Instinctive urges to play

During my experience as an early childhood teacher and parent, I have often been fascinated by the way children play.  During my observations, I have noticed different stages of play as well as universal “themes” or patterns to the way that children play. 

Perhaps you have noticed them too? 

Infants seeming compelled to play “Ta” or to post things. 

Toddlers obsessed with climbing, tipping and throwing or filling bags, buggies and trolleys with bits and pieces and moving them around the play space. 

Young children fascinated with building, jumping, mixing or connecting things with string and sellotape. 

If you too have noticed this then chances are that you have been observing a play urge or a schema.

What is a Schema or Play Urge?

In the simplest of terms, schema or play urges are repeated actions and patterns in children’s play linked by “common threads of thought”- Nutbrown, 2006

If you think back to your training, you might remember learning about this during a module on human development when you looked at Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.

Piaget defined schema as “a set of linked mental representations of the world, which we use both to understand and respond to situations.”

This is vital to the way children’s brains develop. 

Children experiencing an environment where they develop working theories for making sense of the natural, social, physical and material worlds.Exploration – Te Whāriki, 2017.

These play urges are innate in nature and universal – children all around the world play in similar ways and display similar types of play. These schemas are the basic building block of intelligent behaviour – a way of organising knowledge and can be described as the “urge” children have to do things like climb, throw things and hide in small spaces. It is how children test out ideas and make sense of the world around them.

These urges need to be repeated multiple times until they “assimilate” the new information and cement this working theory as a new brain connection. 

Schemas are evident in all stages of our development and build in complexity and we combine them over time.   In order for us to be efficient, productive human beings, our brains need to learn how to do certain things automatically in order for us to complete a complex task such as for example driving.

If you do drive or you are learning to drive, I bet it was at times confusing and frustrating when you were learning how to use the pedals, the gear shift and steer at the same time.  I bet that it took many repetitions and lots of time to get to a stage where you did certain parts of driving without thinking about them.  With our children the same is true, they need to repeat certain actions many times to reinforce neural pathways and build a strong, complex brain capable of problem-solving, creating and thinking.

Noticing the Play Urges of the Children in Your Setting

Some play urges are really obvious.  You might have a child in your setting who is fascinated with wheels or is always pushing something around.  You might have a child who spends most of their time in the block area building, or a child who spend hours connecting bit of paper with Sellotape and glue. 

In my experience as a SELO provider and a facilitator for teacher professional development, I work closely with centres on their assessment, documentation and planning. More often than not I have noticed that teachers seem to focus exclusively on the interests of the child when identifying the learning that has been happening in the learning story.

I have often asked why? Knowing the interests of the child is an important aspect of curriculum design. Could this be because interests are easy to see and easy to plan for?

However, when we focus all our attention on interests this is only half the picture and we only scrape on the surface of what is really happening, and it can be misguiding.  Sometimes the learning dispositions or children’s play urges, “the intellectual content of children’s play” (Van Wijk, 2019) can go unnoticed. 

For example:  Ali enjoys playing in the family corner.  Her teachers have noticed that she likes to wrap up the dolls and put them in the boxes.  She also likes to take the sink out of the play kitchen and then climb into the cupboard through the hole left by taking out the sink.

If we are looking at this learning through an “interest” lens, we might think that Ali is interested in family play as she spends a lot of her time in the family corner.  However, if we look at her play through a “play urge” lens we might notice that Ali is working with the schema of enveloping and enclosing. 

If we observe her in other areas of the centre, we might notice other types of enveloping/enclosing types of play.  Ali might cover the animals with playdough at the playdough table or cover her body in the sandpit.  We can’t know with absolute certainty what children are thinking, but when we notice these patterns, we are able to plan for and respond to what children are exploring and thinking about in a more meaningful way.

Planning for Play Urges

These urges which defy logic and are compelling for children can often be annoying and frustrating to us adults.  It is however important to see these as the way children learn and not as bad behaviour.  We need to learn how to understand and respond to these urges.  This often requires us as the adults to change our approach or adapt the environment to support the children in our settings.

“If we recognise the scientist in all of this, we won’t see the child as stubbornly resisting us.”- Brownlee, Crisp, 2016.

Some of the common play urges that you may encounter are:

• Transporting

• Trajectory

• Orientation

• Positioning/patterning

• Connecting

• Enclosing/enveloping

• Rotation

• Transformation

• Balancing

• Chasing

• Wrestling

• Climbing

• Posting

• Gathering

• Constructing

• Deconstructing

You might ask yourself how can I respond to children’s play urges in a meaningful way? 

