In order to work effectively with young children a person must be familiar with their nature and interests. It is useful to spend time watching how children form relationships, respond to people, and to notice what engages their interest. Through such observations it will be seen that children are not only interested in relationships, they are interested in engaging in activities which develop their abilities, and in doing activities which enable them to explore and learn about their world. By nature, children are engaged in the process of becoming (of developing). This development is an active process. Understanding these fundamental ideas is key to understanding children and being able to work with them effectively.
First of all, in watching young children, it will become obvious that they are interested in people. Children will watch adults, they will watch other children. They will be interested in approaching other children and adults. They will try to begin to establish relationships. However, they won't necessarily know how to form relationships. It is the adult's job to help them.
In addition to being interested in people, children are also interested in the challenges presented in mastering the ability to do things. Children have an intrinisic motivation to develop control over their own movement. Very young children like to practice picking things up with their hands. They like to manipulate things, set them down, move them, and pick them up again. They delight in learning to stand, to walk, run, jump, hop, and skip. They like to balance and experiment with their position in space. They like to engage in activities which give them an opportunity to use and develop these skills. A child less than one year of age, for example, may (if adult's don't interfere) pick up a card and use their hands to turn it over and over and over again. Meanwhile, an older child may become engaged in using their hands to play a game of "Jacks." A young child might enjoy standing and bouncing up and down, while an older child might want to play "Hop Scotch." In each of these examples, the children are delighting in movement and its mastery.
Besides this interest in movement and in people, the very young child is also interested in exploring the world through their senses. Young children love to listen to sounds, they like to feel textures, they like to look at colors, feel shapes, and manipulate objects. They are not only learning about the wonderous, amazing new three dimensional and colorful world in which they now find themselves, at the same time they are refining the use of their senses and learning to intrepret the sensory stimulus they are receiving.
The interest and drive to develop is natural and is an inborn part of all children. However, development is not automatic. It is dependent upon opportunity. It is up to adults to see that children are afforded the opportuntities to develop as fully as possible. This is accomplished through the provision of materials with which children can interact.
The following pages provide pictures of children actively engaged with material that can facilitate development. The activities have been developed to help children notice sensorial attributes and to help them refine the use of their senses.
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