Birth to three matters - Communities and Local Government

Being CreativeYoung babies explore their immediateenvironment of people, objects andfeelings through all their senses.Babies quickly make sense of andrespond to what they see, hear, feel,touch and smell.As young children become moremobile, they express themselvesthrough physical action and sound.As children become more skilful inusing language and other forms ofcommunication,dance, music, 2D and3D art, they talk about, and share inother ways, the things they paint, drawand play with.Representing Through Mark MakingYoung babies discover mark makingby chance, noticing for instance thatfingers trailed through spilt juice canextend it or that a hand imprint remainsin wet sand.Babies imitate and improvise actionsthey have observed – a scarf is made tostand for a blanket or a skipping ropehandle for a microphone.As young children explore tools andmaterials they make marks to whichthey give meaning.Children begin to recognise somemarks and realise these meansomething to others.Parents and practitioners can observebabies and young children engaging inthe behaviour outlined in the lists aboveand reflect on the research informationprovided in the different sections of thechapter, which demonstrates the amazingcompetence, scientific exploration and‘sense making’ capacity of these ver yyoung people.SUMMARY OF KEY ‘MESSAGES’This chapter has reviewed research aboutchildren’s incredible competence inlearning – from birth (begun even beforethen,in the womb). The most important‘messages’ from this research are:-Babies seem to be tuned to learn from,with and about, firstly the people andthe cultural environment around them,followed by the material environment –they come into the world primed to becurious, competent learners.Play, in which the baby or child takesthe lead and makes choices, is a processwhich fosters cognitive development.Children ‘make sense’ of and ‘transform’knowledge, experiences and eventsthrough imaginative and creativeactivity.Language and thought aredevelopmentally linked, they eachdepend on and also promote thedevelopment of the other.101