Here are some ideas:

• Find out more

As mentioned above, some of these schemas or play urges can be a bit more difficult to pin down.  Sometimes our intentions, interpretations and understanding can be way off base. 

If you have a hunch or you are unsure, undertake further investigation.  Spend more time purposefully observing the child’s play, have conversations with the child, other teachers or the child’s whānau.

• Free Play

Humans develop holistically and uninterrupted free play is the perfect vehicle for developing and strengthening brain connections and for our budding scientists to try out their working theories.  Make time and space for the children in your setting to have uninterrupted play, free of adult routines and agendas.

Play is interactive and complex learning and allows children to integrate and to test out their play urges across all learning contexts.

• Real Experiences 

Authentic real-life experiences are rich learning opportunities for children.  Things like pottering in the garden and helping with food preparation allow children to be immersed in the culture of the setting and give them a sense of how they fit in the world. Everyday life is full of naturally occurring and reoccurring learning opportunities.

Toddlers are active, curious and seeking to make sense of their world.  They enjoy testing limits, causes and effects as they develop and define their working theories.  Kaiako support them by being attentive to their interests and providing opportunities for both new and repeat learning opportunities.  Te Whāriki, 2017.

• Authenic Materials

Providing an environment rich with open-ended, loose parts and materials allows children to readily co-opt these resources to fit in with what ever they are working on. 

For example, if you were planning for a child who is investigating enclosing themselves by building huts you might ensure that there were large boxes or pieces of fabric of various sizes or blocks and other materials in the environment. 

Or if you were responding to a play urge of a child who was interested in transporting, you would ensure that there were loose parts such as blocks, shells or bottle tops to transport as well as bags, baskets, trolleys, buggies etc. in the environment to transport with.

•  The “Yes” Environment
  

Just as some of the play around play urges can confound and frustrate us.  Saying “No” and having their play policed can be frustrating and disempowering for our children as well as stressful to us teachers.  Think about how you can create an environment where there is less “No” and more “Yes” for the children in your space.  I have included some reflective questions below to get you started.

I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn. - Albert Einstein.

Questions for Further Reflection: 

I invite you to reflect on your interactions with the children in your space. 

How often are you saying “No” to the children in your space when it comes to their play?

Now take a look around your environment, does the environment and the things in the environment allow children to play without adult interruption or intervention? 

Does the environment meet the learning needs of the children in your setting?

Is your learning environment truly the third teacher?

Perhaps you might need to pack some things away, move things around or introduce more materials or loose parts?

Where could you start?

Supporting the Schemas in Play

The past few months I have been trying to understand the reasons behind certain behaviours my children exhibit. I came across the term “Schematic Play” and I thought it gives me a clearer understanding why my children do the things they do. Schemas are pattern of behaviours that help young children to make sense of the world and understand the social rules; the process of forming and organising knowledge.

As we all know play comes very naturally for babies and children, is their way to explore and understand how things work and how people react to their actions.

So why do we need to know about Schemas in Play (natural urges)?

I like to see these play schemas as “natural urges” which make them exhibit certain behaviours which they are compelled to do; which on the surface they might seem like just-playing.

“…a fancy word for the urges that children have to do things like climb, throw things and hide in small places.” – Clare Caro

The reason why I want to share about these schemas on my blog is because I wished I had known them sooner as a teacher and a mum. I only know these as common play behaviours. Sometimes, we are so into planning activities for them with goals in mind, we sometimes failed to understand some behaviours we said “no” to are actually natural urges. When we suppressed these natural behaviours, the children might direct the urges to something not appropriate as they grow up (I think of it like they are trying to satisfy their curiosity).

When we understand and recognise these natural urges in our children’s play, we can support and extend their play. We also learn to redirect “dangerous or inappropriate urges” to safer alternatives instead of stopping them completely (e.g. redirect M to throw bean bags into a box instead of throwing a big bouncy ball in the house)

Schemas of Play

1. Connecting and Disconnecting

2. Orientation

3. Positioning

4. Trajectory

5. Rotation

6. Transporting

7. Transforming

8. Enveloping

9. Enclosing

1. Connecting and disconnecting

Using a popsicle stick to slice to disconnect the hook-and-loop blocks

Connecting bricks together, stacking the magnetic tiles on top of one another, stacking items up vertically or horizontally, a common scene at home? Probably before all these, they enjoy knocking down towers.

