Each morning, as I walk along the shoreline in San Diego with my toddler, we notice together how the tide quietly reshapes the sand.
What was there yesterday is reimagined overnight — a pattern altered, a shell revealed, a pool deepened.
The rhythm of the waves mirrors something profound about how young children learn. They, too, return again and again to familiar places, materials, and ideas, leaving new imprints each time.
These returns are what we call revisiting journeys — cycles of reflection, exploration, and transformation that lie at the heart of early childhood education.
“Each revisit builds new connections, reshapes understanding, and strengthens identity.”
In our work, Miriam and I describe revisiting journeys as more than repetition or review. They are living inquiries — children’s self-chosen returns to a concept or experience that continues to hold meaning.
Each journey is where curiosity deepens, relationships flourish, and the community of learners comes alive.
The Many Faces of Revisiting
During our research, we identified a rich variety of revisiting journeys that children naturally engage in.
Each one reveals a different way of making sense of the world:
- Learning through curiosity – when children re-examine a material or question simply because they need to know more.
- Technological exploration – when they design, test, and reimagine their constructions, learning through problem-solving.
- Replication and representation – when they imitate, replay, or retell, using repetition as a tool for mastery and expression.
- Learning through collaboration, democracy, and negotiation – when revisiting becomes social; children listen, debate, and build collective meaning.
- Learning through nature and art – when they return to natural spaces or creative materials, finding new stories and new beauty in familiar things.
“Revisiting is not a single moment—it’s an unfolding process.”
The Gift of Time and Space
Our education systems often move too quickly.
But children’s thinking doesn’t follow a timetable—it follows curiosity.
To allow revisiting journeys to flourish, we must slow down, create space, and invite children to return.
Depth over speed — Revisiting offers time to live with an idea. True learning grows in these moments of return, not in the rush to move on.
Messiness as meaning — Learning is iterative, nonlinear, and beautifully complex. Through revisiting, children learn to embrace uncertainty.
Agency through freedom — Revisiting empowers children to choose how to return, what to change, and when to move on.
Belonging through community — Revisiting is social. It’s how children build relationships, share ideas, and find their place in a community that listens.
Revisiting as a Forge for Life Skills
When children revisit experiences with curiosity and persistence, they cultivate skills that extend far beyond the classroom.
Collaboration – Strengthened through dialogue, empathy, and shared creation.
Critical Thinking & Problem-Solving – Built as children test, reflect, and refine ideas.
Metacognition & Self-Regulation – Developed as they think about their thinking and learn to persist through challenge.
Identity & Agency – Deepened as they see themselves as capable thinkers and creators of meaning.
A Glimpse of Revisiting in Action
Imagine a group of preschoolers building “a neighborhood” from clay and natural materials.
First, they explore shapes and textures — rolling, pressing, stacking.
Next week, they return to add roads and rivers, testing what holds and what collapses.
Later, they debate where to place homes and parks, negotiating boundaries and fairness.
A few weeks later, they revisit again — adding families, writing signs, connecting the work to their own communities.
What began as tactile play becomes a dialogue about belonging, empathy, and justice.
And the educator? They listen deeply, pose questions, add materials, and document the children’s evolving ideas.
“Revisiting transforms play into inquiry, and inquiry into community.”
Designing Ecosystems for Revisiting
To nurture revisiting journeys, educators must become architects of responsive play ecosystems — spaces where children’s ideas are honored and revisiting is expected.
- Observe with intention.
- Provide continuity — keep long-term projects visible.
- Expand affordances with new materials and provocations.
- Document visibly — make learning visible to children and families.
- Foster democratic dialogue — invite multiple voices into shared decision-making.
When we design for revisiting, we say to children:
“Your ideas are worthy of time. Your questions are welcome here.”
Closing Reflection
The ocean is never the same twice.
Each wave returns, reshaped by wind and tide, yet belonging to a pattern older than memory.
Children’s revisiting journeys are like these waves — constant, dynamic, and transformative.
When we allow children the time and space to revisit, we gift them not only knowledge but also the ability to collaborate, to think critically, and to navigate the complexities of being human within a community.
“Revisiting is not a luxury—it’s the rhythm of authentic learning.”
I invite you: notice where children return. What captures their hearts again and again?
Document it. Nurture it. Chronicle it. Share it.
Read the book: Revisiting Journeys: Understand How Children Reflect, Reimagine and Redesign Learning by Miriam Beloglovsky and Jessica Frazier. Published by Redleaf Press
