Teaching Inquiry Through Play in Early Years

A group of children notices that the ice in the water tray has changed shape. One says, “It is disappearing.” Another suggests putting it in the shade to see what happens. This is the rich starting point for teaching inquiry through play: children notice something, form a theory, test it and revise their thinking in response to what they find.

For early years educators, inquiry is not an additional activity to squeeze into an already busy day. It is a way of teaching that makes children’s natural curiosity visible and valuable. When adults plan thoughtfully, observe closely and respond with well-timed questions, everyday play becomes a place for deep learning across language, early literacy, numeracy, environmental exploration, creativity and social and emotional well-being.

What Is Teaching Inquiry Through Play?

Inquiry through play gives children meaningful opportunities to explore questions that matter to them. They may investigate why a tower keeps falling, how to move water from one container to another, what lives beneath a stone, or how to make a puppet shadow larger. The learning is active, social and grounded in real materials and experiences.

This does not mean adults simply stand back and hope learning will happen. High-quality inquiry needs intentional teaching. The educator creates an inviting environment, recognises a worthwhile line of thinking and decides when to join in. Sometimes the most powerful response is to wait and watch. At other times, a carefully chosen prompt can extend a child’s thinking far beyond the first idea.

The balance matters. Too much direction can turn investigation into a task with one expected answer. Too little support can leave children repeating familiar actions without developing their ideas. The educator’s role is to offer enough challenge, language and time while protecting children’s ownership of the play.

Why Inquiry Matters in the Early Years

Young children are already investigators. They fill and empty, sort, combine, build, pretend, take apart and ask “why?”. Inquiry-based practice respects this drive to understand the world rather than asking children to wait for learning to be delivered to them.

It also develops habits that reach well beyond one activity. A child who learns to look closely, make a prediction, try a different approach and explain what happened is building confidence as a learner. They are learning that mistakes can provide useful information, and that their ideas are worth sharing.

For educators working with the Sri Lanka National Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework, inquiry can bring the areas of learning together naturally. A garden investigation may involve physical movement, new vocabulary, counting leaves, noticing insects, drawing observations and negotiating roles with friends. The learning is connected because children’s real questions are connected.

Inquiry is especially valuable within a theme-based approach. A theme such as “weather”, “our community” or “growing things” should not become a collection of adult-led crafts. Instead, it can offer a shared context from which children’s questions emerge. What happens to rainwater after a storm? Which vehicles help people in our neighbourhood? Why do some seeds sprout first? These questions give a theme purpose.

Begin With a Provocation, Not a Worksheet

A provocation is an invitation to investigate. It might be a tray of natural objects with magnifying glasses, a selection of ramps and balls, a basket of familiar packaging, or a photograph of a local building site. It should be open enough for children to bring their own ideas, but carefully selected to encourage noticing, comparing and testing.

For example, if children are interested in transport, set out cardboard tubes, blocks, toy vehicles, maps and lengths of guttering. Rather than asking them to make a particular model, you might say, “I wonder how we could make the vehicle travel further?” Children may build slopes, change surfaces, compare wheels and invent routes. The educator can introduce language such as steep, smooth, heavy, distance and faster in the moment it becomes useful.

A worksheet often asks children to show what an adult has already decided they should know. A provocation asks, “What do you notice? What could we find out?” There is a place for focused teaching, including modelling a new skill or sharing key vocabulary. Yet inquiry is strengthened when children can use that knowledge for their own purposes.

Plan for possibilities

Planning inquiry does not require predicting every child’s response. In fact, overly detailed plans can make it harder to follow genuine learning. Plan the broad learning intention, the materials, the language you may introduce and a few possible ways to extend the play.

If the intention is to explore floating and sinking, children may begin by testing objects in water. Some may become interested in size, others in weight, and another group may focus on how to make a foil boat carry more stones. All of these pathways can be worthwhile. Your observations help you decide which ideas need more time, resources or adult support.

