by Cath Arnold
As a parent of 3 children, grandparent of 6 children and great grandparent of a gorgeous 11month old baby boy, as well as an early years teacher, the most useful concept I’ve learned about in my career is ‘schemas’ or ‘repeated patterns of action’. I was often puzzled by what children did with their toys and also with household objects. ‘Transporting’ things or gathering them together in a bag or box, carrying them to another part of the house or nursery and then spreading them out was a real puzzle.
Sometimes they seemed to select objects that matched eg cars, other times anything that would fit in a bag, seemed to do. One day, they might scatter the objects in a random way. Another day, they might place them in a line. This all seemed quite random to me until I was introduced to the idea that children are driven to explore through ‘patterns of play’. I began to realize that things progressed: Harry, at under 2, placed a line of objects across the living room floor. His line consisted of animals, vehicles, puzzles… He accompanied the placing of objects with the language “More, more, more…” (I realized he was adding to his line to make it longer and he demonstrated that he knew he was adding more). At 3 his lines became more precise, comprising of matched objects eg cars all placed facing the same way and touching. I realized that this might relate to measuring and that what his cars looked like in a heap was very different to what they looked like in a line…but my knowledge of mathematics meant that I know the quantity does not change unless a car is added or taken away…he was discovering for himself a basic mathematical concept!!
Dr. Cath Arnold
Works at Pen Green Centre. Author
