What does it mean? Heuristic play is a term to explain a more structured approach to observing and encouraging young children's natural curiosity in everyday household objects. Young children take great satisfaction from discovering that an old jar-lid can make a popping sound when pressed or that a curtain ring fits inside an old sticky tape reel. When they make these kinds of discoveries, children will often repeat the action to test the result. This strengthens cognitive development and hand-eye co-ordination.
Many early years settings will encourage this process by asking parents to provide "treasure baskets" or "browser boxes" (to name but two), containing a combination of natural objects and everyday items, such as fir cones, conkers, toilet rolls and jam jars.
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