How to Identify and Support Your Child’s Learning Style

Have you ever noticed that your child seems to grasp something instantly when they can touch it, yet loses interest when it is only explained? Or perhaps they remember every word of a song after hearing it just once? Every child is unique, and noticing how yours engages with the world is one of the most rewarding parts of parenthood.

These early observations matter. The first five years are a time of extraordinary brain development, and the experiences children have now shape how they think, communicate, and approach new challenges for years to come. When you understand what captures your child’s attention, you can offer experiences that build their confidence and make learning feel like play.

You may have come across the idea of “learning styles”: the belief that every child is a visual, auditory, or kinaesthetic learner. It is a popular idea, and paying attention to your child’s preferences can be genuinely useful. But the research tells a more interesting story, and understanding it can help you support your child even better.

What Are Learning Styles?

The idea of learning styles became popular in the 1970s and 1980s, and one of the best-known models, VARK, was developed by New Zealand educator Neil Fleming in 1987. The most common version groups learners into three types:

• Visual: Learning through seeing. Visual learners are said to respond best to pictures, colours, shapes, and demonstrations, and often remember faces and places in detail.
• Auditory: Learning through hearing. These children are said to learn best through stories, songs, rhymes, and conversation, and often love to talk things through.
• Kinaesthetic: Learning through doing. These children are said to need to touch, build, move, and explore to make sense of new ideas.

Some versions add a fourth style, reading and writing, which is more relevant to older children and adults.

It is easy to see why the idea is so appealing. Most of us can recognise ourselves or our children in at least one of these descriptions, and it offers a simple, tidy way to explain why different people learn in different ways. However, simple ideas do not always tell the full story.

What Does the Research Say?

Here is the important bit. Children certainly have preferences, but there is little evidence that they learn better when taught only in their “preferred” style. A well-known 2008 review led by psychologist Harold Pashler found no reliable support for matching teaching to a learning style, and many education researchers now consider the idea a myth.

Part of the reason is that the best way to learn something often depends on what is being learned, not who is learning it. Nobody learns to recognise birdsong by looking at a picture, and nobody learns to ride a bike by listening to instructions. Children need to use whichever senses suit the task in front of them.

What the evidence does support is multi-sensory learning. Young children learn best when they can see, hear, touch, and move, and when activities connect to the things they already love. A child who listens to a story about the seaside, looks at photos of shells, and then explores real shells in a sand tray will understand far more than a child who only does one of those things.

Multi-sensory experiences give children several ways to make sense of a new idea at once. Hearing the word “rough” while running their fingers over tree bark, for example, links the sound of the word to a real feeling and helps it stick.

So rather than labelling your child as one type of learner, think of their preferences as a window into what excites them, and a starting point for offering rich, varied experiences.

Look Out for Play Schemas

If learning styles are not the answer, what can help you understand how your child learns? Many early years practitioners look for schemas: repeated patterns of behaviour that children use to explore and make sense of the world. The idea grew from the work of early years researcher Chris Athey, and it is widely used in nurseries across the UK.

You may notice your child repeating patterns such as:

• Transporting: Carrying objects from one place to another, often in bags, buckets, or toy prams.
• Enveloping: Wrapping toys in blankets, hiding under covers, or covering a whole page in paint.
• Trajectory: Throwing, dropping, or kicking things, and watching objects fall and roll.
• Rotation: A fascination with wheels, spinning, and anything that goes round and round.
• Connecting: Joining things together, such as train tracks, construction pieces, or lengths of string.

Schemas are a normal, healthy part of development. Rather than trying to stop a repeated behaviour such as throwing, you can offer safe ways to explore it, like throwing soft balls into a basket. This turns your child’s natural urges into rich learning opportunities.

Spotting Your Child’s Preferences and Interests

The best way to understand how your child learns is simply to watch them during everyday play. Try to notice not just what they do, but how they do it. Here are some of the clues you might spot:

• Looking and Watching: Some children love poring over picture books, notice tiny details others miss, and enjoy puzzles and drawing. They may like to watch you carefully before having a go themselves.
• Listening and Talking: Others remember songs and rhymes after hearing them once, chat away as they play, and ask endless “why” questions.
• Moving and Doing: Many young children need to touch everything, can’t wait to have a go, and are always on the move. For them, understanding often comes through their hands and bodies.

Most children show a mix of all three, and their preferences often change from day to day and as they grow. A child who races around the park may happily curl up for a story at bedtime. It is also worth noticing:

• What they choose to do when given free time.
• How they approach a tricky problem, such as a puzzle piece that won’t fit.
• What holds their attention for longest, and what makes them lose interest.
• Which activities they return to again and again, and which make them proudest.

These clues tell you far more about your child than any single label could. Over time, they reveal their passions, their strengths, and the areas where a little extra encouragement could help.

