Play Provocations #4: Play Schemas Part One

Ever wonder why a toddler is obsessed with dropping peas from a high chair or why blocks are constantly being carted across the room in a bucket? In this episode of Play Provocations, host Linda Harrison is joined by Educational Leader Rachel Emms to flip the script on "challenging" repetitive behaviors. 

Together, they dive into the fascinating world of play schemas - those innate, repeatable patterns of behaviour that act as a child’s biological set of instructions for understanding the world around them. 

We explore four of the "Big Eight" play schemas - trajectory, connecting, transporting, and enclosing - offering a masterclass in shifting from reactive behaviour management to responsive teaching. Rachel shares inspiring play provocations and provides the tools to see the world through a child’s schematic lens.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Welcome to Learn Play Thrive the podcast, the ultimate early learning podcast for educators and leaders in the sector. Let's learn, play, and thrive together.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

The Learn Play Thrive podcast was recorded on the land with the Dark and Jung people. We pay our respects to the traditional custodians, past, present, and emerging. Hands up, hands down, we're on Dark and Jung land.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Hello and welcome back to Play Provocations. I'm Linda Harrison, and for our next two episodes, we have the wonderful Rachel Ms with us, an educational leader in New South Wales Long Daycare Centre.

SPEAKER_04 0:35

Hi Linda, thanks so much for having me. I'm delighted to have this opportunity to step away from the floor for a moment and actually talk about the why behind what we do. In my role as an educational leader, I think I learn as much from the children's curiosity as they do from our play provocations. And I'm really looking forward to diving into these next two episodes with you.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

We're so pleased to have you with us, and in our previous episodes, we've explored the complexities of pretend play, risky play, and messy play. Today we're shifting our focus to a fundamental pillar of cognitive development in the early years, and we're chatting all things play schemas. So for educators working with young children, understanding play schemas is actually key to moving from reactive behaviour management to more intentional responsive pedagogy. We've all observed a toddler repeatedly dropping objects from their high chair, or they might meticulously transport resources across the room. And we're not just uh watching an annoying habit here, we're actually seeing a sophisticated mental mode in construction. So we know that play schemas are also intrinsic and they're driven by a young child's interests and explorations.

SPEAKER_04 1:54

Yeah, and I think being able to recognize and understand play schemas can really change your perspective of children's behaviour and help you in your planning as well. Uh, it's something that I go over with my one to two year old room team every year, I think, when they don't really know what to extend on in their program at the time. Um, and it's just shifting their perspective on children's play and getting them to look that little bit closer about what they're doing. So they're not just rolling a ball down the hill or they're not just watching the train's wheels gliding across the tracks. It's um it's deeper than that, and they're building concepts about how the world works, and it's really important. Um, so it's being able to recognize those things will help you in your programming and planning in those younger age groups, particularly, um, in all great age groups as well. But um, yeah, I find it particularly useful in that younger toddler sort of age group.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

One of the um play schemas that I often see too is when they're uh testing out bouncing the ball, and they might have like bounced a tennis ball or a bouncy ball, but then when they drop the play-doh, um, you know, it remains still. So they then have to refine their schema. Um, so that kind of destruction testing, whether they're banging or pushing or dropping, um, which is seen in toddlers, you know, it is a sophisticated form of research. So children are asking lots of different questions while they're engaging in this kind of play, aren't they? Like, what does this thing do, or will it break, or what will happen if I hit it again? And as you said, Rachel, they are developing their understanding of the world and they're they're testing their theories and they're understanding those concepts through play and exploration.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

Yeah, absolutely. So the theorists that I refer my educators to when I'm explaining what these play schemas are, uh is PRJ. So we know that children build these mental files through trial and error, and schematic play engages both logical and creative parts of the brain, and each repetition strengthens those synaptic connections in the brain. So while an adult has mastered the rotation schema and can intuitively use a screwdriver, a toddler must twirl and spin their bodies and observe the washing machine go round and round to wire that concept into their long-term memory.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

And so when we think about the play schemas, we know there's eight. And I think as you mentioned before, Rachel, that recognizing those as early childhood educators can help us reframe what we might sometimes see as a challenging behaviour in a young child and instead to see it as a learning opportunity. So in today's episode, we're going to talk about four of the big eight play schemas. So let's start with number one, the trajectory play schema. So this is often seen when a young child throws toys or drops food, and they're investigating the movement of objects and their own bodies through space when they're doing this.

SPEAKER_04 5:05

One of my favourite provocations to support this schema is creating an opportunity to understand motion and cause and effect relationships by creating a ball run. So arranging a range of open-ended materials like cardboard tubes, bamboo pipes, uh PBC pipes, some wooden planks, um, and instead of a fixed structure providing masking tape or stable blocks of various heights, inviting toddlers and preschoolers to engineer their own paths and investigate how the changing incline affects the speed. Um, and we like to provide a diff a range of different balls, so different size, different weights, um, and even incorporating some things that won't roll as well, just to really challenge their thinking. Um, yeah, and you can add some sensory aspects into it by using different textured balls, uh popping some metal balls at the finish line so it creates that satisfying sound as the ball lands. This intentional play provocation encourages trial and error and children to hypothesize which objects roll, slide, or bounce, turning the natural urge to throw and drop into a sophisticated investigation of physics and cause and effect.

