Mistakes. Why are they important in Early Childhood Education?
Children in their early years of learning will be challenged beyond their means. When they begin to crawl, walk, and even run, they are taking on the world through a different lens. But what about when they fail? Should we allow children to make mistakes?
Whether you are an eager parent waiting to show your children the right thing to do in the world we live in or a teacher trying their best to educate the new generation of young learners. Remember this: Mistakes are learning opportunities for young children. How can we navigate this and go from a mistake to a learning opportunity? There is no simple solution to these questions, but if we want to encourage young learners to use their critical thinking skills to solve problems, learn from their experiences, and extend their previous knowledge we must create an environment where they feel safe to make mistakes.
For example, there is a child who I have worked with before, who’s working on their fine motor skills. One day, Simon (pseudo name) was working at the art table in the classroom and their challenge for the day was to work on an illustration of a tree. The goal was to follow the teacher’s multi-step instructions to:
Draw their picture of a tree.
Use watercolor to paint the tree
Within those two steps, the child also had to focus on rinsing their brush and drying it before dipping the brush into a new color. Each time Simon dipped his brush into the watercolor jar, he spilled the entire jar of paint. This happened 5 times in a row and Simon was ready to give up. His words were:
I cannot do this I keep dropping this paint and it is everywhere. I’m never doing this again!
While we can understand the frustration and hard work Simon put into drawing his tree. What would be the best way to navigate this situation? Should I have allowed Simon to give up? It was a little upsetting that I had to clean up the mess every time, but should that be a reason to stop the learning process?
This was a moment, where I had to take a step back and reflect on the the child’s learning process and the importance of letting this be a moment of growth. As an outside observer, one might see a child who cannot complete a simple task. But, after reflecting what I noticed was how resilient Simon was. While on the verge of giving up, he continuously tried to complete his artwork.
The final words that I shared with Simon were: It’s okay if we get messy, art doesn't have to be perfect. We do not have to be perfect. Focus on your body and take a deep breath. Simon threw his paper away in the trash and was done working in the area for the day.
The next day Simon walked in and decided he was going to work at the art table and try to do his tree one more time. I was surprised to hear that he wanted to try after noticing that he was sad and threw his paper in the trash. After reflecting on his reaction when he came in, the first thought I had was: What if I had stopped him?
I am not sure what would happen if I stopped him from making a few mistakes. Maybe doing it for him would have ended in the same result. Maybe it would have prevented him from trying again. What I am sure of is that through this observation, seeing Simon make a few mistakes allowed him to be resilient, confident, and provided him with the experience he needed to be successful in the art table.
