The Collaboration for Early
Childhood Care and Education
Be Involved
Explore
The Collaboration for Early Childhood Care and Education
320 Lake Street, Oak Park, IL 60302
Phone: 708-613-6122 Fax: 708-434-1259 info@collab4kids.org
“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, the excitement, and the mystery of the world” (Rachel Carson, 1965)
To Explore is
To investigate: to foster curiosity.
To recognize similarities and differences: for the purpose of discovery
To search out: to look for problems to solve
To inquire: to ask questions
To research: to find the answers
To interact with the environment: home, neighborhood and community
To observe: reflect and record
Through exploring a child gains information about an object. In exploration children ask, “What is this?” “What can it do?” The inquiry process enables familiarization and feelings of competence and security (“This is something I know”).
Play is the perfect medium for encouraging the all-important habits of exploration, perseverance and risk taking. Play has no boundaries and there is no penalty for failing to reach a goal, important components in exploration.
From playful exploration children gain the intuitive understandings they’ll need to grasp formal scientific concepts later in school.
Children are born with an active sense of wonder, an innate curiosity. Through exploring – touching, tasting, looking, listening and smelling – an infant begins to learn about the world. This process expands and continues for the toddler and the young child.
Adults have an important role to play to encourage and support exploration.
Click on the links below for more information on the benefits of exploration.
