What is a Schema in Children's Play?
Schemas can be a huge help in understanding your child. So what is a Schema? Children from 1-2 until 5-6 often use repetitive patterns of play to learn about their world and these have been grouped into 9 main types of learning and named "schemas." Children are of course all different and grow in their unique ways so as parents you might notice your children tend toward one, a few, all, or none of them! The 9 schemas are:
1) Connecting
2) Enclosing
3) Enveloping
4) Orientation
5) Positioning
6) Rotating
7) Trajectory
8) Transforming
9) Transporting
Noticing patterns can help us as parents in several ways but for me it:
1) Allowed me to be more patient about all the things being launched through the house!
2) It helped me identify ways to support my children’s playstyle
Why do Children use schemas?
By repeating patterns of play, children become like little scientists. What this means is it helps them learn what to expect from different objects, how they interact and better understand their environment.
Why are Schemas important?
Schemas help to:
1. Encourage cognitive development: organizing and re-organizing scenarios, practicing their problem-solving skills, and observing the cause-and-effect relationship between things.
2. Enhance motor skills: schemas involve a lot of manipulation of different objects and doing things like throwing balls, twirling ribbons, stacking blocks, and wrapping items up. This allows for coordination to improve and a sense of confidence in their abilities.
3. Foster creativity and imagination: using familiar schemas as a starting point, children then build on their play using their imagination, adding their own unique twists and contextual scenarios. E.g. role play Creativity and imagination are important for children's overall development and can inspire their future interests and careers.
Over the next 8 weeks, we will explore all the different schemas further, learn how to identify them and give you some play ideas to use at home so that you can encourage your children to explore their schemas a little further.
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