“Don’t touch that!” Children hear this phrase in stores, homes and classrooms everywhere. Kids are filled with curiosity and often want to touch things to better understand them. In our haste to preserve the items from harm, or to protect the child, we are quick to stop children from touching objects around them.
However, great learning can occur in if children are allowed to utilize their sense of touch. Many children learn about things by exploring objects with their hands. They like to see how things feel, to pull apart objects and put them back together to see how they work. We miss many opportunities for learning when we stop a child from using their natural instinct to learn about something by touching.
We present the following guideline (TOUCH) for encouraging kids to become actively engaged in their learning through touch:
T- Tactile. Tactile learners are those who learn best through hands-on experiences and “doing” what they are learning. These students NEED you to find ways to make the material more meaningful to them by touch. You will find that tactile learners will be much more actively engaged in their learning, and much less off-task, if you can incorporate hands-on activities whenever possible. Projects are great for tactile learners who like to learn by doing something rather than by listening or reading.
O-Outside of the box thinking. In order to incorporate more touch into the child’s learning, you will need to think outside of the box. What manipulatives can you use to better demonstrate fractions? What mini-figurines can you use to represent all of the characters and act out the events in the story the child is having a difficult time comprehending? (Hint- those free McDonald’s toys work wonderfully for this). In what other ways can you incorporate manipulatives as a guide in the child’s learning or to demonstrate that they have learned? We are surrounded by manipulatives that can be used to aide child in their learning. We just have to think outside of the box to see them as such.
U-Under a dollar. People often think that the best manipulatives come in purchased kits. This is not the case. Manipulatives are all around us. Those found in nature, in homes, and other naturally occurring environments provide a relevance that pre-fabricated manipulates cannot. For example, when a child learns basic addition and subtraction, they are often given counting bears or other purchased manipulatives. This works fine because it gives young children the tactile experience of actually moving bears to understand that the algorithm of 2+3 is two bears plus three more. However, rocks from the driveway could do the same and kids are more likely to count rocks in their driveway at home after school than multicolored plastic bears, making the learning more relevant to them. Most manipulatives found in nature or in the home are free or incur little cost to acquire. We challenge you to find manipulates for under a dollar. You do not need large amounts of money to put manipulatives into the hands of a child.
C– Check for understanding. Just having the item in their hand does not necessarily mean the child is learning. Make sure the child describes to you what it is that they are doing/feeling/manipulating. Clarify the points they are making and correct any misconceptions that they may have. Make sure the child is describing their learning so you can be assured they are correct in their thinking. Errors in their thinking cannot be remediated if you don’t know what it is that they are thinking.
H- Have fun. Touching while learning can and should be fun! It can be fun for the learner and fun for the adult teaching. The more fun kids have while learning, the more likely they are to continue learning and to seek out their own opportunities to learn. Reading a book about earthworms can be incredibly boring for most kids. However, going outside after a heavy rain and watching and touching earthworms while looking up facts about them in that same book can become a learning experience they will never forget.
How do you use tactile learning? Have you found great inexpensive manipulatives? We would love to hear your ideas about teaching through touch!
Happy Exploring,
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