Cultivating Curiosity: Fostering a Love for Learning in Toddlers.

Cultivating Curiosity: Fostering a Love for Learning in Toddlers.

Cultivating curiosity is the best way to foster an inclination toward learning in toddlers. Naturally, toddlers are curious to explore the world in front of them. They have an innate desire to discover and learn about literally everything they see in front of them. If you make suitable efforts to keep that curiosity alive then you can help them develop a lifelong healthy habit of discovering and exploring new things. Instigating the love for learning in early years is very important as it plays a positive role in brain and cognitive development.

Early childhood education can be planned strategically to help toddlers function their curiosity in a positive manner that can help them develop healthy habits such as an affiliation with learning. There are multiple other reasons along with positive brain development to inspire curiosity among toddlers. Some of the most pressing reasons include

• Stimulating toddler curiosity can encourage toddlers towards creativity. When toddlers are trained, that it is alright to think unconventionally and question your surroundings to unveil a new perspective then you indirectly prepare them to come up with creative and unique solutions to problems. Looking at a problem from a different perspective allows toddlers to be creative and suggest solutions that no one has any idea of.
• Building curiosity helps children to look beyond their self. It helps them to explore their surroundings instead of being self-centered and develop positive emotions of empathy, care, and helping others. By encouraging curiosity in children, you train them to look beyond themselves and explore the people around them.
• Curiosity goes a long way in developing an inherent inclination towards learning. When allowed to question, explore, and investigate, the children develop a love for the process of learning. Once such characteristics are instilled in childhood, then such children grow up with a love for learning in their lives.
• Early childhood curiosity development can lead the way to success. Curious children are prepared to learn and question with all their heart, which makes them succeed in academics and life.
• When the element of curiosity is missing then children see learning as an uninteresting phenomenon. In contrast, when encouraged to be inquisitive, the children develop excitement which is required to keep the process of learning enjoyable. With excitement, you ensure that the learning intent of children stays long-term, and they don’t lose their interest midway.

Strategies to foster love among toddlers

Now that you know the importance of encouraging  curiosity in children, you must be interested in the strategies that can help you do so. Here are some strategies that you can opt to foster a love for learning among toddlers:

• Hands-on learning: Arrange the opportunity for hands-on learning for toddlers through various activities. When toddlers participate in such activities as science experiments, arts, gardening, or cooking they are more likely to learn through their experience. When allowed for hands-on experiences, toddlers get curious to explore the activity they are involved to the fullest.
• Interesting learning opportunity: When you make learning interesting then you are more likely to engage the toddlers positively. This is why it is essential to use toddler-friendly educational resources that are informative yet playful. You can use puzzles and educational toys to combine learning with playtime. When exposed to such educational toys, toddlers develop an inherent curiosity to learn through playing. This indirectly strengthens their cognitive skills and makes learning a fun time.
• Explore outdoor activities: Make sure to arrange some outdoor activities. Outdoor adventurous activities give toddlers a chance to connect with nature and their surroundings which ignites their curiosity to explore and learn. You can also arrange some outdoor activities that exhibit exploratory play for toddlers such as gardening.
• Reading bedtime stories: Bedtime stories can do wonders to enhance the attention span, cognitive skills, and imagination of your toddler. Reading interestingly and engagingly is a sure-shot way of nurturing a curious mindset through bedtime stories for toddlers. When you read, you not only bond with the toddler but also enhance their liking for books and reading which grows into their love for learning. It can unconsciously develop the habit of book reading when they grow up which is a healthy habit and enhances their learning.
• Schedule screen time: In this era when everyone carries a smartphone/smart device it is difficult to keep the screens away from your toddlers. Excessive screen time can be dangerous for cognitive development. But if you healthily schedule the screen time then you can turn the table and make screen time a healthy activity. You can do so by choosing age-appropriate educational apps for toddler learning and limiting the screen time to proportioned time. This way toddlers do not feel the urge to have screen time (as in the toddlers who don’t get screen time) but they develop a curiosity to learn more through interactive educational apps

• Leading by example: you might have heard that toddlers do what they see rather than what they are told to do. This is why the role of parent involvement in toddler learning and development is very critical because a child spends most of the time with them. You can lead your child by your example. Wondering how to do this? You can share your curiosity to explore, read books together, enhance your skills together, and share your inclination to learn. When toddlers see your curiosity level, they will also develop an innate curiosity to explore and learn following you as a role model.
• Be supportive: forcing children to develop curiosity and a love for learning develops negative feelings among them and makes them anxious instead of inherently curious. You need to focus on positive and effective ways to promote curiosity and creativity in young children by offering them the required support and encouragement. Instead of forcing pre-specified outcomes, you can support them in their learning efforts which will develop a sense of curiosity among them to explore new learning opportunities.
• Appreciate on achieving millstones: To foster learning, you need to make the process interesting and engaging and the best way to do that is to define and celebrate achievable When you acknowledge the children’s progress then they inherently feel motivated to do better and ignite their curiosity to ensure they achieve future milestones.
• Value their interest: To cultivate curiosity in the best possible manner, you need to value the interests of toddlers. You need to facilitate them with activities that they like to do and are interested in exploring rather than forcing your ideology. You need to opt for ways to foster a love for learning in toddlers through play-based education by focusing on the educational toys that they hold dear. For instance, if your child loves dinosaurs then he/she will be more curious and passionate if provided with dinosaurs educational toys.

• Do not bash on mistakes: The worst thing that you can do to sabotage the curiosity and creativity in your child is to bash them over their mistakes. Remember, we are all learners here. Some children take more time than others, so you need to be patient and learn how to forgo smaller mistakes and instead take them as an opportunity to guide the child to avoid such mistakes in the future. When you encourage them to do better instead of bashing at their mistake then their curiosity to explore touches the sky and they discover new opportunities with more passion and enthusiasm.
• Diverse activities: Make sure to offer diverse activities to your children to broaden their perspective. When they observe the world through various lenses (in terms of culture etc.) then they get better prepared to deal with diverse scenarios and circumstances. Such children who are exposed to diversity can be better performers as they are trained to come up with creative solutions through curiosity for varying problems.

Conclusion: Remember, there is no one-size-fits-all formula when it comes to cultivating curiosity to foster the love for learning among toddlers. Treat each child with a unique approach as every individual is different from each other. If you opt for the right strategy, then you can nurture curiosity in your child which enhances their inclination towards learning both academically and in life. Whether you are a parent, teacher, or caregiver, a little effort from your side can go a long way to affect the life of toddler in your care.