Understanding Your Child’s Learning Styles Through Play Preferences

In a child’s unstructured free time, there is something quietly profound about the games they choose to play. There is no randomness in a child arranging their toys in a line, inventing stories with another child, or dumping everything from every container they can reach on the floor – these activities tell something about the way your child makes sense of the world.

Play is the way in which young children learn about the world, and the type of games children enjoy tells something about their learning styles.

Learning Styles and Types of Play

It is known from years of research in education and child development that there are different ways children learn about the world and new concepts and ideas. Some prefer to learn through movement and sensory experience, some enjoy playing with language and storytelling, and some prefer working with patterns and sequences.

In many cases, the tendency to develop a certain learning style is expressed through games much earlier than in any other way.

Spatial reasoning may be developed through arranging toys and constructing things, while verbal reasoning and social skills may be exercised by constantly telling stories, asking questions, and involving everyone in some role-playing scenario. Both kinds of tendencies are equally important, and neither one is better.

Kinesthetic Learning Styles Through Physical Play

For some children, the process of information intake is linked to movement and physical experiences. Children with kinesthetic tendencies enjoy physical play: outdoor play, sandpits, climbing trees, and playing with constructions. For such children, long sessions of staying still are not easy, not because of an inability to concentrate, but because movement is their preferred mode of experiencing the world.

Finding a quality early learning centre for such children in the Geelong area may require extra effort – an appropriate Armstrong Creek childcare centre should offer plenty of space for physical play and sensory materials and an understanding of the importance of movement in the learning process.

Children with kinesthetic tendencies usually enjoy the process of learning much more if it is associated with physical experience, like counting real objects instead of memorising numbers or acting out stories instead of just listening to them.

Identification of such a learning style in early childhood is highly valuable for parents and educators, who can make sure the learning experience of the child is adjusted to the needs of the child.

Language-Based Learning Styles Through Imaginative Play

Another tendency of some children is the natural inclination to language-based and imaginative play. Such children invent complicated stories using only language as material and develop roles and characters without using any physical toys.

Such children are usually highly responsive to adult participation in their games, asking questions and encouraging children to continue talking or to expand on their ideas. Stories and discussions are usually better remembered than instructions or separate pieces of information.

Solitary and Structured Play

It should be noted that not all children prefer to communicate during play or engage in physical activity. Children, who prefer to play alone, sort things out, solve puzzles and follow their own rules and regulations, may have another, more analytical, type of learning style.

Children with such a style are usually processing information in a way that requires quietness and regularity. In some cases, such a tendency is interpreted as a problem, however, for such children it would be helpful to be in the environment, which offers predictable routine and enough time for finishing things without interruption.

What a Good Early Learning Environment Can Offer

A good early learning environment is not built on one principle of teaching – instead, good educators observe children playing and participating in various activities and, based on these observations, develop the curriculum and methods of introducing new ideas and experiences.

The programs, which are based on the EYLF philosophy, recognise the importance of recognising different types of children’s learning styles and offer a program, which takes into consideration these differences and allows active, verbal, imaginative, and reflective learners to coexist within one day.

How Parents Can Recognise Learning Style at Home

The most powerful instrument of parents is observation, it is important not to direct the process of playing to achieve particular goals but to watch what a child prefers to do during games and in what situations he or she is comfortable.

It is important to look for trends, which repeat several times, in order to avoid incorrect conclusions based on one situation. For example, it is important to pay attention to whether the child feels comfortable in a company or prefers being alone; if he or she likes large physical challenges or rather prefers quiet, detailed games; if too many rules scare him or her or, on the contrary, prevent his or her active interaction with the surrounding world. There is no need for special knowledge to observe your child and pay attention to his or her tendencies.

Play as a Window into Child’s Mind

Identifying play styles of the child is not about defining his or her personality or determining how he or she will learn forever. The learning style may change with age, experiences, and new skills. However, paying attention to the existing learning style gives parents and educators a tool to understand how the child learns and help him or her develop successfully.

Play is not a preparatory phase before real learning, it is learning itself. Paying attention to play is a way to understand how to support your child better.