So keeping our children curious and wondering is I think one of
the most important things that we as parents and educators can do.
I think we really have to consider these things.
It's not.
just, you know, I've spoken about it in previous episodes and on the blog, is that
we cannot be passive consumers of content.
And we also can't just go through our day doing the same thing over and over again.
I don't think the children are truly engaged when they're just busy.
I don't think the children are engaged.
or truly engaged when they're sitting at desks, just doing
one worksheet after another.
I think as educators and parents, we can do better.
And I think it's time for all of us to actually stop and take a moment and
think about those questions, you know, in education we're often called upon
to reflect, reflect on how the lesson went, reflect on how your day went.
And then to.
You know, make a plan, put a strategy in place, make some changes so that we can do
better in the next lesson or the next day.
And I think that's what we have to do in our lives is we've got to stop for
a moment and reflect a little bit more.
And think about what it is that we're doing and how we can do better.
And I love that today, when we're looking at something a little bit different and
I've asked some guests to respond to that question what are the best strategies
to keep kids curious and engaged?
So I put out this question to some Facebook admins.
What is your favorite strategy for engaging children
and keeping them curious?
So I'm going to play those clips for you.
Have a listen to them and then I'll weigh in afterwards as
well in terms of what I think.
So here we go with the first one have a listen and then
we'll have a chat about it.
Children are innately curious, but to spark their curiosity, there
needs to be an element of wonder in their days, a moment of awe.
And this can look like an expression on their face.
It can be a moment of excitement.
Maybe it's words that they're using.
Maybe they're jumping.
It could be about materials that they're exploring.
And a moment of awe can bring about curiosity.
And this drives children to take action on that, to speak up.
to understand what they're exploring.
So you want to look for wonder moments and reflect on why that may be happening.
So is it a certain material that they're exploring?
Is it children that they're playing with?
Is it a particular part of the setting?
Was it a question that was asked?
Like, just reflect on what, what created that wonder moment.
Now, to keep children curious and to keep them engaging in their play, an important
element is having a sense of connection.
And this is being connected to the environment, children, and
educators that are in the setting.
So connection brings about safety, calmness, and curiosity can keep
growing when those are consistent.
So be open to the moments that come when they're least unexpected and
look for the wonder moments and take on educator as researcher mindset.
Be open to where the play experiences take you.
So you heard there from Veronica Green, Veronica has a website and a
business called Cultivating Confidence.
And Veronica also has a Facebook group called All Things Early Years
and I want to just take a moment and have a look at what she said there.
So connection, bring safety, calmness, and curiosity can keep growing
when those things are consistent.
And I think when we look back and I've spoken before about Maslow's hierarchy,
for example, Kids, aren't going to learn.
If they don't feel safe, if they're not happy.
So I think what she said there about that connection, that's co important,
and also to be open to those moments that come when they're least expected.
And we've spoken about that before as well.
Those moments when a child comes to you with.
You know, they've discovered a bar or a lady bird or a snail.
And if you just dismiss that, that's not going to help nurture their curiosity.
We have to be open to those moments and they're very unexpected, when kids come to
us with something or they have a question or they point something out in a book.
And it's not about answering their questions or say, oh, look.
You know, that's a, that's a lady bird and it's a, it's an insect.
And you know why it's an insect because it has six legs and a pair
of wings or whatever it might be.
For us, it's trying to find those moments where we can nurture their
curiosity and we nurture them through our own researcher mindset exactly
as Veronica has just said, it's about thinking as a researcher, thinking as
an Inquirer, and bringing that inquiry mindset and that inquiry stance to our.
Interactions with children to put them, to get them to question.
So we need to question as well.
And it's not about bombarding them throughout the day with millions of
questions all the time, because that will also become really boring for kids.
It's just about finding those really those slight nuanced moments.
When you can say at that moment.
Oh, my gosh.
You know, Well, I wonder why I wonder why.
Oh, I wonder what kind of creature that might be.
And maybe go and have a look for things that are in common.
How do lady birds and beetles and dragonflies, how are they similar,
what do they have in common?
So I love that response.
Okay.
So here's our next,
responder.
with her best strategy for keeping kids curious and engaged.
Let's see what April.
Zyko has to say.
What a great question.
I love the idea of how do we get kids curious?
Well, just to say, I'm April Zyko.
I'm a nature based early childhood educator, and I teach a lot of
college courses and do virtual professional development for teachers.
And this idea of tapping into children's curiosities is one that I love.
And so my favorite tip would be Is really getting kids outside, giving
them these opportunities for hands on nature based learning, giving
them the tools and just letting them to explore their own backyards.
And so I know when I shift my thinking as, uh, you know, what's my role as a teacher.
