Creating a stimulating environment for children with motoric talent in kindergarten
Paper

Presenter(s): Mina Pišljar
Author(s): Mina Pišljar

With enrolling in kindergarten, children are confronted with a secondary environment, which (in addition to wider socialization) offers an expert pedagogical context, where their potentials and talents can be recognized and developed in an optimal way. Undoubtedly, motoric talent also falls under this category. However, because of the evident general motive development, it is often overlooked, although motion and movement of the body in early childhood are crucial for children's cognitive, emotional and social development.
It is important that teachers recognize talented and gifted children early. By creating an encouraging and stimulating environment, offering appropriate motivation and upgrading the program, children can gain the experience and knowledge, that are precisely in this period of development, invaluable and essential for potential further engagement.
In order to achieve this goal, educators must be professionally trained and qualified to recognize talent potentials in the field of motoric motion. In addition to the knowledge of developmental psychology and phases of developmental milestones, further training in the field of sports pedagogy and kinesiology is also crucial. Only thus can talented children be identified and offered a properly organized and focused program through a quality process, which can lead to an optimal development level. Such an approach enables the realization of a balance among various aspects of the child's physical and mental development.
The talent in the motoric field means the ability of children to quickly and accurately master rough and fine motoric skills, their need for accomplishment is much stronger than in others, they strive for perfection and have high productivity motivation, since they have an above average appreciation for any type of motion.
An important part of the child's formative environment is their family, as the first to develop values, beliefs, expectations and behavioural patterns. This is the source of social capital, which is crucial for the child's development of potentials. Cooperation with the children’s parents is an indispensable part of a stimulating environment, so families have to be involved in the process.
For upgrading professional knowledge and successful planning, it is also necessary for a teacher to connect wider, beyond the standard link between kindergartens and families - firstly to the local community and also through various national and international projects that spread good practices and provide insight into the work of others experts.
The creation of an all-encompassing environment is the result of several factors, starting with the professional competence of educators, the successful early recognition of the child's skill and talent, the personal internal and formal external motivation and engagement of the educator to work with the talented, interdisciplinary integration in and outside the educational institution at local, national and international level and successful cooperation with parents and families of gifted children. But to take all this into consideration, we must never forget, that we should not expect too much from our youngest; we must sometimes just monitor their progress from a distance and enable them the full enjoyment of play and spontaneity that comes with being a child.