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Message in a Backpack™ Encouraging Curiosity— Because Inquiring Minds Want to Know! | NAEYC
In this article, it discussed how important it is to foster children's curiosity and how to do so. Children are inquiring minds and they want to know things that don't understand. They are curious and creative beings and by helping them find a book about it, create an experiment, ask questions and more you can help foster that creativity and also teach them new ways to discover the answers to their questions.

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Message in a Backpack™ Encouraging Curiosity- Because Inquiring Minds Want to Know!

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It's not always easy to answer children's questions, but encouraging their curiosity is an important part of helping them grow. Here are some ways that you can encourage your child's curiosity at home.

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Spark your kids' creativity and curiosity with the STEM Starter Bundle (newatlas.com)
Science kits can help children gain hands-on learning experiences and explore new and exciting things. They can be educational in teaching children about history, environments, magnetics, and more while also encouraging their creativity in decorating and facilitating the "labs". Their curiosity of how things may work can be solved and they can try new things for themselves.

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Modeling Curiosity and Acceptance: My Kindergarten Lunch Story | NAEYC

This article detailed how as a teacher and role model, you can model curiosity and acceptance for a group of children by showing them a polite and respectful way to ask questions to others about things you may not understand. The article mentioned using comparisons to help children relate concepts even when there are new and foreign differences they haven't been exposed to yet. Teachers and parents can be good role models in helping being creative in showing children love, kindness, curiosity and acceptance.

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When I began kindergarten, I knew I was different from most of my peers, but it became particularly evident to me during lunchtime on the first days of school. I knew my mother had taken great care to pack my favorites for lunch-rice ( bap), some pickled radish (danmuji), marinated cooked beef ( bulgogi). As I watched my classmates unwrap their peanut butter sandwiches and their cheese and crackers, I could see their reactions. The odors of my lunch were so different from what the other children were used to, and more than one of my classmates let me know they thought my lunch smelled weird. After seeing the reactions of my classmates, I didn't want to eat my favorite dishes at school.

My lunch highlighted for me that I wasn't like most of my classmates. I didn't want to feel excluded. It felt easiest to just pretend I wasn't hungry at lunchtime and then eat later, after school ended, without the looks and comments.

However, my teacher noticed that I wasn't eating at lunchtime. She understood why right away. So during lunchtime, she asked me to share what I had brought for lunch and asked a few questions while drawing connections to the experiences of my peers. My classmates became curious and also asked questions. They wondered about the color of the radish (it's bright yellow). They thought the rice being sticky could make it easier to eat than the rice many of them were used to. As my teacher modeled curiosity and acceptance, my differences started to feel interesting and okay to talk about instead of excluding. Looking back, I'm thankful that one of my first teachers worked to understand how I might feel excluded and asked questions and modeled to my classmates how to make me feel more welcomed.

As Asian American Pacific Islander Month comes to a close, I've been reflecting on my own experience as the daughter of Korean immigrants. Asian American Pacific Islander is a broad term encompassing many cultures and stories. Like other Asian American Pacific Islander families, my family has our own story, grounded in our specific culture and experiences. My story is one of both feeling different from others in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where I grew up and also appreciative of those who grew to know and include me.

My father came to America with a single suitcase of belongings and $200 in pursuit of greater opportunities than what he saw for himself and his family in Korea. After my mother finished nursing school, she joined my father. Together, they started a family and a life in the US where the language and culture were at times difficult for them to understand. They navigated the challenges of establishing careers and parenting children in a community where there were few other Asian families and their own families were far away. As a parent now, I can hardly fathom taking on these challenges amidst language barriers and without the physical support of family and close friends. My parents embodied courage, resilience, and kindness in a way that I try to emulate in my own life now.

But my story is not the only one that sounds like this. Others have had similar journeys, and many of these stories are present within our field. Consider the teachers who are parents who left their native countries; the program leaders who are children of immigrants; the children for whom English is a second language; the parents who are trying to understand what is best for young children in a school culture different from their home culture and who are looking for support and help. With the backdrop of these unique stories of educators and families, early childhood programs can be deeply impactful places for young children. Sometimes they can be places where children and families feel excluded. Fortunately for me, one of my first teachers modeled support and understanding, working to bridge home and school and to welcome me and my family.

I know my experience is not unusual. There are educators who teach and model curiosity, kindness, and acceptance for children with all their differences every day. We see this in the programs we visit for accreditation, and we hear these stories when we talk with educators caring for families in our member advocacy. I have great confidence that there are many programs that provide a supportive and inclusive environment where a child can eat their (native) lunch and feel accepted. I am deeply grateful to be part of a field that provides inclusive and welcoming places for educators, children, and families every day.

How To Build Empathy in Your Classroom

Modeling and teaching empathy-concern for others' feelings-is an important part of being an effective, culturally competent teacher. The following tips can help you consider your assumptions, expectations, and biases so that you can better develop your own empathy and the children's as well.

1. Think about it. When teachers have unfavorable perceptions about children who differ from them (in terms of culture, race, or ethnic identity), children's learning is negatively impacted.

2. Make a difference. Commit to self-reflection to uncover your personal biases and assumptions. Help bridge understanding across cultural groups.

3. Ask yourself hard questions. Reflect on questions like: What are my initial reactions to this child and her family? What do those reactions tell me about my personal beliefs and assumptions? What can I do to build children's and families' trust? How can I connect with them in meaningful ways?

