Early Learning: Following a Child’s Lead

ByChristie Burnett Updated on

Immy wanted to make a city (like ‘Daddy’s city’ – where Dad 101 works) with a bridge.

Will involve lots of active listening. Listen to their vision, their requests, their questions and their theories,

Following a child's lead

The city needed buildings and elevators and a park with trees. And the city was good.

Quite a bit of questioning to understand their intention,

The next day the vision grew. Over the bridge was the country.

Providing them with open ended, expressive materials,

Complete with a carousel.

Supporting them to get unstuck when something just doesn’t work the way they intended.

Horses are rather tricky to draw. Looking at one of our horse figurines helped.

Being patient, not doing it for them but helping them to undertake the processes necessary to complete their vision.

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Christie Burnett is a teacher, author and mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to find engaging, high quality learning ideas.

8 Comments

  1. Michelle Willow says:

    Their playground looks wonderful! 🙂

  2. very nice…

  3. Children love building scenes for their imaginations to run wild. This one is a perfect example… better than any toy you could purchase.

    1. Thank you MaryAnn, at three years of age, Immy is all about imaginative play!

  4. Looks familiar! My son loves to set up towns and farms with his cars, blocks and some old cardboard, too! So much fun!

  5. I love Immy’s city it is so cool. Stepping back and following their lead can be a very tricky thing to learn sometimes 😀

    Oddly I blogged about the same playground set today… well the slide anyway.

    1. I agree with you, Marita, it can be hard but it is so worth it in the end 🙂

  6. Cecilia Ko says:

    What a beautiful city Immy has created!!!

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