Will it fit? She doesn’t know. A squash and a squeeze. A twist and a shove. A furrowed brow.
All of a sudden, with a final push, it drops in.
A few months later, now a toddler, she crawls into a box. Can I get the whole of my body inside? she seems to wonder. She pulls in her last limb victoriously, beaming with delight.
You might have noticed that some of your child’s games are repetitive. This is schema play, a force that drives much of a child’s development in the early years.
Schemas are mental models of how things work. You can have a schema about how things connect, move or turn, for example.
Your schemas will be wrong – it’s impossible to understand big ideas first time. So you try and try again, until you work it out.
This is why play seems repetitive.
So what kind of schema is involved when a child fills boxes or climbs into openings?
The containing schema.
It’s the filling pockets schema, the putting-all-your-toys-in-a-backpack-and-carrying-them-around schema.
And it’s lots of fun.
Filling things up helps children to understand the concept of space. They learn about sizes, shapes, and the properties of containers and the objects they can hold. It’s a masterclass in learning to problem solve.
Toys like nesting boxes, baskets, trolleys, pots and pans, and any containers with lids can be excellent for supporting this schema. Activities such as playing with sand and water, using measuring cups, and even simple games like ‘hide and seek’ can be beneficial.
Using items like plastic bowls, empty cardboard boxes, and Tupperware can be great for containing play. Just ensure they are safe and supervise the play.
The enveloping schema involves a child wanting to cover an object or themselves completely, like wrapping a doll in a blanket. Containing, on the other hand, involves placing objects inside something else, like putting toys inside a box.
By understanding and supporting your child through the containing schema and other schemas, you are playing an active role in their cognitive development. Remember to keep the environment safe and let your child explore at their own pace.
The containing schema is inherently linked to early mathematical learning.
When children experiment with different-sized containers and start to recognise which objects can fit inside and which cannot they begin to understand measurement, capacity, and volume.
How many blocks will fit into this basket? Is this ball too big to fit into the tube? These questions are of great interest to a child exploring the containing schema and they demand confident spatial reasoning. This will later be crucial in geometry and everyday problem-solving.
The containing schema naturally involves counting. A child may count how many items they can fit into a container or compare the number of items in two different containers. This reinforces their counting skills and introduces them to the concept of quantity.
Often, children will not just throw any objects into containers. They might start sorting them by attributes such as colour, size, or shape before placing them inside. Sorting later leads to understanding of sets and patterns.
A more advanced aspect of mathematical learning through the containing schema involves prediction and estimation. For example, a child might guess how many teddy bears will fit in a basket, and then test their prediction.
Words like “more”, “less”, “big”, “small”, “inside”, “outside”, “full”, and “empty” don’t sound especially mathematical but they are essential concepts to master before school begins.
Your child exploring the containing schema is fascinated by the idea of placing objects into containers and taking them out. They are intrigued by what can fit into spaces, containers, or enclosures and may repeatedly engage in activities that involve this concept. Here are some examples of games and activities your child might enjoy:
Containing is often considered part of enveloping but there are subtle differences.
The focus is on enclosing an object entirely, so that it is hidden or enveloped by something else, often wrapped or covered in some way . Children engaging in enveloping behaviours might:
The enveloping schema helps children to understand concepts such as object permanence (knowing an object still exists even if it’s hidden) and the properties of materials that can be used to enclose or cover other objects.
The containing schema, on the other hand, involves a child’s fascination with placing objects into containers and exploring the space inside. In this schema, the focus is not on hiding the object but on seeing how objects fit into different spaces. Children engaging in containing behaviours might:
The containing schema helps children to explore spatial relationships, understand the properties of containers, and learn about concepts like in, out, full, and empty.
This phase of development is brimming with opportunities for learning. As parents, being aware of your child’s schema play can help you to foster an environment that is not only engaging but enriching.
You can support your child by providing them with materials and toys that stimulate their curiosity in containing. Being mindful of safety, everyday items like pots, containers, and boxes can be incredible assets for play.
Talk with your child about what they are doing, introduce them to words that explain their actions and relate to space, size, and number. For example, use words like “inside”, “big”, “small”, “more”, or “fewer”. This enhances their language skills and conceptual understanding.
Remember, it’s not about steering your child in a particular direction, but rather giving them the space and tools to explore the containing schema on their own terms. Encourage creativity, be open to their experiments, and most importantly, have fun alongside them.
I'm Alexis, father of four and founder of One Hundred Toys, Get Set Five, A Year With My Child and Play with Purpose. I taught in London primary schools for thirteen years, specialising in the early years. I studied at the Institute of Education, part of the University of London, both for my PGCE and my as-yet-unfinished masters. I'm especially interested in schemas and how they help us understand the motivations behind toddlers' play.
