Introduction As adults, we tend to think about time in terms of chronology. Time is linear and ordered. The past stretches into the distance in one direction, the future into the other, and the present sits in the middle. We understand that the past can be recent (yesterday) or long ago (1066). But even as adults our concept of time is subjective – our idea of what was a long time ago or what age a person could be described as 'old' is dependent partly on our own age and experience (Hilary Cooper, 2002). Young children are only just beginning to fathom the way we order time. They live in the world of here and now, where yesterday could mean last week and tomorrow could be next year. How, then, do we explore 'long ago' with early years children when their understanding of chronology is still a work in progress? Some researchers believe that having a concept of linear time is not important in relation to learning about the past: 'Lello (1980) argued that a grasp of chronology and the fixing of events in context and time are not synonymous with developing an understanding of past times' (Cooper, 2002, p.18). This makes sense if you think about the learning that can arise from making a castle out of boxes, or pretending to cook on a fire because there isn't an electric cooker, or weighing sweets and wrapping them in paper in an old fashioned shop. The children's ideas of exactly when 'a long time ago' was will not affect the way they explore these activities. Other writers on this subject have suggested that learning about past times actually supports young children's understanding of the present: 'Poster (1973) and West (1981) argued that children learn most about their own time and their own place by being confronted with stark comparisons, with dramatically different times and places, which can clearly be contrasted with their own experiences' (Cooper, 2002, p.140). What is clear is that exploring the past can happen alongside an emerging understanding of time. What does time mean to young children? It may be useful for early years practitioners to reflect on children's concept of time when they are planning to introduce the idea of the past and long ago. Susan A Miller writes that 'toddlers and two year olds have all the time in the world. Adults never have enough' (2006). Young children don't see the passing of time in the way that adults, out of necessity, do. Learning about their past happens at the same time as learning about their present and their future, but it is the moment right now that will be most important and most relevant to them. Ellen Booth Church explains that children begin to understand 'before' and 'after' as they themselves live through time and see occasions in their own lives come and go: 'A sense of time is gained gradually during the process of living through time spans marked by events' (2006). These events, whether a visit from Grandma, a birthday, or the weekly cooking session at nursery, are landmarks which children use to map out the passing of time. They are concrete things that have already happened, and this may explain why some research has shown that young children talk more easily about the past than about the future (Hudson, 2006, in McColgan and McCormack). Events in the future haven't happened yet and are therefore less real to a child. Cooper makes the point that a child's idea of the past will be affected by who they live with and how long they have been in one place: 'Awareness of past times depends, too, on the family unit and on where the children live and how long they have lived there' (2002, p.10). A child who has a grandparent living with them may well be used to talking about things that happened longer ago. A child who has moved around a lot in their short life might struggle to use those basic markers of birthdays or regular nursery cooking sessions without the anchor of a stable place. How do practitioners help children understand about the passing of time? Family Stories Young children grasp ideas about time when learning opportunities are relevant to their own lives. Ann Henderson writes that 'each child is rooted in the history of a family. Exploring this aspect of children's lives can set their present day experience against the background of succeeding generations' (p.7). Many settings will share and sequence pictures of the children as babies and at other stages of their lives and this is a good starting point for talking about the passing of time. This can be extended to looking at pictures of their parents or grandparents as children. Young children might remember toys that they played with as a baby. They could then look at toys they play with now, and perhaps a practitioner or parent could bring in a toy that they played with as a child. Or the children may be interested in the clothes that they wear compared with those their parents wore. These kinds of activities meet the EYFS guidance that children should 'find out about past and present events in their own lives, and in those of their families and other people they know' (p.84). Everyday Life Mapping out the passing of time in children's everyday lives can make time more tangible for them. Moveable pictures of the daily routine at a setting allow children to arrange their day and talk about 'before' snack time or 'after' story time. Special events such as birthdays, a festival or a trip to the park can be celebrated and reviewed by looking at photographs and remembering together. Then there are the changes to their environment that demonstrate the passing of longer periods of time: the seasons, progress on a building site, new shop window displays for different times of the year, the growth of a seed (Henderson). Making Comparisons Artefacts