Our photo shows three of our toddlers being totally absorbed inheuristic play.
Heurestic play is spontaneous, exploratory activity. The name comes froma Greek word, eurisko, which means ' I find' or 'I discover'. Childrendo not stop moving - heuristic play encourages continuous movement andrepetition with natural manmade materials. Children want to make thingshappen. They want to make sense of their world. Heuristic playencourages the development of concentration and thinking skills.
Heuristic play does not replace other activities. It enriches the rangeof opportunities for children to learn and enables key workers toobserve their children closely.
The equipment we use includes chains of various lengths and thicknesses,curtain rings, tins large and small, mug trees, bobbles, wooden spoons,large and small metal bowls, pots and pans, pegs, feathers, shells, andpebbles. We assess risk first before using the equipment.
We find that children develop patterns in their thinking and behaviourthat become tools for learning. They discover placing, banging, pairingand matching, sorting, piling and sequencing. Children develop adisposition to learn; they develop 'stickability'; they start to feelcomfortable with their own thoughts in a quiet environment; to takepleasure and to acquire deep concentration.
DEBBIE HEMINGWAY, nursery manager, Little Acorns day nursery (part ofthe Dan Leisure Group), Gomersal, West Yorkshire.