And I really focus on being a facilitator and being a keen observer of children.
And then.
Allowing their curiosities to really lead the learning and so allowing their
interest to really drive our curriculum.
It's such a great way to, um, just really foster their, their curiosities.
And so I think part of it is how we add materials to our learning
environment and how we really.
Um, shift our role rather than being this direct instruction,
being more that facilitator.
And so my top tip is head outside and get curious yourself.
So I really couldn't have said that any better myself.
Thank you April.
Getting kids outside is her favorite tip and I think it's probably mine and every
other educator on the planet that has seen firsthand just how being outside and being
outdoors can I open up children's awe and wonder, and really get them curious.
And that's why if you listen to my, one of my previous episodes,
when I was talking to Victoria Hackett, from outdoor classrooms.com.
You know, we spoke in depth about.
How children build their curiosity and their learning outside.
And just how much they learn when they're outdoors.
And she also gave so many great tips to educators and parents of how they can
prepare the outdoor environment to create that awe and wonder because if it's
all beautifully manicured, but there's nothing there, might be extraordinarily
beautiful, but there's nothing there for them to really get stuck into.
There may not be any loose parts, for example.
These are things.
Children need to be able to do things they need to get active.
They need to climb and explore and.
You know, use their five senses literally.
So I think getting outdoors is exactly the right place to.
To nurture children's awe and wonder and curiosity.
And also I really loved how April spoke about we, as, as educators
shifting our stance and that it's not that we're always just teaching.
It's not that whole talk and chalk thing when we're just standing at the front
of the classroom just yapping away.
Um, we can't really just be yapping away anymore.
You know, we're up against technology.
And children find technology, unfortunately, but they find
technology highly, highly engaging.
because it really gets their dopamine going so.
We need to be the dopamine, but it's not just us.
We need to find ways that we can get kids curious.
And by us nurturing their curiosity by finding ways that we can teach
our content outside, I think is a wonderful step in the right direction.
And as April said, we've got to be facilitators and a really
keen observer of children.
So again, that whole idea.
Of not being passive, not just standing there watching children,
but really getting in there and really closely observing.
What is it that they're talking about to one another?
What is it that they're picking up off the ground?
What is it that they're saying?
Is there a way that we can come in and maybe ask a question?
Just to take them and guide them along a path of inquiry, for example.
So we've got to lean into their curiosities and their interests and
use that to drive our curriculum.
And I think we sometimes get so worried about the curriculum, but you know,
if we know our curriculum really well, then when we take children's
curiosities, we can get that to fit in
so, so easily.
And interestingly enough, I was so fortunate and so thrilled beyond measure.
I cannot tell you I was actually so excited, but so incredibly
nervous I actually interviewed Claire Warden last Friday.
And that's an upcoming episode, so don't forget to subscribe so that you can be
notified when that episode goes live.
But Claire was saying those exact same things.
So whenever I speak to anybody, whoever I speak to in previous people, I've re.
Uh, interviewed.
It's always the same stuff that comes up over and over again.
So I'm kind of wondering if, if all of us.
People that are interested, really deeply interested and passionate
about children and how they learn and nurturing their curiosity and
their awe and wonder in the world,
because.
, if you think about it, so many of us right have become so so sort of
disinterested and disconnected with our world is just like, we're just
going through the motions of every day.
Not really stopping and saying, hang on a minute, how do I feel about this?
What's going on with me?
Can I be better?
Can I do, but it was my response appropriate.
Yeah, I think we really have to start
being facilitators, not just about children's learning, but
of our own learning as well.
And just stopping in the moment and get off the phones, get off the computers, get
off the technology because that's, what's sucking up our brain power and our time.
And start asking yourselves and doing a little bit of introspection and thinking.
How can I facilitate children's learning rather than just yapping away at them.
So I love also allowing children's curiosities and their interests
to drive to drive their learning.
I think that's super important.
And I love also, I know I'm doing a lot of loving.
Um, That we need to shift our role from a direct instruction type of role to
that of a facilitating type of role.
And as April said, her top tip was really to get outside and be curious ourselves.
And I think I've said that over and over and over so many times.
We cannot expect kids to be curious if we're not curious ourselves, we
cannot expect kids to be good readers,
if we aren't modeling, reading ourselves, we cannot expect kids to speak correctly
if we don't speak correctly, ourselves.
We are, really, the biggest influencers in our children's lives.
Maybe we don't realize that, but you know, Have you ever noticed, for
example, You'll be sitting there and then you hear a kid say something.
And it's just, you they've just said exactly
what you say, because we are so important, we play this really
important part in children's lives.
