How to Nurture Your Child’s Curiosity

 **Collaborative Post*

AD: When it comes to learning and developing a deep passion for it, it seems that the one thing that truly lights the spark is curiosity. Children are born naturally curious and natural learners, which is why you will spend most of your time ensuring they’re not crawling behind the sofa to play with wires or putting foreign objects into their mouths. However, this curiosity can fade as they grow up, which makes it crucial for parents to foster and nurture it in their child, in order to keep it alive for as long as possible. Curiosity is also essential for a child’s cognitive, emotional, and social development, which makes it that much more important to hold onto. 

Here is some advice from this prep school in Kew, on how to nurture your child’s curiosity.

Support their interests

Every child will have unique interests and passions, which makes it important to recognise and support them as they can be powerful paths to nurture their curiosity. Whether your child is drawn to dinosaurs, spacecraft, machinery, art, or even gardening, provide them with materials, opportunities, and resources to dig deeper into their topic of choice. Once they have gained a significant amount of passion, you can look into enrolling them in classes or engaging them in activities that relate to their interests. Along the way, be sure to celebrate their achievements, no matter how small. This encouragement is what will reinforce their confidence and encourage them to continue exploring new areas of interest.

Allow them to ask questions

A child asking questions is all about their curiosity finding a voice. Sometimes it may seem that their repetitiveness may get a little tiresome, however, it is important to stay patient and remember that your child is simply trying to understand their surroundings, the way you once did too. Show enthusiasm when your child asks you a question, and explore the answers together until they feel satisfied. This will give them the confidence to come to you with anything and create a positive feeling around being curious.

Create Opportunities

Whilst your child is still exploring and curious about the world, creating opportunities for them to explore more will only widen their curiosity and the fun they have learning. Take your child out in all different weathers, sunny, through on some sun cream and a hat, rain is perfect for welly boots and splashing in puddles, and who can resist playing in the snow! You can also create opportunities by taking them to different groups designed for younger children. Places often put on classes such as sensory classes, music, dance, stay and play and even gym sessions. All of these experiences will allow your child to try something new. 

See Things Through Their Eyes

Sometimes as an adult, we forget what it was like to be a child. We look at the world with a different kind of view, tainted by our own experiences, halted by the mundane things we now need to do as adults like chores and bills. But every now and again it is good to just let go, to allow yourself to see the world through your child's eyes, and only then can be truly understand once more how amazing and curious the world is to explore. Imagine being a child in massive woodland, surrounded by trees that tower of you, you are allowed to jump in puddles and get muddy and you are discovering plants and animals you are only just seeing for the first time, pretty amazing right? 

Nurturing your child’s curiosity is actually very easy. With a little effort and creativity, you can ensure your child holds onto this brilliant trait for life.

xXx