Use Questions That Keep Thinking Open

The quality of adult talk can either widen or narrow an inquiry. Closed questions such as “What colour is this?” have their uses, particularly when checking understanding or supporting a child’s confidence. However, they rarely invite sustained investigation.

Open prompts communicate that children’s theories are welcome. Try asking, “What do you notice?”, “What do you think might happen if...?”, “How could we find out?”, or “What has changed?” When a child shares an explanation, resist the urge to correct it immediately. You might respond, “That is an interesting idea. What could we try to check it?”

It is equally helpful to narrate thinking without taking over: “You changed the ramp because the car stopped. You are testing whether a steeper ramp helps.” This gives children language for their actions and shows that persistence is part of learning.

For children who are still developing confidence in English, inquiry offers a particularly inclusive route into learning. Gesture, drawing, photographs, objects and collaborative play can all support meaning. Introduce words naturally and repeat them across real experiences, rather than expecting children to memorise vocabulary in isolation.

Make Documentation Part of the Learning

Documentation is more than evidence for a display board. Used well, it helps children revisit their ideas and helps educators make informed decisions about what to offer next.

Take a photograph of a structure before it is changed, record a child’s explanation word for word, or invite children to draw what they observed. Later, bring the record back to the group: “Last week you wondered why the bridge bent. What do you notice in this photograph? What would you like to try now?” The enquiry gains continuity rather than ending when tidy-up time begins.

Keep documentation manageable. A few meaningful observations are more useful than trying to capture every moment. Look for evidence of children noticing patterns, using new language, collaborating, adapting a plan or representing an idea in a different way. These details reveal development more clearly than a finished product alone.

When to Step In and When to Wait

This is one of the most skilled decisions in inquiry-based practice. Step in when a child needs help to access materials, when safety is involved, when a new concept can extend a developing idea, or when group dynamics are preventing participation. Step back when children are productively negotiating, testing, concentrating or recovering from a small frustration.

Consider a child whose block bridge falls repeatedly. If an adult immediately shows how to build it, the child may gain a bridge but lose the investigation. Waiting a little longer may allow them to notice that the base is narrow. A useful intervention might be to place wider blocks nearby and ask, “What could make the bottom stronger?” This protects challenge while offering a route forward.

There are times when direct teaching is the right choice. Children may need to learn how to use scissors safely, handle a magnifying glass, care for living things or record a simple tally. The key is to teach the skill clearly, then return it to children as a tool for their own inquiry.

Create an Environment That Invites Questions

Children cannot investigate deeply if resources are inaccessible, scarce or so carefully arranged that they seem untouchable. Offer real, varied materials that can be combined in different ways: loose parts, natural objects, clay, water tools, blocks, fabric, measuring tools, books and mark-making materials.

The environment need not be expensive. Recycled containers, local leaves and seeds, household utensils, stones, cardboard and simple torches can generate rich investigation. What matters is how materials are presented and whether children have enough time to return to them.

Outdoor spaces are especially valuable because they provide change, movement and real-world complexity. Puddles, shadows, soil, insects and wind invite questions that no adult needs to invent. Indoor and outdoor learning can connect too. A child who notices snails outside may later create a habitat from clay, dictate a story or compare shell patterns with friends.

Build a Culture Where Ideas Can Change

Inquiry flourishes when children know they do not need to be right first time. Celebrate phrases such as “I changed my mind”, “Let’s try another way” and “I noticed something different”. These are signs of growing understanding, not uncertainty to be rushed past.

This culture begins with the adults. When educators share curiosity, listen carefully and treat children’s theories with respect, children learn that their voices matter. Teaching inquiry through play is not about producing a perfect activity. It is about creating a classroom where children can wonder, investigate and become increasingly confident in the possibilities of their own thinking.

Start with one carefully chosen provocation this week, then give yourself permission to follow where the children lead. Their questions may take the learning somewhere more meaningful than any plan could predict.