Exploring how to link the cardboard tubes together with the sticks

Putting things together and taking them apart help them to understand how the materials work. So before you keep insisting your child to construct something in the way you think he or she should, let them explore the toy first and build the way they want. Don’t be mad if the young ones keep destroying your structures.

Materials and play ideas: Wooden blocks, foam blocks, magnetic tiles (with a lot of supervision), connecting train tracks, Lego bricks, connecting toys, bowls and cups, plastic jars, ribbons, threading activities, tapes (older ones can connect the dots with paper and pencils).

2. Orientation

“Who is that below me?”

Often catch your baby looking between their legs? Your child going down the slide on the tummy instead? Well, I was very puzzled why my babies will do those fancy yoga poses while I breastfeed them. Probably they have nothing else to do so this natural play urge kicks in.

M likes to hang from a bar or rope and tilt his head back.

Seeing the world upside down can be very fun, it also teaches the child to take on different perspectives – the same object or scene can be seen in different ways. This will help greatly in the future when it comes to navigating around a new place (noticing prominent landmarks), reading maps, and even fitting in pieces of puzzles.

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I love adding mirrors to extend on this schema, creating depth and new perspectives.

Materials and play ideas: Monkey bars, swings, higher platform furniture (I used chairs, Wobbel and foldable play mats). mirrors.

3. Positioning

J lining up his (huge collection of) cars. While it might appear like a “random” action to us, he is building on his positioning schema.

Does your child arrange toys in lines too? This is the positioning schema. I think I am still building on this schema now myself; I like arranging items in a line, putting them in order of height or colours.

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“My child is just lining things up!” is a feedback I hear so often when parents are asked about how their children play with toys. Putting objects in rows or forming a circle is NOT just lining things up – think about the amazing wonders in their minds as they are positioning objects. Probably thinking “let’s lay the cars along and see where will it end!” , or “how many different lines can I make with all these cars?” Well, we will never know whats going on in the minds of these fantastic toddlers.

M laying the Playmags (magnetic tiles) in neat coloumns on the light pad.

When M is stacking or lining objects, he is also learning about the shapes, patterns, lines and sometimes even learning how to balance the objects or how to make sure the hand does not knock down the objects while he is lining them up.

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Materials and play ideas: Variety of loose parts materials with a boundary to work on to create patterns, cars, twigs / sticks, provide variety of textile objects, vary in sizes and weight.

4. Trajectory

This is probably the schema that led me to research more about M’s behaviours.

When people tell me about “trajectory”, I usually think about ramps and getting an object move from one place to another. There is more to that. Throwing objects and jumping (moving own body) is also trajectory! It is all about movements and how we or the objects respond to the movement.

I said “NO” to him a few times without realising the behaviour he is exhibiting is part of the schema of trajectory. He throws things, jumped a lot and absolutely obsessed with ball runners and water walls / fountains.

Throwing a ball

I thought these were misbehaviours of a very active toddler who loves water play. Being a teacher, I know I had to redirect his energy to appropriate activities. However, I have ignored addressing his urge to throw, move and interact with moving objects.

He now learns that he can throw bean bags in the house and the big ball is only for outside play. He now creates his own throwing game at home and almost everyday he will bring his ball along to throw and let it roll down the slide (he loves doing that with a friend, sharing the ball is his tool to make new friends).

M and E exploring how the balls move on the Wobbel board

Do you experience the classic my-baby-likes-to-drop-things-down-from-the-highchair? Yes, that is the trajectory schema too. I like how these schemas are not formed based on physical experiences with the objects, but also how the babies will take note of our expressions and give that cheeky giggle when we picked up the items for them again and again.

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Materials and play ideas: Ramps, slides, swings, balls, cars, ball / marble runner, water pipes, bean bags, containers (to throw or drop items into), cardboard tubes, paper aeroplane, chalk, tape or string as movement guidelines, roll on different surfaces and materials.

5. Rotation

Rolling the tyre from one place to another (rotation and trajectory schemas are observed in this scene)

My boy is that child who is obsessed with wheels and anything that goes round. His favourite song on repeat mode was “The Wheels on the Bus”. Because he likes things that goes round, I used to buy a LOT of car and driving toys for him. However rotation schema goes beyond playing with cars.