Supporting Your Child’s Learning at Home

The most effective support combines the senses and follows your child’s interests. If your child loves dinosaurs, you might read a dinosaur story together, sing a dinosaur song, count toy dinosaurs, and press dinosaur footprints into playdough. Here are some simple ideas to try:

• Read Together Every Day: Shared reading builds vocabulary and concentration. Use expressive voices and let your child turn the pages and point to the pictures. Find out how daily story time shapes confident, curious children.
• Sing and Make Music: Songs, rhymes, and simple instruments support memory, language, and coordination, as we explore in the benefits of music in the early years.
• Get Hands-On: Sand, water, dough, and natural materials let children explore with all their senses, which is exactly why sensory play is vital for your child. Try not to worry about the mess: the magic of messy play is that it lets children experiment freely.
• Talk About What You’re Doing: Narrating everyday tasks, asking open questions, and listening carefully to the answers all reflect our approach to speech and language development.
• Make Learning Practical: Counting stairs, sorting socks, or measuring ingredients while baking help to build a love for maths in the early years, while playdough, pegs, and threading strengthen the small muscles needed for pre-writing skills.
• Wonder Together: Ask “what do you think will happen if…?” while playing with water, ice, or magnets. Simple questions like these nurture the same curiosity we encourage when we spark curiosity with early STEM and science experiments.
• Let Them Take Safe Risks: Climbing, balancing, and trying new things build confidence and problem-solving skills, which is why we champion positive risk-taking.
• Balance Screen Time: Screens rarely engage more than one or two senses, so aim for plenty of real-world play alongside them. Our guide to a balanced approach to screen time for under 5s offers practical advice.

You don’t need expensive toys or a packed schedule. Everyday moments, such as bath time, a walk to the shops, or helping to tidy up, are full of chances to learn. For more inspiration, explore our home learning ideas.

Above all, keep it playful. Celebrate effort and curiosity rather than results, and let your child take the lead.

How We Support Every Learner at Thrive

At Thrive, we know every child is unique, so our curriculum is built around each child’s interests, strengths, and stage of development, rather than a single learning style.

Every child has a dedicated Key Person who gets to know them deeply. The role of the Key Person is central to how we observe each child, notice what sparks their curiosity, and plan their next steps around it. Skilled observation is something we invest in heavily, as part of our commitment to staff training and professional development.

Our practitioners follow a continuous cycle of observing, reflecting, and planning. They notice what a child is interested in, think about what this tells us about their development, and then plan experiences that build on it. If a child is fascinated by puddles, for example, we might add measuring jugs to the water tray, share a story about rain, and head outside in wellies to explore.

Our playrooms and gardens are carefully designed to offer something for every child, and you will see multi-sensory learning in action every day:

• Child-led, play-based learning, where children explore and experiment at their own pace.
• Open-ended loose parts that children can build with, sort, and transform in endless ways.
• Picture timetables, songs, and familiar rhythms that show how predictable days help children thrive.
• Rich language, stories, and conversation that nurture early literacy and communication skills.
• Cosy spaces for quieter moments, alongside open areas for children who need to move.

Because every child is different, we also adapt our support for children who need it, whether that means extra help with communication, a calm space to settle, or more opportunities to be active. Our goal is for every child to feel understood, engaged, and confident in the way they learn.

Learning Together

You know your child better than anyone, and your insights are invaluable. We share regular observations with you, both in person and through the Parentzone app, and we love hearing about what your child enjoys at home. This parent partnership means we can build on their interests in both places.

There are lots of simple ways to share what you notice:

• Tell your child’s Key Person about new interests, words, or skills you have spotted at home.
• Share photos or videos of special moments through Parentzone.
• Let us know about any changes at home, such as a new sibling or a house move, that might affect how your child is feeling.
• Ask what your child has enjoyed at nursery, so you can extend it at home.

Our guide to making the most of your next review meeting offers practical tips for these conversations, including the questions worth asking.

Understanding how your child learns is not about finding the right label. It is about discovering what makes them light up, and offering a world of experiences that helps them flourish.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the main learning styles?

The most common model describes three: visual (seeing), auditory (hearing), and kinaesthetic (doing). Some versions add a fourth, reading and writing, and together these are known as the VARK model.

Are learning styles real?

Children do have preferences, but research has found little evidence that teaching to one preferred style improves learning. Multi-sensory activities that follow a child’s interests are far more effective.

How can I tell how my child learns best?

Watch what your child chooses to do during free play, how they tackle new challenges, and what holds their attention for longest. Their Key Person at nursery can also share what they notice.

How can I support my child’s learning at home?

Keep it playful and varied. Read together, sing songs, offer hands-on materials such as sand, water, and dough, and build activities around the things your child already loves.

Should I worry if my child seems to prefer one way of learning?

Not at all. Preferences are completely normal and often change as children grow. Simply keep offering a wide variety of experiences, and use what your child loves as a way in to new activities.

Does Thrive assess children’s learning styles?

We don’t label children by learning style. Instead, our practitioners observe each child’s interests, play patterns, and development, and use this to plan rich, multi-sensory experiences that suit them.