EYLF Outcome 4 is about children being confident and involved learners by encouraging curiosity, creativity, and active participation. Educators support children in asking questions, exploring their environment, and developing problem-solving skills through hands-on experiences. By providing opportunities for trial and error, reflection, and self-directed learning, children build resilience and independence.
Creative expression through art, music, and imaginative play allows them to explore ideas, while collaboration and communication activities strengthen social skills. Engaging experiences such as exploratory play, investigation stations, and outdoor discovery help children develop a lifelong love of learning, empowering them to become capable and enthusiastic contributors to society. To find out more about this learning outcome and what toys and resources help encourage it, scroll to the bottom of this page.
Children develop dispositions for learning
This outcome is when children express wonder and interest in their environments, and are curious and enthusiastic participants in learning. They are given the opportunity to use play to investigate project and explore ideas and follow & extend their own interests with enthusiasm. Children are encouraged to persist even when they find a task difficult. When they persevere and achieve an outcome, they experience the satisfaction of achievement.
Children develop a range of skills and processes
To achieve this outcome children are encouraged to use thinking strategies to engage with situations, use representation to communicate mathematical ideas and make predictions & generalisations using mathematics. They have the opportunity to explore their environment, manipulate objects, and see the outcome of cause and effect, trial & error and motion, and use reflective thinking to consider why things happen.
Children transfer and adapt what they have learned
This outcome is achieved when children engage with and co-construct learning, mirror the actions of others, make connections between experiences, concepts & processes, use the processes of play, reflection and investigation to solve problems, apply generalisations from one situation to another, try out strategies to solve problems in one situation and transfer knowledge from one setting to another.
Children resource their own learning
This outcome is developed when children engage in learning relationships, use their senses to explore natural and built environments, experience the benefits and pleasures of shared learning exploration, explore the purpose and function of a range of tools, media, sounds and graphics. They are also given the opportunity to manipulate resources to investigate, take apart, assemble, invent and construct, experiment with different technologies, use information and communication technologies (ICT) to investigate and problem solve and explore ideas and theories using imagination, creativity and play.
