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Here at Connect, we love to learn! So as part of our continued professional development we welcomed the chance to learn about this type of play from Kathy Brodie and how important it is in analysing an individual child’s way of thinking.

Here’s an overview of what we learnt….

Schematic Play is when a child repeats certain patterns of behaviour in different contexts.

It shows that children are learning about the world around them by exploring similar actions and how they work in different circumstances. Schematic play reveals how children are learning and helps them build an understanding that will stay with them for life.

Identifying a schema is difficult, but practitioners may notice that they are using the same language in multiple observations. For example, a child in a rotational schema may have observationsincluding the words: round, roll, spin, twist, turn, circle, rotate and so on. If these words can be connected, and a schema identified, the child’s learning experiences can be encouraged and enriched.

Play is self-motivating and won’t need to be encouraged, but once it has been identified by a practitioner there are lots of things that can be introduced to provide new opportunities to explorethe schema in different settings.

For examples and ideas on Rotational Schema, Transporter Schema, Enclosing Schema and Enveloping Schema have a look at our Pinterest Boards.

We love to have the opportunity to learn about child development, and Kathy is a wonderful teacher, following the session she said:

“It was a genuine pleasure to have such interested and motivated people. I don’t know of any other company who are embracing the childcare aspect half as well as iConnect are (or at all!) – it is brilliant to be a small part of that.”

Find out more about Kathy by visiting her fantastic site: www.kathybrodie.com