variety of tools and resources
to pursue an idea, eg general information books, paper and pencils or crayons,
books for collecting information, perhaps a computer. Children should feel
comfortable about asking for or choosing any materials they need for their
research. Caregivers should be alert to what topics are being pursued at the
learning centre in order to help with resources.
Consider the following example:
David and Bronwyn are discussing what they did on the weekend. David
said his Auntie gave him a kite that is great to fly. Bronwyn says she would
like a kite and David suggests they make one. The caregiver says she has a
book of paper-kite designs they could look at in the learning centre. They
might like to try some of the designs with the paper there, but they can
come and get her if they need any help.
Having an area dedicated to learning and problem solving at all ages indicates to
the children the importance you put on this part of their development.
Encouraging children to try things for themselves also indicates a respect for their
abilities; at the same time, help should be freely available and children should feel
comfortable asking for it when needed.
Dramatic play area
This learning area provides children with opportunities to roleplay and imitate the
world around them.
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Older infant dramatic play will focus on direct imitation with familiar items that
reflect the child’s home and cultural environment.
Toddler dramatic play extends on the familiar home and cultural environment
themes to include bathing dolls, washing up and dress-up clothes. Other familiar
and relevant focuses such as simple shops, hairdressers and the bus or train are
introduced
Pre-schooler dramatic play is more imaginative and complex involving focuses
that are familiar as well as new and unfamiliar. Concepts such as school, hospitals,
camping and space travel could be used to extend the children’s play.
Dramatic role play in a restaurant: children acting as waiters and diners
School-aged children will enjoy experimenting with clothes, costumes and
dramatic roles. Focuses will usually reflect the children’s current interests as
talent quests, singing and dancing competitions and comedy skits.
Physically active play area
This learning area provides children with opportunities to develop confidence
using their existing and emerging gross motor skills. Once the key gross motor
skills (walking, running, jumping, hopping etc) are evident, the child is offered
opportunities to enhance their stamina, flexibility, co-ordination, spatial
awareness and balance.
For infants, physically active play needs to focus on supporting emerging
locomotion skills and developing muscle control and strength.
For toddlers, physically active play needs to focus on engaging toddlers’ active,
exploration of their newly found mobile abilities. Provide simple activities that
offer repetitive opportunities to practise emerging gross-motor skills.
For pre-schoolers, physically active play need to consist of safe activities that
challenge the child’s existing skills and extend their ability to integrate a number
of gross-motor skills together.
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Challenging gross motor skills
For school-aged children, physically-active play should focus on developing
confidence and participation in gross motor leisure and sport pursuits.
Opportunities to practise specific skills related to specific games and sports
should be made available.
Manipulative play learning area
Infant manipulative play focuses on supporting emerging fine motor and
manipulative skills, including eye-hand coordination.
Toddler manipulative play focuses on offering opportunities for toddlers to
practise existing and emerging fine motor and manipulative skills. Simple activities
that focus on fine motor, manipulative skills required for self-help tasks are ideal.
Pre-schooler manipulative play focuses on offering opportunities to practise and
extend the child’s existing fine motor and manipulative skills. Children in this age
group need to develop a preferred hand to consolidate these skills and develop
stamina and control. Using additional equipment such as scissors and drawing
implements with precision is also an important emerging skill.
For school-aged children, manipulative play focuses on offering opportunities to
children to extend their fine-motor and manipulative skills by applying them to
specific leisure tasks and activities.
Literacy learning area
Infant and toddler literacy focuses on carer interactions and revolves around
conversations, songs and fingerplays between infants and carers. The sharing of
good quality picture books and poster/picture discussions where the carer takes
an active role is crucial to the child’s developing understanding of language.
Labelling of key objects and using key words, such as ‘toilet’, in the child’s first
language is also critical. The ability to pick up a book and ‘read and look’ at it from
left to right is also an important focus that is learnt spontaneously.
Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCFC505A: Reader LO 9314
© NSW DET 2010
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Pre-schooler literacy extends to include opportunities to integrate existing literary
skills with new emerging skills. Pre-reading skills such an emerging understanding
of the relationship between spoken and written words and their meaning is an
important focus. Interest in other languages and other methods of writing also
emerges. Pre-schoolers also use their manipulative and fine-motor skills to ‘write’
with writing implements.
School-aged children enjoy creating meaning using their literacy skills. Leisure
pursuits that involve written self-expression are popular—eg, writing letters,
making cards and sending emails.
Creative art learning area
Infant creative art learning areas should primarily focus on opportunities for
exploratory play involving sensory manipulative materials.
Toddler creative art learning areas continue to focus on sensory manipulative
materials and exploratory play with a gradual move toward art activities requiring
the use of specific equipment—eg, the use of paint-brushes, dough rollers etc.
Pre-schooler creative art learning areas should provide opportunities for
exploration and choice. Children are given opportunities to engage in self-chosen
art activities that interest them and challenge their emerging creativity and
imaginative skills. An emergence of goal orientated art and craft is evident.
School-aged children will enjoy opportunities to choose provisions and art
activities.
Maths learning area
To extend children’s emerging cognitive skills and problem solving abilities we
may introduce opportunities to learn key mathematical concepts. We can
introduce opportunities to develop:

pattern making

sequencing

ordering

one-to-one correspondence

rational counting

grouping by a specified criterion.
Comparative concepts related to length, weight and height can also be
introduced. You can also introduce the use of scales and rulers for weights and
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measures. Monetary concepts and measurement of time are examples of other
challenging additions to this area.
Science and technology learning area
Research indicates that children from as young as two years have an awareness of
technology based items such as television, video recorders, cameras, mobile
phones, computers, game consoles. The introduction and use of these provisions
needs to be carefully considered. Many of the learning possibilities offered by
these provisions are best suited, and most valuable, to older pre-schoolers and
school-aged children who have had previous opportunities to participate in
beneficial social free play.
There are limitless learning possibilities in this curriculum area. Any focus should
come directly from the children’s interests and enquiries.
Toddlers and younger pre-schoolers will be fascinated by familiar events and
discoveries such as weather patterns, bugs, gardening, sea creatures, and floating
and sinking objects.
Older pre-schoolers will begin to hypothesise about their discoveries and
interests. They will enjoy opportunities to test hypothesises using simple science
experiments such as water evaporation or magnets. Other interests might include
the life cycles of frogs and machinery and how it works.
School-aged children make gigantic leaps in this area and may develop interests in
a variety of subject areas such as electricity, bodily systems, mechanics and fuel
powered systems. As their awareness of their wider community increases,
interests in topics such as recycling, pollution, endangered animals, nuclear
power, and water conservation may develop.
While learning centres will be changing areas, there will be certain different needs
for different age groups. Think of learning centres for toddlers, preschoolers and
school-aged children. What basic materials would you start off with? Design a
learning centre for each age group, indicating where you might place objects and
labelling objects you might include.
Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCFC505A: Reader LO 9314
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Here are a variety of indoor and outdoor centres
Learning area
Outdoor learning area
Learning area
Visual arts learning area
Outdoor learning area
Learning centre
Learning area
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Learning area
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© NSW DET 2010