Following the Child's Interest

The child's interests are freely and naturally expressed when the child feels secure and valued by the teacher. The teacher is trained to understand and enter the child's world in order to broaden and expand the interests of the child in a way that will have meaning for her. The KPM teacher does this through planned and spontaneous activities. For example, there may be a planned activity of making paper model airplanes, and the child may want then to spontaneously go on to make something different, such as an airport landing strip. The younger children themselves decide which activities to attend, what to do, when and with whom to do it at each moment of the day. As the children mature, the child's interests are broadened in a more structured way. The teacher is vigilant to use every opportunity that arises to broaden and expand an interest and introduce the curriculum.By turning education from something that is forced upon the child, into something that is fun and enriching, the educational process becomes transformed. The child develops a deep love and enthusiasm for learning. This becomes part of the child's character and stays with the child. 


Anybody can make a game of learning, but when it is the child's own game with his own rules to his own liking, the learning remains with him. If a child's main interest is dinosaurs, for example, there are many ways to introduce the basic skills of reading and writing and other subjects such as history, geography and elementary science, through the study of dinosaurs. Some children may not choose to read or write until their main interest is found and becomes a focus. 

Click here for KPM teacher interviews on following the child'snterests.