Understanding Schemas in Early Childhood: A Parent’s Guide

Have you ever noticed your child repeatedly lining up toys, spinning objects, or climbing into tight spaces? These behaviours might seem random, but they are often part of something deeply meaningful in your child's development: schemas. Understanding schemas helps parents and caregivers support a child’s play in ways that nurture learning, growth, and confidence.

At Curious Minds, we embrace the power of play-based learning and guide parents to notice and support emerging schemas. Let’s explore what schemas are, why they matter, and how you can encourage them at home.

What Are Schemas?

Schemas are repeated patterns of behaviour that children use to explore and make sense of the world around them. These patterns are part of how young children organise their thoughts and experiences through action and play. The concept of schemas was first introduced by Jean Piaget, a leading developmental theorist who believed that children learn through active exploration.

Why Are Schemas Important?

Recognising schemas can:

• Help you understand your child's interests and needs.
• Support deeper, more engaging play experiences.
• Reduce frustration by providing appropriate materials.
• Foster development across physical, cognitive, and emotional domains.

Schemas are natural, healthy, and essential for learning. By supporting them, you are supporting the foundations of critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity.

Common Types of Schemas (With Play Ideas)

1. Trajectory Schema

• Behaviours: Throwing, dropping, running, climbing.
• Play Ideas: Ball runs, paper planes, water squirters, ramps, jumping games.

2. Transporting Schema

• Behaviours: Carrying objects from one place to another.
• Play Ideas: Buckets, baskets, trolleys, bags, loose parts to move.

3. Enveloping Schema

• Behaviours: Covering objects or themselves, wrapping up toys.
• Play Ideas: Scarves, boxes, fabric, playdough to wrap or cover.

4. Enclosing Schema

• Behaviours: Drawing circles, making enclosures, building fences.
• Play Ideas: Blocks, hoops, chalk, train tracks, small world setups.

5. Rotation Schema

• Behaviours: Spinning wheels, turning lids, watching things rotate.
• Play Ideas: Spinners, wheels, windmills, turntables, steering toys.

6. Connecting Schema

• Behaviours: Joining items together, tying things, building.
• Play Ideas: Lego, tape, string, magnetic tiles, clips, nuts and bolts.

7. Positioning Schema

• Behaviours: Lining up toys, arranging objects precisely.
• Play Ideas: Sorting trays, peg boards, stackers, arranging games.

8. Transforming Schema

• Behaviours: Mixing, changing materials (e.g., mud, water, sand).
• Play Ideas: Sensory bins, mud kitchens, mixing stations, messy play.

How to Support Schemas at Home

• Observe without interrupting: Watch how your child plays and what behaviours they repeat.
• Provide open-ended resources: Loose parts, natural materials, containers, fabrics.
• Adapt the environment: Make safe spaces for transporting, rotating, and enveloping.
• Join in respectfully: Engage with their play without taking over. Use descriptive language to support vocabulary.
• Avoid discouraging repetitive play: Recognise it as meaningful, not "naughty" or "obsessive".
• A Word on Schema Overlap

Children may display more than one schema at a time. For example, your child may transport objects into an enclosed space while spinning a toy—and that’s perfectly normal! Schemas evolve and shift with age and experience.

The Research Behind Schemas

The work of Chris Athey, a researcher who built on Piaget’s theories, highlighted how schemas are key to understanding cognitive development. Her research in the 1970s and 80s in the UK early years settings showed that when adults identify and support schemas, children display deeper levels of learning and engagement.

Schemas also align with the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) framework in the UK, which values observation-led, play-based approaches. Noticing schemas allows you to tailor support in ways that feel natural and developmentally appropriate.

Conclusion: Small Clues, Big Insights

Understanding your child’s schemas gives you a window into their mind. By recognising and supporting these patterns, you foster a rich, respectful learning environment where your child feels understood and empowered.

At Curious Minds, we help parents spot and nurture schemas through tailored guidance and resources.

Want to understand your child’s unique play patterns?

Book a Curious Minds Mini Consultation for just £59.99 and receive personalised insight into your child’s current play needs, including schema support strategies you can use right away.

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