4. Model warm and responsive actions. Greet children with a smile and welcoming words. Anticipate and promptly address children's needs and worries.

5. Highlight respect, kindness, compassion, and responsibility throughout your classroom. Carefully select books, games, music, and other materials for your lessons and activities. Help children discover similarities with peers from different backgrounds.

6. Build a classroom library that features diversity. Make sure the books include characters who reflect the many different identities of the children in your classroom. It's important for all children-and particularly those of color-to see themselves in stories.

7. Invite guests to share their cultures, traditions, and talents. Tap into children's and families' interests and cultural resources by creating time and space for them to share their special skills and knowledge in the classroom.

8. Acknowledge your progress. Consider the changes you're making and honor your journey. You are becoming a more culturally competent teacher who is deeply empathetic toward all the children in your class.

-Susan Friedman, Senior Director, Publishing & Content Development

This article was published as an 8x. "Developing Empathy to Build Warm, Inclusive Classrooms" by Susan Friedman in the April/May 2019 issue of TeachingYoung Children. You can read the full issue at NAEYC.org/tyc/apr2019.

Recommended Resources

NAEYC Asian Interest Forum. https://www.naeyc.org/get-involved/communities/how-join-interest-forum.

"Advancing Equity In Early Childhood Education" position statement. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/position-statements/equity.

Families and Educators Together: Building Great Relationships that Support Young Children, by Derry Koralek, Karen Nemeth, and Kelly Ramsey (2019).

Each and Every Child: Using an Equity Lens When Teaching in Preschool, by Susan Friedman and Alissa Mwenelupembe (2020).

"Valuing Diversity: Developing a Deeper Understanding of All Children's Behavior," by Barbara Kaiser and Judy Sklar Rasminsky. In the December 2019/January 2020 issue of Teaching Young Children.

"Diverse Children, Uniform Standards: Using Early Learning and Development Standards in Multicultural Classrooms," by Jeanne L. Reid, Catherine Scott-Little, and Sharon Lynn Kagan. In the November 2019 issue of Young Children.

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Modeling Curiosity and Acceptance: My Kindergarten Lunch Story

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When I began kindergarten, I knew I was different from most of my peers, but it became particularly evident to me during lunchtime on the first days of school. I knew my mother had taken great care to pack my favorites for lunch-rice ( bap), some pickled radish (danmuji), marinated cooked beef ( bulgogi).

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Games such as Ispy or Pictionary can help get children asking questions and exploring their environment or things they don't understand. Games can help encourage them to ask questions and communicate interests or ideas.

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Paper can be used to create many things and help give children creativity to explore their imagination and create whatever they want. They can draw, paint or cut and fold the paper in any way they want. It can used to help children learn objects around them by drawing what they think they look like or creating an object out of paper.

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Books can help children to explore their interests by learning about them. They can help foster children's curiosity and creativity with the fantasy worlds that book characters live in. Books can allow children to not only read and learn about their own world and everything in it but also the worlds in their imaginations.

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Taking children on nature trails and walks can get them out of the normal classroom setting and encourage them to interact and discover their surroundings. These can help children be exposed to new sights, sounds and textures while engaging in the world around them and being creative in their interactions with it.

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Costumes and dressing up can allow children to work on verbally communicating with others in the way their character would. It can help encouraging their interests in what they want to be when they grow up, their favorite superhero, etc. Costumes can help them gain a better understanding of the people that make up their world by pretending to be them.

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Puzzles can help teach children new items, animals, numbers, and more that they need to know. Children can explore new shapes, see new environments, etc.

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Discovery Place as a multitude of different environments ranging from an aquarium to science labs. Children can explore and play in each room. The museum is completed founded on the idea of hands-on learning and is perfect for a child to explore and engaging in science and history. Children can build, tinker and create throughout each exhibit and lab room and is a perfect place to encourage curiosity, creativity and interests in science and nature.

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Utilized to help teach children how to use their hands and the materials around them to create something new.

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Can be utilized to help children work with their hands and explore new textures while also fostering their creativity and imagination.

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Can be utilized to help children learn and interact with their outside environments and discover different climates and resources.

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Children can use this to explore different textures, colors, shapes and more.

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Can be utilized to help children learn and interact with their outside environments and discover different climates, textures and places other living creatures call home.

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Goal APL-1: Children show curiosity and express interest in the world around them.

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Goal APL-1: Children show curiosity and express interest in the world around them.

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Discover things that interest and amaze them and seek to share them with others. APL-1j

Communicate interest to others through verbal and nonverbal means (take teacher to the science center to see a new animal). APL-1k

Show interest in a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks. APL-1l

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Goal APL-2: Children actively seek to understand the world around them.

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Goal APL-2: Children actively seek to understand the world around them.

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Ask questions about the people and things around them. APL-2i

Use all available senses, tools, and a variety of strategies to explore the environment (drop objects in water to see if they sink or float). APL-2j

Purposely try different ways of doing things to see what and how they work (adjust blocks used as a ramp to make a ball roll faster and farther). APL-2k

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1. Discovery
2. Curiosity
3. Adaption
4. Learning
5. Participation
6. Senses
7. Trial and error

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1. How do children respond to trial and error when trying new activities?
2. Do children learn more with their hands or through other senses?
3. What if children touched new objects with their eyes closed?
4. How do children describe something of interest to them verses something that are uninterested in? What adjectives do they use? How would you describe their body posture? Their tone of voice?
5. What if children discovered new objects and items, one sense at a time?