Skip to content
  1. Delivery in Europe? Lets shop at tickit.eu

Welcome to your July newsletter

Every month, we'll be sharing ideas, experiences and practical tips. Our first topic is all about STEM aligned play experiences. Thanks for being here. Happy reading!

Encouraging Curiosity

Exploring, investigating and asking questions comes naturally to young children. They're born curious, so creating an environment that encourages them to wonder, experiment and discover is one of the most valuable things we can do as early years practitioners.

Open-ended play is at the heart of this. When children have access to versatile resources that can be used in lots of different ways, they're free to follow their own interests, test ideas and make discoveries at their own pace. It's not about finding the 'right' answer – it's about giving children the confidence to ask, "What happens if…?" and "Why does that work?"

That's exactly what STEM is all about. Far from feeling like a formal lesson, STEM in the early years should be playful, hands-on, sensory, and sometimes a little messy! Whether children are building, sorting, pouring, observing or experimenting, they're developing the curiosity, creativity and problem-solving skills that underpin future learning.

The more positive experiences children have with science and STEM through play, the more likely they are to enjoy and engage with these subjects as they grow. By allowing children to explore freely, make mistakes and try again, we're helping them become resilient thinkers who aren't afraid to question, investigate and think differently.

After all, every great discovery starts with curiosity.

Read more: A fresh look at your play spaces | Four simple ways to nurture curiosity through play | Community Voices

A Fresh Look at Your Play Spaces

A play space re-set doesn't have to be a big project. Sometimes, simply rotating resources, decluttering well-loved areas, or presenting familiar items in a new way is enough to spark fresh curiosity.

It's also a great opportunity to step back and ask, "What do I want children to discover here?" Could a construction corner become an engineering challenge? Could a water tray encourage investigation, prediction and problem-solving?

Small changes can have a big impact, inspiring children to explore, experiment and lead their own learning. A thoughtful re-set creates space for imagination to flourish and provides the perfect foundation for playful, hands-on STEM experiences.

Read more about creating inspiring play spaces here. 

Back to Encouraging Curiosity | Next: Four simple ways to nurture curiosity through play


Four Simple Ways to Nurture Curiosity Through Play

Exposing children to play-based activities that incorporate STEM development does not need to be time consuming or expensive. Here are four simple ways you can explore STEM through play: 

  1. Make time for exploration
    Give children the freedom to investigate, experiment and see where their ideas lead. Curiosity grows through doing.
  2. Step back sometimes
    Independent, child-led play helps children build confidence, solve problems and develop resilience in their own way.
  3. Choose open-ended resources
    Blocks, loose parts and versatile play materials have no single 'right' way to use them, encouraging creativity, imagination and repeated play.
  4. Celebrate every question
    A simple "What do you think?" or "Let's find out together" shows children that their ideas matter and that asking questions is where learning begins.

Back to Encouraging Curiosity | Back to A Fresh Look at Your Play Spaces | Next: Community Voices


Community Voices

Every edition, we'll be sharing ideas, experiences and practical tips from members of our Play Professionals Community. This month, we're chatting to Rachel Comfort, a Primary School Teacher, who shares her thoughts about inspiring curiosity and bringing STEM to life through play.

The importance of hands-on play experiences for early years STEM learning
Due to the decline in language skills being seen in primary schools, along with the reduced ability for 4 and 5 year olds to follow spoken instruction, the use of hands-on play is more important than ever as it aids understanding of the world without the reliance of spoken language. After all, play is considered a universal language. 
The significance of hands-on investigation
Hands-on investigation encourages children to explore concepts they might not otherwise show an interest in.  Sensory exploration helps children to see beyond what they already understand. For example, the development of a child’s understanding that something still exists even when it can no longer be seen. Without physical objects, and the use of hands-on investigation, we simply can’t learn new things for ourselves, we’ll only learn what someone else teaches us.  
Helping children understand complex concepts
Having run many STEM projects, and as the leader of science in a primary school, I know STEM play helps to explore the most complex science and engineering concepts, and makes them far more accessible to children. The ability to demonstrate and test the strength of a triangle, that’s actually been built by the child, holds far more power than simply telling them.  Similarly, water play, using a variety of objects, can teach buoyancy and density before children are even able to comprehend the vocabulary.  
I once observed a young child getting frustrated with a vehicle he’d created, that wouldn’t move when he pushed it. He’d used cubes for tyres. When I showed him how a sphere would change the outcome, he spent the rest of the session testing spherical shapes and how they moved when pushed. He found that the shapes didn’t necessarily need to be spheres, but they did need curved edges.
The power of standing back
I genuinely believe that the best thing an early year’s practitioner can do is stand back and observe what a child is trying to learn for themselves, and then facilitate that learning. It doesn’t tick a learning objective box, but it does provide more meaningful learning which is likely to stick.

Explore our full range of STEM resources here. 
Thank you for reading and for being part of our tickit Play Professionals community 💞 

P.S. Do you know someone who would like to join our community? 
Ask them to sign up to the tickit Play Professionals here.