Hello and welcome to Blooming Curious, the podcast
that's all about nurturing that natural curiosity
in our earliest kids and students. I'm Edwina,
your host from the Ed's Lessons blog, a passionate
advocate for play and inquiry and on a mission
to keep children curious and questioning. The
days of talk and chalk are over. We're diving
into the world of integrated inquiry and nature
-based learning and exploring those strategies
that create lifelong learners. So if you're a
classroom or home school educator, or even a
curious parent, then this is the place for you.
Hey, are you providing opportunities for your
children to explore and learn at home? Did your
learning environment provide your children with
opportunities to explore and wonder? A stimulating
environment is one where children can explore
on their own, browsing through books, playing
with blocks, meandering through a garden or park,
looking under rocks, playing with water, tinkering
with a range of objects, or even mixing cake
batter or dough. Children love to touch. browse,
explore and yes, even mess. So it makes sense
that environments that children would find stimulating
would give them plenty of opportunities to do
just that. So how do we set up an environment
that promotes inquiry? Our homes certainly don't
need a playroom full of plastic toys to be stimulating,
but they do need objects that encourage inquiry,
curiosity and thinking. Children do not need
lots of toys. They would be better with objects
that lend themselves to lots of different opportunities
for play and exploration. Having beautiful tactile
objects that lend themselves to open -ended play
and exploration will be the first step in creating
a space where children have an opportunity to
play and explore, and as an added bonus, feel
connected to nature. Objects from nature are
multifaceted and versatile. They have different
smells and textures, and their use is only limited
by the child's imagination. So these would be
my top toys and objects to encourage curiosity
and inquiry. And I know some of them might not
seem like toys, but toys. should be open -ended.
Toys should be something that stimulates our
children's inquiry. How often have you bought
a toy and the kid plays for it with them? Five
minutes and then discards it. That's because
it doesn't give enough opportunity for curiosity
and exploration. So these would be my top recommendations.
Natural materials. Bring them in and I know some
of you are going to freak out and say, but what
about the mess? Well, it's not about the mess,
I'd say it's about getting these kids to actually
learn and be curious and asking questions and
really stimulating those little minds. So things
like bark, you know they have so many beautiful
different tactile textures. Seed pods, here in
Australia we have such interesting seed pods.
Leaves, pine cones, small rocks, pebbles, flowers,
sticks, shells, bits from the beach, the list
is endless. And then when you take these objects
that you've got and you display them on a beautiful
low wooden shelf or on your coffee table in a
lovely natural woven basket or in a wooden crate
or bowl, it makes it very inviting and tactile
experience for children. These objects can be
used in a multitude of different ways, from creating
a transient piece of art, which means that little
piece of work of art that doesn't stay forever
and you can take it apart and make something
new. to storytelling, imaginative play, sorting
and classifying those first fundamental mathematical
concepts, building, counting, you get the idea.
Lots of opportunities to do lots of different
things. Magnifying glasses are another great
thing to have because with those kids can go
and explore all those natural items and of course
the great outdoors when they're playing outside.
Wooden blocks and shapes. Everything from plain
wooden blocks like those Jenga blocks, which
you can use for play, obviously, but just for
anything that the kids can use to build and explore
and make shapes with. They love those things.
And I remember having, you know, just a crate
of these mismatched different types of wooden
offcuts. I had them in my classroom and pre -primary
and kids loved using them for all sorts of things
and just... adding them into their imaginative
play and using them for counting and stacking
and all sorts of things. Lego, what a beautiful
thing. Lego blocks are just an incredible thing
that we can use in all sorts of different ways.
It really helps kids imagination. We can actually
use them for mathematical concepts, recognizing
colors, counting. Again sorting and classification
and then of course figuring out and problem solving
creative ways to put them together to create
amazing structures and wonderful creations. And
then what about containers? Kids love containers
for scooping sand in the sandpit or water in
the bath, for exploring volume, who would have
guessed? So if you've got those old Tupperware
containers before chucking them out, give them
to your kids, they'd love them. Muffin pans,
colanders, wooden bowls, plastic measuring jugs
from your kitchen, all fun things for kids to
have and play with in sand pits or even in the
bath. And then of course we have to have things
that help kids to express themselves creatively.
So having paper, I used to buy those rolls of
paper from Ikea or even just, you know, paper
after you've printed paper, use double -sided
paper and instead of throwing away all... bits
of paper that's only been printed on one side
use the other side kids love viewing doing that
and making little books and drawing pictures
and whatever so have lots of paper around watercolor
paints you get beautiful child -friendly non
-toxic ones brushes of all shapes and sizes crayons
colored pencils chalk of different thicknesses,
age -appropriate scissors, so important for those
first creative projects and practicing those
pre -writing skills to help kids really strengthen
those little muscles in their fingers and their
hands. And then, of course, some beautifully
made toys. I've always favored wooden toys for
their warm and tactile nature, as well as beautifully
crafted fabric or fowl toys. My own boys were
crazy about those plastic animals when they were
little, as well as knights and castles. And we
invested in beautiful Schleich brand. I think
that's how you say it. It's a German brand, which
have really stood the test of time. And they're
now in storage waiting to be played with again
by the next generation someday. So honestly,
if you think about it, so often we buy some cheaper
plastic things and kids play with them for five
minutes and they're broken and they end up in
the bin and then ultimately in landfill. But
if you just buy less toys and really buy ones
that are, you know, high quality ones that can
be kept and then used again for future generations
instead of just cheap ones that are going to
break. And so often kids play with them for five
minutes and they discard them anyway. So really
thinking about the kinds of toys and their purpose
when we're purchasing things for kids. And finally,
books, lots and lots of books, nonfiction, age
-appropriate text, magazines, picture books,
all beautifully displayed and within easy reach.
Put them in baskets in your lounge room, in their
bedrooms, everywhere you go so that kids can
easily turn to books. And this, of course, is
by no means an exhaustive list, but it's a great
place for you to start. You can have a look at
my Pinterest board for more ideas for creating
spaces to promote inquiry and curiosity. I'll
link my Pinterest board to the show notes. And
of course, it doesn't end here. Once you have
all these natural resources and objects that
encourage open -ended plan inquiry, then of course
you need to provide children with the tools and
the skills for inquiry learning. This sounds
complicated, but it really isn't. And I bet you're
already providing your kids with rich inquiry
experiences without even realizing it. And one
of the best things we can do for children to
think and explore is to ask questions. I'll link
to my e -guide which includes a quick list of
open -ended questions in the show notes. Just
to remind yourself of the types of questions
you can ask no matter how old the child is. Obviously
for very young toddlers you may need to simplify
your questioning to suit your child's developmental
age. And I'll also link in the show notes a blog
post. about this topic and how you can support
inquiry learning at home and the next steps to
growing curious inquisitive children that love
learning. So that's all for today folks. Thanks
for listening. I hope you've enjoyed this episode
and if you did make sure to click that subscribe
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I've said today resonates with you or you think
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and help me to keep going. Thanks so much and
be sure to visit me at bloomingcurious .com and
listen out for the next episode next Tuesday.
And remember, curiosity isn't just a trait, it's
a superpower. So until next time, stay blooming
curious.