SPEAKER_02 6:23

Okay, so next up we have the connecting play schema. So this one involves joining resources together. And of course, the equally important part of this schema is disconnecting them. So it's a foundation for helping young children understand structural integrity and force. So, as early childhood educators, if we're wanting to support toddlers in exploring this schema, we can provide play provocations that invite them to investigate the how and the why of joining different materials. So, thinking about what are different tactile resources we can set up for young children in their physical learning environment. So there might be things like magnetic tiles or wooden train tracks, interlocking blocks, and we can even introduce things like velcro strips so that children are joining things together with stickiness and testing that force. And this kind of intentional setup allows children to experiment with part-hole relationships and the mechanics of strength. So they're discovering through that trial and error which things connect and hold firm and which things fall apart.

SPEAKER_04 7:33

Yeah, so I think it's important to remember that this play schema also encompasses the disconnecting. There's a lot of emphasis placed on the connecting part of this and a lot of value placed on that by adults. And sometimes the knocking down of the carefully built tower can be viewed as destructive behaviour. But there's a lot of learning in that as well. So they're exploring gravity and impact, and by engaging their fine motor skills to click magnets or snap train tracks together. Children are building a foundational understanding of how the physical world is constructed one link at a time.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

So talking about links, that links us or leads us into the transporting play schema. And the child who is busy moving items from A to B is often using this schema. And transporting is really rewarding for toddlers because they get a lot of pleasure from completing a task and seeing something happen when they've moved objects from one place to another and they see a result of their hard work.

SPEAKER_04 8:36

Yeah, and I think this schema in particular can frustrate educators and they see children bringing all the blocks from the construction area and they carry them over to the home corner and your room becomes a mess and it can be quite frustrating. But I think when we can recognise that this type of schematic play and we can facilitate it in the way that we set up our environment so that it's not all of our construction resources ending up in the home corner and the room looking like a bomb's hit. Um, if we're really intentional with how we set up our play spaces, so offering a purposeful collection of vessels like wicker baskets, small trolleys, wheelbarrows, shopping bags, um, we're providing the tools necessary for children to explore motion and develop physical coordination. So, one of my favourite play provocations that supports this schema that comes to mind is creating a garden to market area. Um, so in one corn corner you've got a loading zone for food from the garden using some low-lying tables and some or maybe some upturn crates, uh, and then you have a beautifully arranged with some wooden fruits and vegetables or felt. Um, maybe you've got some smooth river stones, heavy pine cones, uh, some oversized wooden reels, then scattered nearby, we've got an enticing array of vessels. We have small tactile wicker baskets for hand carrying, sturdy wooden trolleys for pushing, and even some repurposed Hessian shopping bags that offer a different sensory experience when they're weighted.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

Yeah, so I can just imagine children filling up their Hessian bags with fruit and veggies and carrying them across the room, and it's um yeah, a great play provocation.

SPEAKER_04 10:34

So, this last schema that we'll chat about today is the enclosing play schema. This one's all about creating boundaries such as building a fence for animals, uh, and it's a precursor to spatial awareness and eventually letter formation. So, a play provocation for this schema would be a small world play provocation. So potentially it's a small world farm, and you've got some animals with some a variety of enclosing materials that differ in texture and flexibility. So maybe some short lengths of thick rope, uh, some smooth wooden curved blocks, interlocking fence pieces, uh, even some flexible silicon strips.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Yeah, and then I think as the toddlers engage in this kind of play, they can begin to loop the rope around those animals. They could even build a fence to contain the animals using some of those materials. And this also is interesting in the way that it allows children to actually look down on at the space they've created. So it's it creates that different perspective. And I think we could even elevate the inquiry a little bit more for our older children, you know, perhaps including some cylinders, um, so that children are creating a bit of a space for the animals to enter and exit that small world play that they've created. And that intentional arrangement of materials allows children to explore the security of boundaries and that math mathematical concept of perimeter. They're also, of course, using their fine motor skills as they arrange those materials for enclosing the animals within that small world play.

SPEAKER_04 12:24

So, to conclude, here are three actionable steps for your professional practice this week. Number one, let's reframe through our observations of children. When you see a repetitive behaviour, identify the underlying schema. And instead of stopping the action, provide a safe provocation that satisfies that specific cognitive urge. Number two, you could conduct an environmental audit to ensure that your learning environment offers resources for all four play schemas that we've spoken about today. For example, do you have enough transporting tools for those who need to move? And are you offering a range of building blocks for children to connect and disconnect by knocking down their towers? Number three, let's communicate with our families and use the language of schemas in your documentation. Explain to the families that their child isn't just throwing things off the table, they're exploring trajectory. And it shifts the narrative to the child's strengths and development.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

So thank you for joining us in this deep dive into a young child's brain. It's been a pleasure exploring play schema pedagogy with you today. And join us next time as we explore the four remaining play schemas in the early years, and they are orientation, positioning, enveloping, and rotation schemas. So until next time, keep playing, learning, and thriving.

SPEAKER_03 13:56

Thank you for joining us on this episode of Learn Play Thrive the podcast. We hope you found inspiration and valuable insights to fill your journey in early childhood education. Remember the key to fostering learning, promoting play, and empowering young minds lies within your dedication and creativity. If you enjoyed today's episode, please like, subscribe, rate, or review our podcast on your favourite platform. Your feedback helps us to continue to deliver content that resonates with you. And don't forget to visit us at our website at learnplaythrive.com.au for additional resources, blog posts, and professional development opportunities. Until next time, keep learning, keep playing, and keep thriving. We'll see you in the next episode of Learn Playthrive the podcast.