Importance of a conducive learning environment

By Doosuur Iwambe

Many factors can affect a child’s learning experience. For example, parents, caregivers, and the presence of other children can affect your child’s learning and receptiveness. However, a child’s learning environment is extremely important to his or her development, especially in his or her early years.

Today, we explore what makes a conducive learning environment as well as the benefits of having a conducive learning environment.

What makes a conducive learning environment?

1) It should be welcoming, familiar, and interesting

– Unfamiliar environments will cause the child to feel stressed, which can affect his or her learning.

– Classrooms with homely features can make children feel comfortable and in turn, more receptive to learning.

All children and especially infants, need two-way human interaction that comes from human beings, such as their parents, caregivers, teachers or educarers. Babies need to hear human voices, participate in conversation and have songs directed at him or her while cuddling, nursing or playing on the floor mat.

At Nurture Infant House Tampines, we will talk with the babies in our care,  while feeding, playing or dressing or when we take them outdoors for walks. We will read to our babies everyday and stimulate the pre-toddler’s memory skills through infant games like peek-a-boo or practice waving good-bye.

2) It should be diverse

-The area should have a variety of new and interesting areas and features

-Different parts of an environment should also have different stimulation levels so that the child is exposed to different opportunities of learning.

Consider using music, especially classical music to give your babies an educational edge. Classical music is rather structured in the way the music is composed and through this structure, can convey a calm environment for your baby.

3) Encourage playtime

-An effective learning environment should encourage learning through play. You can help your baby develop hand-eye coordination by providing age-appropriate toys, such as blocks.

4) Evoke the senses

-The environment should contain features that involve all five senses and provoke thinking, open-ended outcomes, and creativity.

-For example, the learning environment should have toys that are of different colours, textures, and scents.

– Use the outdoors, take walks. At Nurture Infant House Tampines, we believe that being outdoors gives children more opportunities to be physically active, improves their motor skills, strengthens their immune system and reduces risk of myopia. The outdoors is fun, yet calming and makes our children happier.

5) It should be social

-Social interaction between children gives them access to different perspectives.

-A conducive learning environment should encourage social interaction among children.

-You can consider using sensory play activities such as water play to let your child play cooperatively with another child or side by side, encouraging social interaction.

Do check out our article on Sensory Play Activities for more tips on how to introduce such play to stimulate your child’s development.

Benefits of a conducive learning environment

Having a good early learning environment has lasting effects that carries through to adulthood.  Some of these effects include:

-Being more socially adept.

-Initiating and maintaining successful relationships in life.

-Greater capacity to show empathy to others.

-Greater self-confidence and higher self-esteem due to having a supportive environment in childhood.

-Having healthy attitudes towards learning.

Infant Care Centres

With these long-lasting benefits of a child’s early learning environment, it is extremely important that parents try to provide their child with such an environment, not just at home, but in a classroom setting.

It is important not to deprive your child of developmental opportunities, but to be extremely deliberate in planning in the most conducive learning environment for your child.

Therefore, for parents who send their children to infant care centres, it is essential that the centre that you send your child to a conducive learning environment.

Here at Nurture Infant House, we take pride in our conducive learning environment. We have a wide range of interesting activities held in a safe and stimulating environment which will help to develop your child’s gross and fine motor skills.

Our friendly and thoughtful teachers will also definitely make your child have a stress-free and comfortable experience.

On top of that, your child’s five senses will be engaged in a specially designed environment that utilizes colours, play tools, textures, and sounds.