The idea that practitioners notice and use children’s interests to create learning experiences is not new. We know that being in a state of interest can energise learning and increase motivation.

We all have interests, some may be long term hobbies or activities, some might be something new that you saw recently, it sparked an interest and you found you wanted to know more. It’s just the same for children.

The EYFS tells us: Practitioners must consider the individual needs, interests, and development of each child in their care, and must use this information to plan a challenging and enjoyable experience for each child in all areas of learning and development. 

Knowing what children enjoy engaging with at home, and putting this into your environment can help with transition, and to develop a sense of belonging. It is comforting to a child to see familiar resources; these are usually quite broad and can easily be put into continuous provision or used to create an activity. These can be called children’s preferred resources and are very useful to know.

Preferred resources are also useful to engage reluctant children to areas they might not visit, putting the animals in the sand, or using them when introducing a new skill, for example categorising cars and trucks.

But we don’t stop there. Now we need to really understand what it means to follow children’s interests.

There are similarities between preferred resources and following interests, but there is also a difference:

- this is what the child is already interested in, therefore I will provide learning linked to this (preferred resource) and

- I see an idea (interest) forming and I will extend and provide for it. (Following interests.

It is important to know the difference as children’s drive to learn is often sparked by their immediate interest.

When a child thinks:

• I find that interesting.
• How fascinating.
• I am curious about that.
• I want to know more about that.

Practitioners can hear:

• I am motivated to learn.
• I will be engaged.
• I will concentrate more.
• I will listen to information about this.
• I will express my own ideas.

Any idea or focus can become an interest, some will be quick, as part of a conversation, and a small acknowledgement will be enough, some however, will set you up for hours or days of new experiences and learning. It’s like going fishing every day in your own environment to see what interest’s you can hook.

Ferrer Laever likened this to mining for gold, sometimes, he said, it’s just a flash of gold, other times, it can be a long streak of gold that can be mined for days.

We must remember that children can only show a preferred interest in what they have already seen or know about. If we know a group of children are interested in dinosaurs, we will have a limited run of ideas. The dinosaurs should, of course be in continuous provision and made use of, but children need a rich and varied curriculum.

It is therefore part of a rich learning environment that new resources, ideas, and artefacts are introduced to children as part of quality practice.

Example of following children’s interest as they happen: One sunny morning two nursery children were drawing by the window; they called a practitioner over to tell them they could see their hand on the paper. (a shadow) more children joined and noticed their shadows, the next 45 minutes was all about shadows, the children retrieved resources from around the room, they drew round the shadows, the adult explained shadows, they saw what happened when the sun briefly went behind a cloud. The children were excited and focused on what they were doing. They learned new information and new vocabulary, none of which was planned. This prior learning was built on outside later in the session, and in the following days.

There will be skills and experiences that may never come up as a child’s interest. Learning about gardening, cooking, or watching chicks hatch may never be mentioned and what lost experiences that would be. Knowing the cultural capital of your children helps you to plan to widen children’s experiences, this can be small, such as enhancing the home corner with utensils children might not have encountered, to writing and posting letters.

You do have to be selective; you can’t jump on every idea or fascination, everyone will be exhausted and not all will be appropriate in a setting, an acknowledgement, adding resources, or an open-ended question, might be enough if it just a flash of interest.

Perhaps it is time to reflect on whether both types of following children’s interests are in your setting.  Can we use continuous and enhance provision to provide preferred resources. Then equip your environment with awe and wonder and tune into the children to see their response.

Look for the widening of the eyes, a smile, a hop of excitement that’s where the magic is, a sure sign that the brain firing up, neurons reaching out for new information and connections.

You never know where it might take you.

“If children have interest, then education happens” Sugata Mitra