Where everything we do and say, and in fact, even the things we don't do
and say, are influencing children's lives in massive, massive ways.
So also, I just want to say now that a great place for you to go to
for tips and resources and articles to get you thinking and wondering
about your practice as an educator.
Is EDS lessons.com.
So if you want to nurture, not just your learners, curiosity, but your
own too, then head over to Ed's lessons.com and stay in the know.
And while you're there.
Check out the eGuide that I created, especially for those of you that
may be new to, or just a little unsure or nervous of how to get
started with inquiry based learning.
Because I've created an easy guide there to help you get started, and
it's aptly called inquiry 1 0 1.
It takes you through the process of inquiry with step-by-step
instructions to integrate the inquiry cycle into everyday lessons.
And so of course you will be nurturing your own curiosity yourself.
So many educators, and even parents, if you're a homeschool parents, think
that inquiry is a separate subject.
Well, it's not, it's a stance.
It's your mindset.
And just, if you can get into that whole mindset of looking for those
moments, as we heard earlier.
Veronica talk about looking for those moments in a child's day,
you're looking for moments where they are being curious moments where
they're interested in something.
And capitalizing on those moments to drive inquiry.
And even as April said, Using those interests that children have to drive
the curriculum to drive your inquiry.
You know, one of the things that I see so often on social media.
are homeschool l parents specifically, actually that have decided to homeschool
their children and they have a five-year-old or even a four year old
and those going where's the curriculum.
What curriculum can I use to teach this child?
And I have gone on and I've responded to this and saying,
well, the child is the curriculum.
And people get really annoyed and uppity with me because they then
think, well, I want a curriculum I want something on paper.
I want someone to guide me.
But your child is the curriculum their interests are
what will drive your curriculum.
Yeah.
One of the reasons for people, I think choosing to homeschool their
children is because they don't want.
Uh, they don't want the rigidity of perhaps what happens in this.
In a school setting because schools are driven by timetables and time
constraints, and that's just the way it is because when you are in a class
with 25 or 29 or 30 kids, you have to have those structures in place
otherwise you have chaos.
But in a homeschool setting when you've just got a couple of kids, 1, 2, 3, 4,
whatever it might be, when you've just got those few kids, you can so easily drive
your curriculum with their interests.
But you first have to get that inquiry mindset going in yourself and
think, well, How can I use moments of awe and wonder to drive this
child's learning and those moments of awe and wonder are found outdoors.
So everything that April and Veronica said today, Go out doors.
See where that takes you.
And again, if you go to Ed's lessons to the website, you will find an eGuide
there called How to nurture children's curiosity naturally, which would
really help you to see where those natural moments are, where you could
take them and nurture that curiosity.
And if you're open to that idea,
that's going to help you to apply inquiry, learning to what children are learning.
And once more, I think I have to also make it quite clear here we're talking
about nurturing children's curiosity not killing it with worksheets.
Yes, there are place for worksheets.
Yes, we should have a worksheet every now and again, because it might be
something that we want to consolidate
or we want to see what children have learned.
And of course we want them to write and we want them to read, we
want them to show what they know, there is a place for worksheets.
But to give a worksheet for every single lesson of every single
day that's not real learning, that's not getting kids thinking.
That's not what curiosity is about.
There are better ways to do that.
And if you hang around Blooming Curious for long enough, and you go to
edslessons.com for long enough, and to have a look at some of the resources
there you'll start seeing other ways where you can gather children's knowledge
and other ways that they can show their learning and make their learning visible.
So I really hope that you'll do that.
Thanks again to April and Veronica for taking the time to record
their favorite strategies for keeping kids curious and engaged.
We really, really appreciate that.
And I really thank you for being here today.
I know that you can choose a million other podcasts out there to listen to.
And they're all amazing and wonderful, but I thank you for taking the time
today to listen to Blooming Curious, because clearly you want to nurture your
own curiosity as well as your children.
And that is amazing because the more of us than can be curious and awake and
thinking about how we can better serve children the better for, I think humanity.
So thanks for being here and guys can I just say that this
podcast cannot grow without you following and without your reviews.
So I want to also thank those of you that have left reviews and those of
you that are following because that's really helping this podcast grow.
Podcasts do not grow and do not get in front of other people unless
you share them, unless you follow them and unless you leave reviews,
that's just how the algorithm and the whole podcast scene works.
So, if you really like what you're hearing, please leave a review
I would really, really appreciate that.
And also don't forget to follow because I am interviewing so many awesome people
and there's so many awesome episodes coming and that way you won't miss it.
So hope to see you here or for you to listen to me again next week.
Tuesday is when every new episode launches and I will see you then
until then stay blooming curious.