How to create learning from everyday moments: one simple formula

Want to know the formula for how to create learning from the everyday moments of life?

It’s called the Powerful Interactions Framework.

Because the daily interactions you have with your child are the foundation for all learning.

How to create learning from everyday moments

Small, everyday moments provide opportunities for the most powerful learning in your child’s life. These normal, seemingly mundane things teach life skills and academics alike. The key to these moments turning into a powerful learning experience is how you respond in the moment. The formula for creating learning out of small and simple moments is called the Powerful Interactions Framework. This formula has three simple steps:

1. Be present
2. Connect
3. Extend learning

Reminder: I said simple, not necessarily easy steps. 

So let’s break this down.

Step #1: Be present

In order for you to create rich learning from an experience, you need to be there both physically and mentally. 

“Fully being with your child, wanting nothing, is quality time.”

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The first part of this is physically being with your kids. Bringing them with you, and letting them be a part of your life. This looks like kids sitting on the counter while you make breakfast, a line of work boots by the back door, or taking 3x as long to clean up the living room because you have some helping hands. A lot of the time, we don’t have a choice but to have our kids with us all the time. Which is amazing- especially when you can set yourself up for success with your mindset. 

The second part of this is being mentally present. This one is the hardest one for me! But I think that being present is a skill that can be built, like a muscle. These are the things I have been practicing to build the skill of being present:

• Turning on a timer for 5 minutes and not looking at my phone for that time. Then building my phone free time from there. 
• Breath work
• Meditation
• Mindset work
• Setting my phone up to take a time lapse of us working or playing together- this works really well to help keep me off my phone. 

Step #2: Connect

All learning happens within the context of our relationships. So the connection you are building with your child is setting a strong foundation for their learning throughout life. 

Connection ideas:

• Read a story together
• Ask them about what they are doing
• Physical touch: rub their back, high five, give a hug, etc,
• Say “I love you”
• Build something together
• Get on their level to play together
• Watch a movie together (and don’t be on your phone the whole time)
• Let them help with a big project you are working on
• Smile at each other

Step #3: Extend Learning

This is where the teaching part comes in. By using simple strategies, you can turn a simple observation into a rich discovery or a mutual experience into an in depth learning project. 

Here’s a sneak peek at some of the strategies I teach in my Early Childhood 101 course:

• Acknowledge and Encourage your child’s efforts
• Demonstrate how to do something
• Give Quality Feedback
• Link the new to the familiar
• Use a rich vocabulary
• Use Intentional modeling
• Teach helpful or appropriate behavior
• Give signals or cues for appropriate behavior
• Give quality feedback

Learn more about these, and many more strategies in my early childhood 101 course. 

The beautiful thing about being the mom is you get to evaluate each situation and determine the best strategy for extending learning at that moment. No one knows better than you what your child needs. 

Learning doesn’t just happen at a desk or in a workbook. Learning is happening all around us, all the time. You have the power to magnify this learning, creating a truly magical childhood for your precious babies. This formula helps break down how to do this in three simple steps. Remember: presence, connection, and extending learning. Now you know how to create learning form everyday moments. You got this momma!