In early years, play is an important element of active learning. The information below will help you understand how to promote active learning in your setting.

How to promote active learning in early years

An important part of your role as an early years teacher, when enabling active learning, is to guide learning by enabling each child to become an active participant in their own learning rather than a passive receiver of instruction and information. This involves facilitating activities that engage and challenge children’s thinking, allowing them to experiment (and at times discover what doesn’t work) and adopting responsive approaches that support the child to develop feelings of:

• competence – being confident that they are able to do things successfully
• agency – being able to make their own choices and decisions to influence events
• emotional attachment – having emotional bonds with key adults that help them feel secure
• self-worth – having pride in themselves.

For the teacher, this can at times mean doing nothing more than watching and observing as the children work things out for themselves.

Approach		Explanation
Using a play based approach		Provide opportunities for child-initiated play, so children have control over their own learning. You can do this by allowing them to choose their own resources, area of play and whether to play alone or with others.  The resources that children can choose from can include a combination of those that are part of your continuous provision and those that are potentially less robust but have been selected to represent a particular topic or seasonal event.   Read more about “A play-based approach”.
Providing appropriate challenge		Providing appropriate challenge is not just about providing age-appropriate activities which facilitate progress towards learning statements. It also includes providing opportunities for new challenges which take children from the known to the unknown. Allowing them to get things ‘wrong’, is just as valuable (in some cases more valuable) than children always getting things right. A trusting adult-child relationship and a positive learning environment will encourage children to rise to challenges confidently.
Building on children’s experiences		Teach the curriculum areas in a holistic way, and take time to find out about and respond to children’s home experiences and personal interests. You might find it helpful to ask the children’s families for suggestions of events that could be particularly motivating. Supporting children to make links between their experiences makes learning more meaningful. For example, when looking at a picture book, you could talk about the similarities and differences to the child’s own world in the text and illustrations. “Look, she’s carrying a red backpack just like yours." "He’s feeling frightened. Can you remember a time you felt frightened?”.  If you know of a new experience that a child has had, such as going to the zoo or a wedding, you could encourage related roleplay that extends their learning.
Providing choice		Children are curious about the world around them, and are keen to observe and explore to find out more. They develop their own and others’ knowledge, understanding and skills through social interaction and collaboration.
Facilitating learning through exploration		Exciting and accessible hands-on opportunities for exploration support children’s development into capable, independent learners. Your engagement in children’s play and explorations is vital. Kneel, lie down or sit with the children, chat with them and pick up on their interests and ideas. Talk about the choices they have made, watch what they do with materials and join their play. Recognise their awe and wonder as they discover things, and provide appropriate tools and suggestions to allow the play to develop. Help children to reflect and become proud of their achievements. What did they like about an activity and what went well? What do they want to learn or know next?
Providing variety in groupings		Opportunities to work in groups of different sizes are invaluable in progressing children’s thinking as well as their social learning. Exploring and discussing ideas in pairs or small groups help children to clarify and develop their ideas. You can have a look at the Speaking and Listening page for more information.
Encouraging reflection		Simply asking children what they liked about an activity and what went well will help to develop reflective learners who can take pride in their achievements and can begin to identify next steps for their learning. Self- and peer-assessment is also beneficial to active learning because it gives children the opportunity to practise this type of thinking.