Curiosity is one of the most beautiful traits found in children everywhere. Curiosity is innate and should always be encouraged and never stifled.
Curiosity is the primary way that young children learn about how the world around them works. Here are 5 ways we can encourage children to lean into their curiosity, that will last a lifetime.
Give Them Permission To Explore
As parents, we’d be surprised how often we utter the word “No”. At some point children might just feel resigned to staying within a certain box, and the constant no’s can serve as a stifling voice in their head.
We don’t want our children to tear apart our house, but if we can come up with more ways to say, “Yes”, then everyone will benefit.
You can start by saying yes to children who wish to go play outside and climb on whatever they want to. Whether that’s over a fence, up a tree, or walk along a wall. Children don’t want to fall, and if you are there as a spotter they can test these boundaries safely.
We also want to grant children permission to explore the inner workings of their world. That often means taking apart appliances or devices to see how they work. Don’t be concerned about figuring out how to put something back together, just let children run wild with their curiosity.
There are a ton of other ways to allow permission, you just need to start saying, YES!
Provide Them With the Right Tools
Humans of all ages crave working with their hands and using tools. By providing your child with their own set of tools, they can immediately go to work exploring the world around them.
You can set an old toaster in front of a child with a screwdriver and tell them you need them to take it apart and see how many screws they can find, or how many parts they can remove. Don’t focus on fixing something, but rather key in on how they can have a goal that is achieved through deeper curiosity.
We’ve compiled our own tool set for kids that can be helpful with this process.
Find New Areas to Explore
Because of time constraints and convenience, it’s easy to fall into a rut with the playgrounds we visit or trips we take. It’s comforting to continue to take the same weekend vacations to the areas that we know we love, but that won’t stretch our curiosity as much as exploring a new area.
Take that trip you’ve always talked about, or research areas around you that might have fallen under your radar. No matter how small of a town you live in, there are always new areas to explore.
Children are great at jumping right into a new destination. They will might find the history of the area interesting, or maybe the fauna and wildlife will pique their interest. The geography of an area is also always an interesting topic of discussion and often times the focus of why you chose that destination.
