Approaches to Learning
Children are born with an inclination to learn. This is reflected in behaviors and attitudes such as curiousity, problem-solving, maintaining attention, and persistence.
Approaches to Learning - Younger Preschoolers (33 to 48 Months)
It's all about imagination! Your younger preschooler's approach to learning still revolves around play - although now their pretend play is getting much more complex and imaginative. Continue to provide a supportive environment with plenty of new experiences. You can also build learning skills and nurture your child's emerging need for self-reliance by letting them manage simple choices, such as deciding what to wear or what to eat for a healthy snack.
About This Domain
The Approaches to Learning domain addresses how children learn and includes children’s attitudes toward and interest in learning. It reflects behaviors and attitudes such as curiosity, problem-solving, maintaining attention, and persistence.
Seek out a trusted person to approach something new.
Discover things that interest and amaze them and express that interest to others.
Share what they have done with others through verbal and nonverbal means (take teacher to the easel to see a painting).
Show interest in a growing range of topics ideas, and tasks.
Ask questions about the people and things around them.
Use all available senses, tools, and a variety of strategies to actively explore the environment (drop objects in water to see if they sink or float).
Purposefully try different ways of doing things to see how they work (adjust blocks used as a ramp to make a ball roll faster and farther).
Purposefully try different ways of doing things to see how they work (adjust blocks used as a ramp to make a ball roll faster and farther).
Express goals or plans and follow through on them. (“I’m going to build a really tall tower.”)
Expand self-help skills, interest, and enjoyment in doing things on their own (brushing teeth, putting on boots).
Remain engaged in more complex activities they have chosen.
Focus on age-appropriate activities for a short period of time, even with interruptions (continue painting after answering another child’s question).
Maintain interest and focus and return to an activity after a break.
When something does not work, try different ways to complete the task (when a block tower falls, try putting the blocks together in a different way to build the tower again).
When experiencing difficulty with a challenging task, ask for and accept help from peers or adults (ask for help putting materials away on a high shelf; ask a friend for help in naming an unfamiliar animal in a book).
Express a belief that they can do things that are hard.
Choose to participate in an increasing variety of new experiences when offered.
Show flexibility by adapting to changes in routines and situations.
Accept new challenges and opportunities when offered.
Try things they are not sure they can do, while avoiding dangerous risks.
Welcome new challenges (add additional pieces to a new construction toy).
Seek and make use of ideas and help from adults and peers to solve problems.
Purposefully attempt several different strategies when encountering difficulty during daily routines or when using materials.
Talk to themselves to work through the steps to solve a problem.
Recovers from setbacks with the support of an adult.
Engage in pretend play themes that include interacting with other children, but often are not coordinated.
Talk to peers and share materials during play.
Engage in make-believe play with imaginary objects.
Use language to begin and carry on play with others.
Express knowledge of their everyday lives and culture through play (pretends to shop at a Farmer’s Market and prepare a meal, pretends to fix hair the way his/her family styles hair).
Explore and experiment with a wide variety of materials and activities.
Use imagination to try new ways of doing things and work with materials in creative ways.
Use materials (art materials, instruments, construction, writing implements) or actions to represent experiences or ideas in inventive ways.
Experiment with language, musical sounds, and movement.
The South Dakota Early Learning Guidelines serve as a shared vision for all adults supporting young children's experiences prior to entering kindergarten. Positive interactions with trusted adults, engaging with peers, and consistent environments that are safe, healthy, and enhance learning are vital elements to support young children.
Goals and Developmental Indicators describe expectations for what children learn starting with infancy and covering all ages through kindergarten entry. These goals apply to all children regardless of what language they speak, what strengths/disabilities they may have, or specific unique family circumstances. Strategies to enrich the environment, support development and learning, and adaptations provide a variety of ideas to consider.
At the “heart” of the document are tables or developmental continuums that describe children’s learning and development from birth up to kindergarten. You can find these tables under the Learning Domain tab in our main navigation. These Goals and Developmental Indicators are divided into five domains:
Children are born with an inclination to learn. This is reflected in behaviors and attitudes such as curiousity, problem-solving, maintaining attention, and persistence.
Children's feelings about themselves and their relationships with others is the foundation for personality development. These characteristics and skills impact every other area of development.
From birth, children are learning language and developing the ability to communicate. Talking, singing, reading, and responding effectively when children express themselves are great investments supporting learning.
This fascinating area of development includes understanding how children aquire, organize, and use information in increasingly complex ways. Through play, skills are developed as the foundation for exploring and understanding more sophisticated concepts.
Physical growth, muscle development, nutrition, self-care, health and safety practices are included in this area. Safe and healthy practices suppport the ability to learn more effectively in all areas.