M exploring the lazy Susan at the Blue House atelier when he was a crawling infant

Spinning things around (e.g. top), rotating objects, and even scribbling round and round are part of the rotation schema.

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Materials and play ideas: Spinning tops, spinner, windmill, twisting (large) bottle caps, doing activities on lazy susan, round bottles, drawing circles, hula-hoops, or sing songs that involves turning (eg. The Wheels on the Bus, Hokey-Pokey)

6. Transporting

N enjoys pushing her favourite toys in a wagon walker around the house.

Just a few days ago, I saw N trying to carry as many packets of wet wipes she can, then later trying to transfer three diapers from one cupboard to another. She cried in frustration when she failed to do it. I put her little bag next to her and she used it to put the diapers inside and she was a happy baby once again.

I strongly recommend having a wagon walker at home. Not only it helps toddling infants to learn to stand and walk independently at their own pace (note that those sitting baby-walkers are a big no-no for me), it supports their transporting schema. We bought ours from Ikea and she likes to put things on it and push around.

Using a pot to contain the blocks as she moves from one place to another

Placing items in containers to bring them another location is also transporting schema (sometimes overlapping with enclose).

Materials and play ideas: Wagon-walker / trolleys, baskets, containers of different sizes, bags, cardboard tubes, cars

7. Transforming

Observing changes in the baking soda experiment, learning about cause and effect.

I used to wonder why M likes to pour every basket of toys onto the floor and used his hands to swipe and mix them. I think his urge to mix things up is very strong. The daily dose of sensory and dough play is making mess at home more manageable.

I find transforming schema quite therapeutic for myself, hence i like to play with different types of dough.

Baby N mixing paint colours with her brush and fingers

The transforming schema has a strong link to learning about cause and effect.

Materials and play ideas: Cookery activities, painting with different colours, providing variety of loose parts and utensils, translucent colour materials and toys, dough play (try having more than one colour), ice and water play.

8. Enveloping

Hiding the buttons in the dough

My kids like to “bury” objects in their dough and I remember I always tell M not to push the objects too hard into the dough when we creating letters and Chinese words. He was actually having the urge to push them deep inside to see how far they can go. Even better, till they disappear from sight. N recently likes to wrap her biscuits in her hand into a tight fist and not let them go, I am suspecting it is the envelop schema at work.

N playing peek-a-boo with momma, covering herself with a play scarf

Envelop not only applies to objects, but also to one’s body. How about wrapping scarf and blanket around themselves? Hiding their faces with their hands? Playing peek-a-boo with you? Lots of giggles and fun when the play scarf is drape over the baby!

Colouring one colour over another is also building on the schema of enveloping. M is still doing this at 3 year-old.

Materials and play ideas: Play scarves, light shawl, light blanket / napkin, papers, pails, large hat, play Peek-a-Boo, wrap / unwrap objects with paper and scarf, tapes, crayons
Warning: Keep plastic bags and items that has the risk of suffocating away from young children!

9. Enclosing

Drawing in a carton box

Boxes can entertain my children for a pretty long period of time. Not only it provides imaginative play, the enclosed space serves an avenue for the children to build on their enclose schema. I remember when I was young, I am always drawn to tents and playhouses, going in and out, feeling the difference in the “spacial atmosphere”.

Inserting popsicle sticks into the slit of a container

Do you lose things in the house with a toddler around? That’s them trying to insert our items into holes and container with this play urge. It took me days of searching for baby Jesus from our nativity play set, only to find N chewing on it with a cardboard tube beside her almost a week later.

Enclose can also be a form of drawing where the child draws an “enclosure” around her drawings. M has been drawing borders on his paper and now I know why.

Materials and play ideas: Boxes, tent, DIY fort with blankets, containers with holes, tugging and pulling ribbons from box or colander, inserting pom poms into narrow-opening bottles, stencils.

Understanding, Supporting and Extending Schematic Play

When we learned and recognise these natural play urges, we are better at extending their play experience, curating materials and toys for them, and redirecting inappropriate play behaviours to a safe activity that still allows them to build on the schema.

If your child is currently “obsessed” with some schema, it can get tiring and frustrating to deal with, but remember that they are growing their brain, and organizing their ways of thinking about the world as they explore this schema again and again. – Jangle Durham

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Probably often, you don’t see a schema isolated in an activity. Sometimes a play activity can fall into two types of play schemas or more.

When playing with cars and ramps, the child might learn about trajectory, transporting, rotation and transforming (push force).

