Our PreSchool Blog

The toddler class is making the most of our time indoors on these cold days.  We have enjoyed some extra center time, baked, painted, crafted, crawled through an arctic cave and bounced “snowballs” on the parachute!

Sensory play supports language and cognitive growth, fine motor skills, and problem solving skills.  It aids in enhancing memory functioning and  is great for calming.  The sensory tub and discovery bins are popular in our room.  This is truly hands-on learning!

We provide an environment that is safe and interactive.  Learning centers allow children to understand the social world, develop communication skills, and build relationships.  Our classroom is designed as an invitation to play and explore.

Our dramatic play center was converted into a veterinarian office.  The toddlers enjoy pretending to take care of the puppies.  They use new vocabulary, take turns, and get a little puppy snuggle.

Creating is important for the toddlers.  They improve their fine motor skills, experimenting with materials is the foundation for science, and it provides a sense of pride which boosts self confidence.  We often do crafts in small groups which allows for instruction and discussion of shapes, colors, letters, counting, and theme vocabulary.

Cooking with children provides practical experience with many skills such as following directions and measuring.  It helps toddlers develop fine motor skills, eye hand coordination and even early concepts of math and science.  We make chocolate chip muffins when talking about the letter M then oatmeal cookies when focusing on the letter O.  The toddlers also tasted chicken soup with rice after reading the book by Maurice Sendak.  Fun process – yummy product!

Large motor skills helps children gain strength and confidence in his/her body.  It also helps them to get exercise and physical activity, which is important for a healthy lifestyle.  The toddlers love to play outside but the parachute and tunnel are a special treat!

Celebrating the season with a star print craft.

Star cookie cutters with red playdough enforce our shape and color of the month.

Practice matching colors with holiday bows and trees.

J is for jingle bells.

K is for kiss under the mistletoe.

Holiday themed centers provide an opportunity to engage the toddlers in pretend play, sharing, and fine motor skills.

More crafts of holiday fun.

During circle time we discussed our favorite things about Christmas.  The toddlers placed their picture under their favorite thing.

Our pretend veterinary office has provided fun interaction and vocabulary.  The children love to pretend to take care of and feed the animals.

We create centers for sorting, exploring and sharing.  The month of January has been packed full of fun center exploration.

The kids are having fun exploring our new holiday centers in preschool prep!

Exploring classroom centers is some of our students favorite time of day!  We change the centers once a month, and the children are so excited to explore all the new activities and experiences each month.  Learning centers are an important part of preschool.  Learning centers are defined areas with activities, within a classroom, where children can explore and learn with hands-on materials. Learning centers allow for independently guided play with peers, social interactions and problem solving practice.  Research shows that young children learn best through active, hands-on play; learning centers engage children and make learning fun. Children manipulate materials, explore ideas, discover consequences, build, create and express themselves through art. To parents it may look like children are “just playing,” but this is play with a purpose. Through carefully planned learning centers, children learn important concepts and life skills in ways that are meaningful to them.

Notice the “snow” that’s EVERYWHERE?  It’s the favorite new center for January…the Antarctic habitat in the sensory table.  It may be everywhere…messy is the most fun!

Open-ended center exploration time is an important part of early childhood education.  Children are allowed to make their own decisions.  It might seem pretty basic to us, as adults, but it’s incredibly important to young children.  It gives them more ownership over their learning experiences.

Open-ended play also allows children to express themselves in play freely and creatively, not bound by preset limitations. Playing with open-ended materials with multiple uses and limitless possibilities, such as molding clay, wet sand, paint, blocks and other loose parts, allow for imaginative play. There are no rules to follow, no expectations, no specific problems to solve, and no pressure to produce a finished product when engaging freely in open-ended play.

Let’s Do It Again … and Again … and Again …
Through repetition, toddlers figure out how things fit together and work. They might fill and dump a pail over and over to learn about full and empty and in and out. They may want you to read the same book, and sing the same song, night after night. This kind of repetition helps children know what to expect. This gives them a sense of security and control over their world. It also helps them master new skills, which boosts their self-confidence.

Source: The Power of Play

Our first week in Preschool Prep has been a blast! We have been learning our way around the classroom, playing with new centers and meeting new friends!

We have new centers for the month of April! They are based on our farm habitat theme. The students are having fun exploring them!