Children with this schema will make elaborate farms with animals in fields, gather objects into boxes and other containers and put outlines and borders round their drawings. The railways track will be constructed as a loop, never just a straight line and the duple bricks will be arranged as a wall around the edge of the board. Children with this dominant schema may enjoy emptying spaces/containers as much as creating and filling them. Play ideas: A good selection of farm animals with plenty of fences and gates. Railway and road tracks that can be made as loop, with vehicles of course. Construction toys like lego/duplo, stickle bricks and wooden blocks for making enclosures. At bath time or in a water...
Here's another schema for you to consider. Even the name makes you warm to them. Children with an enveloping schema love to wrap, cover, layer and bandage. They have an urge to envelop and be enveloped. They'd empty out a basket of clean ironing and make a den. You'll find them setting up home under the table with jigsaws, books etc. They'll wrap up anything from parcels to the cat. In the nursery I observed several patterns of behaviour that suggested an enveloping schema: Finding peekaboo hilarious long after others have moved on Reluctance to come out from under the parachute Blocking the play tunnel Making dens with sheets/coats etc and staying in them all morning Dressing up in layer...
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...