from the past provide opportunities to talk about similarities and differences, old and new, then and now, and to join in sorting and comparing activities. These do not have to be extremely old to engage the children. A broom and a vacuum cleaner, an electric iron and a metal hand iron or even a video and a DVD will all stimulate discussion about how people did things then and how we do them now. Time Talk Any activity or discussion based on patterns of change over time will provide children and practitioners with the opportunity to 'use time related words in conversation' (EYFS guidance, p.84). Vocabulary about time can refer to things that have just happened or are just about to happen (last week, yesterday, tomorrow, soon, recently, next time, now, later, before tea, after nap time) or to things that are further away in the past or future (last year, long ago, once, used to, next birthday, remember when). Cooper believes that it is vital to engage children in this kind of time talk because 'language is the tool for unlocking the past' (2002, p.17). Using stories to access the past So far we have looked at how children build up an idea of the passing of time in their own lives and the lives of those around them. But it is not such a great leap to get to 'long ago'. Story telling has always been a way of handing the past forward to subsequent generations, and stories can be an inspiring way to engage young children with the past. Cooper explains that from an early age children listen to traditional nursery rhymes which introduce a host of people and artefacts from past times: 'They learn about bakers and pipers and chimney sweeps. And they are introduced to the vocabulary of other times: looking-glass, Sabbath, scholar, parlour' (2002, p.15). She shows how fairy stories also allow children to step into the past through their backdrops of castles, cottages and balls, and their cast of woodcutters, coachmen, maids and princes: 'through such stories children learn that some things were different long ago and that others remain the same' (2004, p.6). Cooper stresses the importance of explaining specific vocabulary to young children, such as what a 'tailor' did or what a 'kingdom' was. In this way, stories and rhymes offer opportunities to talk about then and now – where do we go to buy our clothes now, would you like to have your clothes made by a tailor, do we still have kingdoms? Like history, a single fairy story can be told in different ways. Young children may express an interest in comparing different books all telling the same story. This introduces them to the idea that there can be different interpretations of a story, and of past events. Role playing the past Just as stories are a way of opening the door to past times, play is a way of going through the door and taking part in times long ago. Children are often naturally interested in people and things from the past. Dressing up as pirates, setting up a small world castle or creating a dinosaur swamp all offer opportunities to explore different kinds of 'long ago'. Through their imaginations and some basic props, young children are able to recreate the past, as Cooper writes: 'They are able to exist in two worlds, the real and the imaginary, at the same time, by creating symbols which are the pivot between the two worlds; a table may become a cave or a horse' (2002, p. 26). This kind of imaginative play is at its richest when it is supported by other learning experiences about the subject. Children who have already been exploring steam trains through stories, pictures, artefacts and small world resources will bring this knowledge to their play as they build a steam train with big blocks outside, perhaps discussing how hot it would be in the driver's cab, finding a shovel and deciding what to use as coal or what to wear. Following children's interests, asking open-ended questions and sustained shared thinking will extend children's learning about the past as they play. Cooper points out that during their play children are practising being historians: 'In play children can make inferences about behaviour, consider alternatives and probability, and use different tenses and complex sentences related to causes and effects. Such language is essential in the development of historical thinking' (2002, p.26). She suggests making a Stone Age shelter outside, working out how to make twig tools to eat with or how to build a roof, or creating a 1930's shop complete with scales, an old fashioned till, paper bags and wicker baskets, and greaseproof paper for packaging. These ideas show how role play about the past can involve all areas of learning – problem solving, numeracy, language and communication, creativity and physical development. Giving young children a sense of the past involves both an evolving understanding of time in their own lives and an exploration of what it was like in other times and other lives. Introducing a sense of the past in the early years can be done using the skills, methods and resources that are already used by practitioners. References History in the Early Years, 2nd Edition, Hilary Cooper, Routledge/Falmer, London, 2002 Exploring Time and Place Through Play, ed. by Hilary Cooper, David Fulton Publishers Ltd, 2004 Ages and Stages: How children develop a sense of time, Carla Poole, Susan A Miller, Ellen Booth Church, 2006, www.scholastic.com Searching and Planning: Young Children's Reasoning About Past and Future Event Sequences, Kerry L. McColgan, Teresa McCormack, www.srcd.org/journals Time and Place Through Play, Ann Henderson, Pre-school Learning Alliance, London Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage, DfES
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