As you can see from the examples, there are many opportunities for problem-solving, creative and imaginative thinking, critical-thinking, and development of social and emotional skills (e.g. perseverance). This is why play is an important part of the early years to discover about the world.

When you observe how your child plays the next round, see if you can match their behaviours and actions based on these schemas 

Related

Learning About Play (2): Stages of Play1st Feb 2020In "Information about Play"

Learning About Play (1): Types of Play13th Dec 2019In "Information about Play"

Encouraging child-directed turn-taking and waiting5th Feb 2020In "Home teaching"

Schemas in Children’s Play

“Children learn through play.” Everybody knows that, but do the parents really know the way in which this kind of “learning” occurs?

In my work, identifying schema has always been helpful: you make sense of a situation and you can understand better why some children would do certain actions. Let’s have a look at them:

Enclosure -Building fences around the small world animals, sitting in boxes or pretending to be an animal in a cage. This schema is very popular. I had a little girl in my class who loved to pretend that she is a gorilla trapped in a cage. She used to put boxes or toys around herself particularly the big abacus which resembled the bars of the cage, and she spent most of her free play in there. One day she was enjoying herself so much, she forgot to go to the toilet and she wet herself.

“Enclosing” the car

Another example of enclosure is building. There was a boy in my class whose play revolved around this schema all year round. He spent most of his free play time building structures. He loved to build a  “garage” for his car and he used to literally close it between the walls of Lego. He even “enclosed” himself!

“Enclosing” himself between the “walls” of Lego

Enveloping– wrapping toys, layering paper or fabric.

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Dressing up, Dressing and undressing dolls, making clothes for the dolls , all of these are also examples of enveloping. These activities are very popular with the girls. In the pictures below the girl is showing that she is in the enveloping schema. She also liked to dress up and to help her friend to do the same. The children with common schema often play very nicely together.

Enveloping expressed through layering fabric (wrapping it around a tree)

Making clothes for the baby, or “enveloping” the baby

Connection– play with jigsaws, tie knots, join things together (like cars, trains, plastic links). Lots of children love jigsaw but when you’ll notice your child trying to make knots with his little hands he might be exploring this schema.

Core and radial schema– drawing circles, or circle with lines resembling the sun. I have seen lots of children doing this kind of drawing to stand for “writing”, people or simply the sun.

Rotation

– spinning around, doing rolly polly, running or walking in circles, playing with toys that have wheels.

Trajectory

– climbing, pouring, throwing different things, kicking. In this category we may include some children who might be seen as misbehaving (sometimes children are, but sometimes they are just exploring this schema): climbing up the table, throwing toys or food, kicking not only balls but also other toys that aren’t made with this purpose.

Positioning– lining up toys, having a preference in plating their food or just sitting under the table. Most commonly way of putting this into practice is by lining up toys and the most unusual way is placing things to  in a specific way. I had a little boy in my class last year who always requested his croutons on a tissue next to his soup (and not in it) or the mashed potatoes on one side of the plate and the sauce on the other, with some space between them. As fussy as this sounds, I could relate to him because I also have my preferences when plating. They say some schemas, although faded, may continue through adulthood. I guess I has a positioning schema as a child which continues today.

Positioning-lining up cars on top of pieces of Lego

Another example of positioning is this one, where the boy specifically placed the card behind the “walls”:

Specific positions: the plastic cars behind the “walls” and the wooden cars behind the plastic ones.

Transporting– moving objects from one place to another. The children who are showing this schema are called “transporters” and if you have one of these in your class, you’ll be spending a lot of time to tidy up. This is very popular  especially with 2 to 3 year old children.

There are some more schema , which I didn’t notice so often in children’s play, like orientation( which means being interested in different points of view).

Identifying children’s schema is important in order to help them extend their play by offering more chances to play in the same schema. We can  do this by planning  the activities according to children’s  schema.

The parents can do this by providing them the toys that they need for a specific schema. A child who is interested in making clothes for the dolls may also be interested in fancy dress, in playing with fabric to wrap himself in it (or others), in wrapping boxes, decorating, painting, going shopping, dress up Barbies and so on.  Eventually, the child will slide into another schema, and we must be there for him to understand, encourage and support him.

If you want to read more about this, I found these articles useful and maybe you’ll want to take a look:

http://education.scholastic.co.uk/content/6681

http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Piaget’s_Stages

http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Piaget%27s_Constructivism

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What is the trajectory play schema?

