I'll start with my favourite play schema - transporting. In a busy nursery setting this was the one I dreaded. Transporters like to gather up objects and take them elsewhere, so when a piece of jigsaw is suddenly missing, or another child's shoe (just one!), the transporter may need to be questioned, not that they'll remember because they will have been busy transporting things all morning, quietly creating mayhem. Sometimes they have impressive abilities to hold several unrelated objects in their hands. Their pockets bulge with their stash of bits and bobs. Often the object is of little importance although later on it can have symbolic meaning e.g. a wooden brick may be a loaf of bread (preferably in a...
A schema is a pattern of play in young children which can be observed as they explore their world and make sense of it. Some children have several schemas while others have a very dominant preferred one. If your pre school child regularly does something distinctive in their play, the chances are you can think of it as an uncontrollable play urge, also known as a dominant schema. When you understand how these are manifested in their play, its fascinating to see how your child is learning about their world and processing it. Here as some of the most commonly seen schemas: Trajectory Rotation Enclosing Enveloping Transporting Positioning Connecting Positioning Orientation Transformation I'll discuss each of these in a separate...
When we were on holiday recently I finally felt like I had a bit of a chance to relax finally. With a 3 and a half year old and 19 monther and a third due in October this is rare. By the end of the holiday I felt a little like my old pre-child self which was fabulous and a feeling I thought I'd probably lost forever. One of the main things I found restful about being on holiday was how little stuff the kids had, and therefore how little tidying I ended up doing. The weird thing was that if anything, the children played better on holiday that at home. And they played together a lot more. Having fewer toys...
