Learning should be a joyful, pleasant, happy experience. And today I'm going to give you the two fundamental keys to a happy and natural learning, which will logically be consistent with the natural, evolutionary and personal needs of each child.
If you observe a small child or a baby, you realize the great enjoyment of discovering new things, achieving goals or understanding something. He learn happy It is something that we could consider a children's right and also, an evolutionary element that makes our species, precisely, make learning its greatest asset for evolutionary success.
It does not mean that, especially when children grow up or in ourselves, adults, do not have effort, determination and difficulty attached to joy, I would like to clarify it, although, the truth, if we talk about children under six years Needless to say, everyone should be learning happily. But how can we help you with this?
The summary response would be not interfering or damaging their capacity for happy learning with goals, tools, processes and content that are not suitable for them. When a child is not enjoying it, we are doing something wrong and we should analyze our intervention. Let's see those now two fundamental keys to a happy and natural learning.
Do: the first key to happy and natural learning
Humans naturally learn in any culture, by their very nature as a species, in two ways: through action and through conversation. As prehistoric men learned before writing, carving stones, interacting with nature, observing and imitating and, finally, gathering around the fire to talk, tell stories and share experiences.
The children have to touch things. Doing them as many times as they need to do them in a way that they consider satisfactory for their objective, that experience is essential for a real and meaningful learning process to be built that also lays the foundation for a correct learning throughout life. They would also have varied sensory experiences, with an expectant adult intervention rather than active except when the child requested help or was at risk.
We would also have to procure them the closest possible experiences to the elements and natural environment. That can be complicated for those of us who live in a city especially, but we always have to look for alternatives: field trips, visits to parks that are real parks, use playgrounds to allow children to do gross motor exercises freely and not fear the earth, the mud, the water and the rain.
Even at home it is possible to observe the pleasure of the child to see the water run, his fun splashing in the bathroom and give him sand or flour to touch with his hands. With the logical measures of attention to their safety we will be able to let them climb and jump at home or in the street, step on the puddles and climb the trees, run and play without marking rules or issues. The children use the game, as we will see later, as the main tool to build your learning.
We also have all kinds of artificial materials that we can take advantage of. The child will enjoy modeling and drawing, especially if we do not intervene marking themes and rhythms or curling their creativity. They need to experiment without judgment. Haven't you seen those little children who stop wanting to paint because they are being told that they don't do it well or don't use the right colors or get out of the lines? You have to rely more on them and their own personal process and let them experiment with their hands. Do, as if they were going to carve stone someday.
Talk, the second key to happy learning
The second way, as I mentioned earlier, for a happy learning, is oral expression in all its facets. The importance of oral communication With babies, it continues to be affirmed by specialists, without thereby taking away from their needs tactile communication, of physical contact, which they are programmed to ask because it makes them feel safe and loved.
But talking to children, looking at them, explaining what we are doing and telling them things, it is very important for them to acquire the language. However, once they know how to speak, this need is still there and it is through spoken language that they will assimilate concepts and better understand their environment.
When they grow up it is very important to continue telling them stories, singing with them and, simply, talking to them in a bidirectional process. Of course, if we are going to explain something, I mean the classroom, a certain silence and attention is necessary, but we should always design the learning in a way that is conversational, giving the child the possibility to ask, give their opinion, express themselves and interrupt if they need
It is not enough for them to listen, you have to have open conversations with them. And we should always keep in mind that true communication is a free and volitional process, that cannot be forced and should not be impeded, and that, in order for it to work, it must be based on respect, trust and active listening. A child who fears being scolded, judged or made fun of can not communicate efficiently.
The children themselves will amaze us with their amazing desire to know. They are going to ask us everything, continuously, wanting to know the reason for the things that surround them. This insistence on the question gives us a sure clue as to how they need to learn, and is being carried away by their natural curiosity and talking to us
Talk and do are the two keys to a happy and natural learning since early childhood. They are not the only ones and next week I will tell you what are the other elements that should not be lacking in a joyful and creative learning environment that we should use and favor in the home and in the children's classrooms.
