For children under three, experiential learning means giving them safe, real objects to explore with all their senses, time to repeat what fascinates them, and an adult close by who watches, names what is happening and responds. It does not mean shrinking a preschool lesson down to a younger age; babies and toddlers learn through exploration, movement and relationships, and the daily routines of feeding, changing and sleeping are as much part of the curriculum as any planned activity.
The Global Nexus programme begins at six months, with groups for six to eighteen months, eighteen to twenty-four months and two to three years. Teams working with these age groups often ask how the experiential principles of the curriculum apply when children cannot yet talk about what they did. This guide sets out an answer drawn from established practice with under-threes and adapted to a bilingual setting in Vietnam.
How the youngest children learn
Babies and toddlers are relentless investigators. They mouth, shake, drop, bang, pour, fill and empty, over and over again. To an adult this can look like random activity, but it is systematic: the child is testing what objects do, how their own body works and how the world responds. Every repetition refines their understanding a little further.
Relationships are the foundation of this learning. Research summarised by the Harvard Center on the Developing Child describes the importance of "serve and return" interactions, in which a child makes a sound, a gesture or a look and an adult responds in a way that connects to it. These back-and-forth exchanges help build the architecture of the developing brain. In practice, that means an adult who notices what the child is focusing on, names it and waits for the child's next move.
Movement matters too. Children under three learn through their whole bodies: crawling, pulling up, climbing, carrying, pushing and walking. Spaces that let them move freely and safely, with low platforms, ramps, sturdy furniture to pull up on and room to roam, are themselves part of the experience. Long periods in seats or confined spaces limit both learning and well-being.
Treasure baskets for babies who can sit
The treasure basket, developed by Elinor Goldschmied, is one of the best-known tools for experiential learning with babies. It is a low, sturdy basket filled with everyday objects made from natural materials: wooden spoons, metal bowls, a natural sponge, a small brush, a fir cone too large to swallow, a piece of fabric, a lemon, a wooden ring. The baby, sitting with support if needed, explores the objects freely while an adult sits nearby, attentive but not directing.
The objects offer variety in weight, texture, temperature, sound and smell, which plastic toys rarely provide. A metal spoon is cold and heavy; a wooden one is warm and light; a sponge is soft and squashy. Babies explore these differences with their hands and mouths, and they often concentrate for surprisingly long periods. The adult's role is to keep the basket safe and clean, to rotate objects to maintain interest, and to be emotionally available, sometimes smiling or speaking softly, but not taking over.
Safety is essential. Every object must be too large to swallow, free of sharp edges and loose parts, and clean. Check objects before every session and remove anything damaged. Many teams include objects familiar in Vietnamese homes, such as a small woven bamboo basket, a coconut shell bowl with smooth edges or a clean cloth, which makes the basket feel connected to children's home lives.
Heuristic play for mobile toddlers
Once children are mobile, Goldschmied and her colleague Sonia Jackson described a related approach called heuristic play, set out in their book People Under Three. A small group of toddlers is offered a large quantity of varied, open-ended objects, such as tins, chains, wooden curtain rings, cardboard tubes, lids and containers, in a calm space for a fixed period. The toddlers explore freely, filling, emptying, stacking, posting and comparing, while adults watch quietly.
Quantity matters. When there are plenty of objects for everyone, toddlers spend less time competing and more time exploring. The session ends with a tidy-up in which children help return objects to their bags, which is itself a sorting activity. The adult's role, again, is to observe, keep the space safe and calm, and avoid interrupting a child who is deeply absorbed.
Heuristic play suits toddlers' strong urge to experiment with how objects behave together. Will this ring fit in this tin? What sound does a chain make when dropped into a metal bowl? How many lids can I stack before they fall? These questions are investigated with the body rather than with words, but they are genuine investigations all the same.
Recognising schemas in toddler play
Teachers who work with under-threes often notice that some children repeat the same type of action across many activities: throwing everything, wrapping objects up, carrying things from one place to another, or lining things up. These repeated patterns are often called schemas, a concept explored in early-years practice by Chris Athey in her work on young children's thinking. Common schemas include trajectory (throwing, dropping, running in lines), transporting (carrying objects around), enveloping (wrapping, covering, hiding), enclosing (building fences, filling containers) and rotation (spinning, rolling, turning wheels).
Recognising a schema helps adults respond to behaviour that might otherwise seem like a nuisance. A toddler who keeps throwing food might be exploring trajectory. Instead of only stopping the behaviour, the teacher can offer appropriate ways to explore the same idea: throwing soft balls into a basket, dropping objects down a tube, rolling cars down a ramp. A child who empties every shelf may be transporting, and would enjoy bags, baskets and trolleys to carry things in.
Schemas are not a rigid classification, and not every action fits one. But looking for patterns in a child's play helps teachers plan experiences that match the child's current interests, which is exactly the principle of experiential learning applied at this age.
Routines as the curriculum
For babies and toddlers, much of the day is spent in caring routines: feeding, nappy changing, toileting, washing, dressing and sleeping. These routines are not breaks from learning; they are among the richest learning moments in the day. A nappy change is a one-to-one conversation, with eye contact, naming of body parts, anticipation and cooperation. Mealtimes involve choosing, tasting, using utensils, pouring and sharing.
