Why is orientation for kids important for growth?
Picture this: Your toddler is crouching low to peer under the couch, flipping onto their back to examine the ceiling, or hanging upside down off the bed, giggling uncontrollably as they attempt to view the world from this new angle.
Your little one is constantly evolving and learning new tricks to understand their surroundings. And amongst the many other unique things they do, their indulgence in the concept of orientation for kids is one of the most fascinating ways in which they try to approach the world. This is when they are in their orientation schema, and through these repeated actions, they are trying to discover how orientation changes their relationship with space and objects.
In this blog, we will make an attempt to understand the orientation schema, explaining why your child’s love for bending, twisting, and flipping is essential to their learning.
What is the orientation schema?
One of the many play schemas, orientation for kids is one part of the developmental milestones that they indulge in. Like all play schemas, children go through the orientation schema as a natural developmental phase, where they explore how positioning, angles, and perspectives affect their perception of objects and space through various repeated actions.
Not only does this schema help children develop a sense of balance and coordination, but it also helps them learn about spatial relationships through different movements. They learn to observe various things in different ways and, through this, evolve their understanding of them. For instance, looking at a toy from above, below, or from the side reveals different aspects, and this helps them build mental maps of objects and surroundings.
Orientation for kids is an essential skill that lays the foundation for reading, math, and problem-solving later on. It also makes them more confident to move freely, observe objects from different heights, or play with toys that can be twisted or flipped.
Learn more about other play schemas in detail here.
When does the orientation schema occur?
While most children start showing signs of the orientation schema as early as 12 months, some children can begin developing around 2 years of age. However, the orientation schema usually goes way into 4 years of age, and during this developmental phase, they are more inclined to explore the various people and objects in their surroundings.
As your child grows, their physical abilities expand, and it allows them to experiment with various ways of positioning themselves. They become more confident in their coordination skills, and although it is most prevalent in toddlers, it can continue well into later years of childhood. Interestingly, through all these activities, they are laying the groundwork for future skills such as balance, depth perception, and even abstract thinking.
As parents, it is essential that we provide them with a safe space to explore freely. They must be able to find it comfortable and confident to build motor development and cognitive growth through activities that align with orientation for kids.
What are the behavioural indicators of the orientation schema?
It is easy to spot if your child is engaging in the orientation schema or not through their playful exploration. Children displaying the schema will often engage in the following actions:
Tilting their heads: Whenever you find your child tilting or turning their heads to look at objects from different angles, know that they are experimenting with how their view changes based on their position.
Looking under or around objects: Sometimes, your child might crouch low to peek under tables, chairs, or other objects or walk around something to examine it from all sides. If you find them doing this, then they are in the orientation schema.
Hanging upside down: One of the interesting aspects of orientation for kids is the amount of fun they have while enjoying related activities. Whether they are hanging upside down off furniture or inverting themselves, such as leaning over the edge of a bed, they are trying to see the world from a flipped perspective, but also having fun.
Climbing and crouching: In this case, they may climb on furniture, kneel, or crouch to change their viewing angle. While doing so, they attempt to explore their environment from various heights and positions.
Rotating toys and objects: Your child may twist or turn toys in their hands, looking at them from multiple directions to understand their full shape and structure.
Look out for these interesting and fun behaviours that your child is indulging in because these are signs that your child is learning and growing in a fun and playful way through orientation for kids.
What skills do they develop by indulging in the orientation schema?
Balance and coordination: These playful activities require your child to stabilize their bodies, and through them, they learn to improve their balance and coordination. Activities like tilting the head or hanging upside down refine gross motor skills and body control, which are crucial for physical activities.
Spatial awareness: By changing perspectives and viewing objects from different angles, children learn about spatial relationships, depth, and distance. Through the concept of orientation for kids, they develop important skills that fuel later activities like reading maps, sports, and driving.
Problem-solving: When your child experiment with viewing things from various angles, they learn that there are multiple ways to approach a situation. This is a necessary flexibility that develops their problem-solving skills as they learn to adapt their thinking based on different perspectives.
Visual perception: By looking at different objects from different angles, your child develops visual perception and observation skills. These play an essential role in tasks requiring attention to detail, such as reading, drawing, and assembling puzzles, thus helping build future skills as well.
Montessori activities that support the orientation schema
Orientation for kids offers them the opportunity to explore different perspectives and engage in spatial exploration, and Montessori activities support these in an age-appropriate manner. Here are some activities that align well with this schema to engage your child:
Mirror play: Place mirrors on the floor or at your child’s height on walls to let children see themselves and objects from various angles. Through this, they learn to explore how objects appear differently and experiment with orientation by moving and turning.
Objection rotation games: Provide objects like wooden blocks, rotating puzzles, or shape sorters that your child can flip, rotate, and view from different angles. This activity will allow them to investigate shapes and sizes and deepen their spatial understanding.
Tunnels and forts: Create tunnels using play tents or large boxes that your child can crawl through, or set up blankets and pillows to create forts. This fun orientation for kids as an activity is a great learning activity for understanding different perceptions and exploring various orientations.
List of words that support the orientation schema
Above, below, under, over, around, behind, beside, between, outside, inside, flip, turn, rotate, crouch, angle, perspective, orientation, shape, direction, direction, height, depth, space, position.
How do we communicate the understanding of the orientation schema through language?
Use these phrases with your child when engaging in various activities that support the orientation schema for them to understand better and be encouraged to explore the concept:
Descriptive language: “Can you see the toy under the table?”
Encouraging questions: “What do you see when you crouch down low?”
Action-based: “Let’s turn the picture around to see the back!”
Based on spatial relations: “Put the book on the shelf above the toys.”
Here are some more specific examples using the words from the list shared above:
Above: “Can you see the airplane flying high above the trees?”
Below: “Look down below the table; do you see your toy car?”
Beside: “Put the block beside the other one to make a tower.”
Between: “Can you place the ball between the two cones?”
Perspective: “From my perspective, the mountain looks really big.”
Shape: “Can you find the shape that has three sides?”
Height: “How high can you reach when you stand on your tiptoes?”
For activity ideas to support your child’s schemas check out our Play Schema Cards.