As parents, it’s worth making a concerted effort to find out what your children are learning. It will help them make meaningful links between their lives and the curriculum.
Infants and young children are starting to understand what goes on in other people’s minds. For example, when four-year-olds witness an adult communicating the function of an object for their benefit, they construe information differently than when it is communicated in a noncommunicative context.
Early education builds a child’s confidence and self-esteem.
A healthy dose of self-esteem enables children to take on challenges and to view setbacks as a natural part of learning. It allows kids to take risks and be creative, and it helps them develop a strong work ethic.
A child’s self-esteem is shaped by many factors, including how they are cared for and treated at home and in early education settings. Unconditional love and acceptance are key ingredients to building positive self-esteem. Educators should help kids set realistic goals and celebrate their successes. They should also encourage resilience and promote curiosity by emphasizing that it is okay to make mistakes.
Hands-on activities encourage exploration and creativity, while reading, music, and dance foster language skills and imagination. These early educational experiences give young kids a sense of confidence that they can learn anything. Children with a solid foundation of self-esteem are more willing to try new things and overcome social challenges that they will encounter in life.
Cognitive development
Educators and parents should encourage children’s natural curiosity and teach them how to use their brains effectively. This will help them learn better and be successful in school.
Research has contributed to many of the recent advances in understanding young children’s cognitive development. However, the way that this knowledge is applied to early care and education settings varies greatly. For example, a focus on processing speed may be more valued in Western conceptualizations of intelligence, while Ugandan villagers place a greater emphasis on social competence (Sternberg and Grigorenko 2004).
A key challenge is the extent to which different research, practice, and policy communities share categorizations for domains and skills that contribute to learning across the lifespan. This requires a more coordinated approach to research, education, and practice that takes into account the range of developmental capacities and learning domains that children encounter throughout their lives. It also calls for educators to recognize that children construct information in terms of their lay theories, and that oversimplifying educational materials or making assumptions about their ability to think abstractly can lead them to underachieve.
Social skills
Children need to learn how to be patient, cooperate with others and understand their feelings. They also need to learn how to interact with people from diverse backgrounds. Learning these skills is crucial for their future academic, professional and personal success.
Social skills are important for children because they enable them to build successful relationships with others, adapt to negative life situations and improve their academic performance [4]. They are also essential in a child’s ability to succeed in school, where they will need to collaborate with classmates, teachers and other students to complete assignments and projects.
Parents and caregivers can encourage their children to develop social skills by teaching them basic manners, such as saying “please” and “thank you,” and by showing them how to respect people of different cultures. They can also enroll their children in extracurricular activities that allow them to bond with other kids over their shared interests. This helps them to navigate new social situations with ease and confidence.
Self-expression
Self-expression is a crucial part of children’s education. It allows them to express their creativity and opinions, develop fine and gross motor skills, and learn to solve problems. It also helps them become well-rounded individuals and fosters curiosity. This is why it’s important to allow children to explore their environment without limits or constraints.
Encouraging creativity through digital expression is an opportunity to build confidence, critical thinking skills, and digital literacy. It also enables them to shape their identity and connect with a global community.
To encourage creative self-expression in children, set up a table filled with various art materials and watch how they explore them. Observe their selection of the materials, their colour palettes and how they work with them. For example, you can use different vegetables to make shades of red and blue or a mix of beetroot, rose petals, and grass to get green. You can also help them discover new textures, shapes and patterns.