The trajectory play schema reflects an interest in how objects move through space.

This sort of action is present in all sorts of play, but you'll certainly notice it in activities like:

• Throwing objects

• Dropping things, or pushing something off a ledge

• Rolling balls or other objects down an incline

• Swinging on a swing set, or pushing someone else on a swing set

• Playing with the flow of water

Trajectory schema play activity ideas

1. Become a test pilot for paper planes

Source: Early Impact learning & Kids Activities Blog

How it connects to play schemas: Children who engage with trajectory schema play will be fascinated by the movement of paper planes as they fly. Paper airplanes are easy to put together with materials you’ve already got on hand, and watching their motion can also be a miniature physics lesson for little ones.

What you’ll need:

• Paper

• Scissors

• Tape

How you do it: There are lots of different ways to make a paper plane. You might start by showing children an example you made as a child, and then let them experiment with their approach. To make it more interesting, you can make a flying distance challenge where you can use tape for starting and finishing lines, and children can fly their planes towards the finish line while enjoying the soaring plane.

2. Paint a masterpiece with rolling marbles 

Source: Busy Blooming Joy & Art for Kids Hub

How it connects to play schemas: Rolling marbles in paint on paper draw out children’s creative, artistic impulses while exploring a medium that’s extra fascinating due to the trajectory schema. With its artistic process, this activity allows children to explore different materials, colors, and textures by the rolling movement of the marbles and enhances their ability to understand the cause-and-effect phenomena.  

What you’ll need:

• Paint

• Marbles

• Jars

• Spoons

• Cardboard box

How you do it: Start by placing your paper inside the cardboard box, to help contain your marbles and your mess. Prepare jars with different paints and add marbles to them. Put the lid back on and shake them around in the paint. Use the spoon to bring them out. Have your child start rolling the marbles in the cardboard and create a beautiful pattern. 

3. Splishing and splashing through a water pipe maze

Source: Early Impact

How it connects to play schemas: Water splashing and manipulation can fall under different play schemas, but is relevant for the trajectory schema as well. It allows children to enjoy the interesting irregular movement of water through different pathways of pipes, and if presented properly, can boost their experimental and problem-solving capabilities.

What you’ll need:

• Water

• Pipes or tubes

• Balls

• Tape

• Pallet

How you do it: Attach a pallet to a wall and create a pathway with pipes or tubes. Secure the pipes with tape. Make sure the tubes are movable, so children can create their pathways to manipulate the flow of water. They can also pour balls with the water and predict their path through the pipelines.

Image Source: All For The Boys

4. Toy car derby: Ramp rally racing

Source: The Toddler PlayBook

How it connects to play schemas: Ramps can be a key tool for engaging children with trajectory schema play, as it allows for all sorts of options for rolling objects. Using toy cars can give this activity some more structure, and turn the activity into cooperative play with one another.

What you’ll need:

• Cardboard box

• Tape 

• Glue

• Pens

How you do it: Take an empty cardboard box to use as the base for the ramp, by folding the cardboard into an angled surface you can set it on the floor. If you like, you can cut rectangular pieces out of another cardboard box and glue them on the ramp, to create separate lanes for your cars. Once it's complete, let children roll their cars or balls down the lanes. 

The trajectory play schema reflects an interest in how objects move through space.

This sort of action is present in all sorts of play, but you'll certainly notice it in activities like:

• Throwing objects

• Dropping things, or pushing something off a ledge

• Rolling balls or other objects down an incline

• Swinging on a swing set, or pushing someone else on a swing set

• Playing with the flow of water

More Trajectory schema play activity ideas

1. Become a test pilot for paper planes

Source: Early Impact learning & Kids Activities Blog

How it connects to play schemas: Children who engage with trajectory schema play will be fascinated by the movement of paper planes as they fly. Paper airplanes are easy to put together with materials you’ve already got on hand, and watching their motion can also be a miniature physics lesson for little ones.

What you’ll need:

• Paper

• Scissors

• Tape

How you do it: There are lots of different ways to make a paper plane. You might start by showing children an example you made as a child, and then let them experiment with their approach. To make it more interesting, you can make a flying distance challenge where you can use tape for starting and finishing lines, and children can fly their planes towards the finish line while enjoying the soaring plane.