Approaches such as that developed by Emmi Pikler in Hungary emphasise slow, respectful care in which the adult tells the child what will happen next, waits for the child's response and invites cooperation. "I am going to lift your arm to put it through the sleeve. Can you help me?" Treating routines this way builds trust, language and a sense of agency, and it shapes how children experience every other part of the day.
Teams planning a curriculum for under-threes should therefore plan routines as carefully as activities: how many adults are available, how much time each routine takes, how children are involved, and what language is used. A key person system, in which each child has a main caregiver who handles most of their routines, supports secure attachment and makes these moments more personal.
Two languages from the very beginning
In a Vietnamese–English programme, babies and toddlers hear both languages from their first days in the group. Research on bilingual infants, including studies by Janet Werker and her colleagues, shows that babies who hear two languages from birth can tell those languages apart very early, and that young children are able to learn two languages at the same time when they have rich, meaningful exposure to both. What matters most is quality interaction rather than drills.
For under-threes, that means adults speaking naturally, warmly and responsively in their language during routines and play. A Vietnamese caregiver narrates a nappy change in Vietnamese; an English-speaking teacher sings during a sensory play session in English. Children do not need translation; they need adults who talk with them about what they are doing, in a consistent and caring way.
Families sometimes worry that two languages will confuse their baby or delay speech. Teams should be ready to explain that mixing languages and going through a quiet period are common in bilingual development, while also listening to concerns and referring families to specialists if there are signs of a wider language or hearing difficulty. Keeping Vietnamese strong as the home language for most children remains important.
A week in the toddler room: putting it together
To see how these ideas combine, picture a week in a room for eighteen- to twenty-four-month-olds. On Monday the key persons notice that several children are posting things: pushing blocks into gaps, dropping spoons into a jug, feeding coins of cardboard into a slot in a box. The team decides to follow that interest. On Tuesday morning, a heuristic play session offers tins with lids, wooden rings, cardboard tubes and short lengths of chain. The children spend twenty minutes filling and emptying in near silence, while the adults sit low and watch.
On Wednesday, the courtyard has a set of tubes fixed at an angle against the wall, with balls and short wooden rollers to send down them. The English-speaking teacher sings a simple rolling song; a Vietnamese caregiver names what each child is doing as it happens. On Thursday, the posting idea moves into routines: children post their own spoons into a basket after lunch and their socks into a bag before nap.
On Friday, the key persons compare notes and photographs. One child who rarely stays with an activity spent fifteen minutes at the tubes. Another, newly settled, laughed for the first time during the heuristic play session. These observations go into each child's record and to families at pickup, and the plan for the following week grows from them.
Planning and observing for under-threes
Planning for under-threes starts with observation. Teachers watch what each child is interested in, how they move, which objects they return to and which schemas appear in their play. Short notes and photographs, kept by the key person, build a picture of each child over time and inform what is offered next. This is the same observe, plan and reflect cycle used with older children, at a slower pace.
Plans for this age group are usually short and flexible: a treasure basket session for the babies, a heuristic play session for toddlers, water play in the courtyard, a walk to look at the trees, a new set of ramps and balls for a child exploring trajectory. Plans should allow for children who are tired, hungry or unsettled, and should never push a child to take part. Interest and well-being come first.
Sharing observations with families matters especially at this age, when children cannot tell their parents about their day. A short note or photograph showing what the child explored, with a comment on what it suggests about their development, helps families understand that their child is learning, even when the activity looks simple. Families interested in the Global Nexus programme as it runs for the youngest groups at Global Star School can arrange a visit through globalstarschool.com.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
What is the difference between a treasure basket and heuristic play?
A treasure basket is for babies who can sit but are not yet mobile, offering a single basket of varied natural objects to explore. Heuristic play is for mobile toddlers, offering large quantities of open-ended objects and containers to a small group in a calm space. Both were developed by Elinor Goldschmied and both rely on quiet, attentive adults.
Do babies and toddlers need a planned curriculum?
Yes, but it looks different from a curriculum for older children. For under-threes, the curriculum includes the environment, the objects offered, the routines and above all the relationships with caring adults. Planning is based on observation of each child and stays flexible, with well-being and interest guiding what happens.
Is it safe for babies to explore everyday objects?
It is safe when every object is too large to swallow, has no sharp edges or loose parts, and is checked and cleaned regularly. Adults must stay close and attentive throughout. Objects should be chosen with care and removed as soon as they show damage.
Will hearing two languages confuse a baby?
Research on bilingual development suggests that young children can learn two languages at the same time with rich, responsive exposure to both. Mixing languages and quiet periods are common. Families with concerns about language development should talk to the teaching team and, where appropriate, seek advice from a specialist.
How can families know what their baby learned at school?
Through regular sharing from the child's key person: short notes, photographs and conversations at pickup that describe what the child explored and what it shows about their development. These observations help families see the learning in activities that might otherwise look simple.
How many adults are needed for under-threes?
Babies and toddlers need much higher adult-to-child ratios than older children, as set by national regulations and school policy. A key person system, in which each child has a main caregiver, supports secure relationships and makes caring routines more personal and responsive.