Use a daily activity as a learning opportunity.

Taking a walk is a good time for learning experiences. If a bird flies by, point it out. Ask thought-provoking questions. "How does that animal fly in the air?" "Where does it live?" "If it lives in a nest and has wings to fly, what kind of animal is it?"

"The key is to ask open-ended questions to stimulate conversation," explains Dawn. "This helps children formulate theories and eventually ask their own questions."

Discover through the senses.

Tactile discovery boxes make a great learning activity for the curious child. Using a cardboard box with a slit, this project can easily be made at home. Each box contains a random object. Reaching into the box (no peeking!), children explore sense of touch as they encounter different textured objects - fuzzy socks, feathers, alphabet letters, etc. While the teacher asks both open- and closed-ended questions about the object ("What do you think is in the box?", "Is it smooth or rough?"), the children can narrow down the possibilities.

A child's experiences drive imagination.

Children are imaginatively resourceful. During play, children reenact their experiences. A wooden 

block becomes a telephone. The patterned lines on a carpet become a racetrack for toy cars. LVCC's early childhood educators encourage this limitless creativity by providing the materials and allowing the child to decide what to do with it. Instead of using coloring pages of a house, for example, give a blank sheet of paper and let the child create his own vision of what that house looks like.

"Curiosity is a child's innate desire to learn," Dawn states. "Foster their interests and watch them develop into articulate, confident learners."