2. Paint a masterpiece with rolling marbles 

Source: Busy Blooming Joy & Art for Kids Hub

How it connects to play schemas: Rolling marbles in paint on paper draw out children’s creative, artistic impulses while exploring a medium that’s extra fascinating due to the trajectory schema. With its artistic process, this activity allows children to explore different materials, colors, and textures by the rolling movement of the marbles and enhances their ability to understand the cause-and-effect phenomena.  

What you’ll need:

• Paint

• Marbles

• Jars

• Spoons

• Cardboard box

How you do it: Start by placing your paper inside the cardboard box, to help contain your marbles and your mess. Prepare jars with different paints and add marbles to them. Put the lid back on and shake them around in the paint. Use the spoon to bring them out. Have your child start rolling the marbles in the cardboard and create a beautiful pattern. 

3. Splishing and splashing through a water pipe maze

Source: Early Impact

How it connects to play schemas: Water splashing and manipulation can fall under different play schemas, but is relevant for the trajectory schema as well. It allows children to enjoy the interesting irregular movement of water through different pathways of pipes, and if presented properly, can boost their experimental and problem-solving capabilities.

What you’ll need:

• Water

• Pipes or tubes

• Balls

• Tape

• Pallet

How you do it: Attach a pallet to a wall and create a pathway with pipes or tubes. Secure the pipes with tape. Make sure the tubes are movable, so children can create their pathways to manipulate the flow of water. They can also pour balls with the water and predict their path through the pipelines.

Image Source: All For The Boys

4. Toy car derby: Ramp rally racing

Source: The Toddler PlayBook

How it connects to play schemas: Ramps can be a key tool for engaging children with trajectory schema play, as it allows for all sorts of options for rolling objects. Using toy cars can give this activity some more structure, and turn the activity into cooperative play with one another.

What you’ll need:

• Cardboard box

• Tape 

• Glue

• Pens

How you do it: Take an empty cardboard box to use as the base for the ramp, by folding the cardboard into an angled surface you can set it on the floor. If you like, you can cut rectangular pieces out of another cardboard box and glue them on the ramp, to create separate lanes for your cars. Once it's complete, let children roll their cars or balls down the lanes. 

Image Source: Pinterest

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WHAT IS A CONNECTION SCHEMA?

Joining things together, connecting objects, tying things together, opening and closing things.

This can and often includes destruction/disconnection of what they’ve connected such as knocking over blocks they’ve put together. 

Real-life Example: A child finds a piece of string and starts tying or wrapping it around knobs in the kitchen, connecting all the doors together. 

What Are They Learning?: Examining how things come together and apart, fine motor skills, cause and effect, spatial awareness, and pre-science and math skills, such as predicting and estimating.

Connection Schema Activities

• Nesting Box

• Button Frame

• Jigsaw Puzzle

• Train Tracks

• Threading Leaves

• Paper chains

• Spider webs with string

• Nesting box – Check out instructions here

• Train tracks that connect 

• Pop beads

• Waffle blocks

• Bristle blocks

• Dressing boards – like these button frames

• Magnets

• Magnetic fishing game

• Jigsaw puzzles

• Lincoln Logs

• Putting marker caps on/off

• Velcro

• Containers with lids

• Cup and string phone

• Dominoes

• Locks and Keys

• Nuts and Bolts (List of nuts and bolts toys)

• Famous building pics for structure building

• Legos

• Tying Shoes

• Stickers or Tape

• Lacing Boards

• Threading leaves

• K’Nex

DIY Weaving Activity:  1. Take a baking cooling rack or something similar. 2. Tie fabric, yarn, or ribbon to the outside frame. 3. Have the child weave the ribbon through the slots.

Contact Paper Suncatchers: 

1. Cut two pieces of contact paper into any shape you’d like (flower, sun, heart, etc.).

2. Make a construction paper frame & attach it to one piece. 

3. Have the child stick a small piece of tissue paper on the sticky side of the contact paper. 

4. When finished, have the child stick the other piece of contact paper, sticky side down, onto the finished suncatcher.

Tape Activities:

1. Give your child pieces of tape to simply stick on a piece of paper, or attach two pieces of cut paper with the tape.

2. Paint Resist Art – attach the tape to paper to create a pattern or shape and paint over. Then remove. 

3. Have them help anytime you need to use tape, like wrapping presents. 

Montessori Practical Life Activities for this Schema: Dressing boards, tying shoes, locks and keys, nuts and bolts, containers with lids, and lacing/weaving. 

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