The Home: A Learning Laboratory Full of Opportunities for our Kids

When talking about incidental teaching and incidental learning, that is not to say we cannot orchestrate, plan, or prepare for teaching opportunities with our child. On the contrary, our goal as parents should be to make our homes a learning laboratory full of opportunities for our children. As parents, most of us feel an anxiousness to provide the finest opportunities for our kids, but too often we focus on opportunities or programs outside our homes and overlook the glaring need to make our homes the site of rich, diverse and consistent opportunities for learning. If one truly wants to inspire and educate their child, one must make an early commitment to make the home a child-centered place of learning.  As parents, when we think of building our child's intellect, shouldn't we try to focus on providing hands-on experiences for our children as they learn? Shouldn't we try to provide ample opportunities to touch, explore and create. Kids need to feel, see, hear, and manipulate objects that will support and reinforce learning. 

Sometimes I think our homes and attitudes about our homes are not child friendly when it comes to learning. If it is your desire to create a learning laboratory at home that is full of opportunity, than this means you should begin establishing a ready source of teaching aids (in other words, play things) for our child to use. These items should be stored where they are easy to get to. If your child shows interest in a certain activity, but you have to search for and assemble what is needed for the activity, it is often too late. Teaching moments are short-lived occasions that require an almost instantaneous response. Be prepared with your “bag of tricks” when opportunity knocks.

The contents of your bag of tricks will change along with your child. For example, when your child is a baby scooting around the floor his main playthings may include soft toys he can squish, sturdy bowls he can pound on or put things in, and board books you can look at and talk about together. However, as your child grows into a running, jumping three-year-old your bag of tricks may expand to include such things as a measuring tape, spools, geometric shapes, plastic pitchers, measuring spoons and a flashlight. A wide variety of music and books should be a staple in any home consciously prepared to provide maximum intellectual stimulation for the children who live there.

As you construct opportunities for you and your child to play together, please do not forget that activities you consider to be “work” can be a consistent and extremely useful means of play and learning for your child. Setting the table, putting clothes into the washer, and putting away spoons and forks in the drawer are all forms of play and are loaded with opportunities and means for teaching your child.