The Importance of Play at Preschool

Earlier this week we discussed the importance of play to a child’s development. We also discussed the progression of how children develop important skills though play. Here are some more benefits of play and what to look for in a preschool setting that fosters learning through play.

What to look for in preschool play spaces

* Do children seem engaged and happy?

* Do the children have choices for types of play?

* Is there an organizational system such as shelving, labeled containers, or cubbies?

* Are areas clearly distinguished for different interests like dressing up, art, etc.?

* Is there an outdoor play space, with barriers on all sides, kid-safe landscaping, and a soft surface under the play structure?

* Are toys clean, in good shape, and set up for play? They should be inviting to kids, but too many toys can be overwhelming?

Benefits of play
1. Play fosters social development

Children ages 4 to 5 are unable to think beyond their needs. Play allows them to work with others, developing awareness of other children around them. The preschool setting provides a great environment for kids to learn about how to solve problems and communicate with others.

2. Play helps with physical and motor development.

Perceptual-motor ability, or the capacity to coordinate what you perceive with how you move, is an essential skill that preschoolers. A three-year-old who is playing in the sand box digging, scooping, and pouring sand into a container must learn how to match his or her perception of the space in front of them with actual hand movements, this type of activity is essential in developing strong motor skills.

3. Play facilitates cognitive learning.

Play is vital to developing real cognitive skills and concepts through enjoyable, real, concrete, and meaningful activities. For example, a child is able to comprehend that 3 + 2 = 5 means ‘putting together’ his toy blocks by stacking them. By keeping track of a score in a soccer game, the child is demonstrating a cognitive understanding of numbers.

4. Play enhances language development.

Children build language skills through cooperative play. Children often talk to themselves while playing alone. Soon other children playing nearby begin to repeat what they hear and eventually they start talking to each other. This develops into back-and-forth conversation during play that becomes increasingly sophisticated by age.



Sources: http://www.articlecity.com

http://www.greatschools.org

Developing Reading Skills in Young Children

Developing early reading skills plays an important role in laying the groundwork for independent reading in the future. You can help your young child develop these skills in everyday life, where ever you are, shopping, at the playground or at the doctor’s office.

Reading Together is one of the most important things you can do with your child. Reading stories with your child, if only for 10 minutes a day, helps to capture your child's interest in books. Even babies enjoy looking and listening to books.
Here are a few tips on how to help children develop good reading skills at an early age:

1. Teaching Direction
Use your finger to run across the words and guide your child's finger as you read. This will help them understand that the writing moves left to right.

2. Letters
Children need to make the connection between the letter, its name and the sound it makes like “b” makes the sound "buh". Children can gain a familiarity with the alphabet and the sounds they represent at a fairly young age.

3. Language skills
Children can begin to understand the connection between spoken and written word at a young age. Teaching word recognition at a young age can help with reading comprehension at the later stage of learning and reading. Have them listen to and tell stories.

4. Rhyming
Dr. Seuss and other rhyming books are loved by children and they teach kids that words and sentence often have a natural rhythm.

It may seem challenging to teach children reading skills at an early age; however, it will all be worth it. Early intervention in reading prevents future problems

Learning through Play - Part II

What makes play good or good play at Goddard Schools ?

Experts agree that play creates a successful experience for children of any age, learning anything if the following four elements are in place:

1) Atmosphere,
2) Materials,
3) Adult intervention and
4) Regard for individual differences.

The Goddard School atmosphere provides these four aspects within a relaxed sense of anticipation and freedom – freedom from evaluation/correction and to perform less than perfectly. It is this freedom that generates the higher levels of sophistication that children more often produce in play than in their lessons.

We Provide an Optimal Learning Environment that is Creative and Fun

An enriched learning environment fosters well-rounded, happy and confident learners. Our extensive resources include the creation of a warm, nurturing environment where children can make many supportable choices, independently explore learning materials and develop socialization skills as they interact with others. Toys and equipment are carefully chosen, first for safety and then for how they stimulate young imaginations and help children develop. Enrichment programs augment the Goddard School’s core curriculum to expose children to the skills necessary to support their active lives, develop positive self-esteem and set the foundation for a healthy lifestyle. These programs include sign language, yoga, fitness, art history, music, sports, world cultures and foreign languages.

Goddard’s Professional, highly-Trained Faculty make the most of every teachable moment.

Our professional educators are intentional in guiding and extending children’s play to ensure key developmental milestones are achieved across the learning domains. Teachers facilitate learning through responsive interactions with children as they learn and have fun! Our teachers skillfully weave in academic and learning objectives as they build upon what the individual children can do and encourage them to try new things.

Our Flex Learning Program gives structure and purpose to play. Ask your current daycare/preschool provider for their curriculum and compare to see the Goddard difference.

Learning Through Play

Play is an important aspect of the Goddard educational experience. We realize how important play is to the development of your children. Below are some excerpts from a paper prepared for Goddard Systems, Inc. by Kyle D. Pruett, M.D, an internationally known child psychiatrist and expert on children, family relationships and fathers. The full paper details how early play-stimulation is critical to central nervous system development in infants and very young children, setting them on a better path for academic success.

Why Play Isn’t Just Play
Extensive research and recent evidence indicates that play is a critical component in the educational experience of infants and toddlers; particularly with early stimulation and its effect on central nervous system development.

Play is the theater for learning, not just entertainment as educators once thought. In fact, it is a significant contributor to intellectual, emotional, language and social development. Without adequate opportunities for play, children can burn out from academic pressure. The following attributes of play are critical to driving emotional development.

1. Play affords the child endless opportunities for R & D [research and development]; to learn from his/her mistakes without having to pay for them
2. Play also benefits children’s physical development and perceptual-motor skills
3. Play promotes autonomy

In addition, when given several opportunities for exercise during the day, kids fidget and fuss less, concentrate more, feel better about themselves and behave considerably better in groups than their passive counterparts. Generally, daily exercise is best, and is shown to help language and social development in particular.

Not Enough Structured Play in Daycare, School and Home Environment

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is sounding alarms about the dramatic reduction in play time afforded children in the daycare, school and home settings.

They note the following:
1) 30,000 schools have recently replaced recess/play/arts/music with academics
2) Over the last 2 decades, children have lost 8 hours of unstructured play time from their week
3) 34% of kindergartens have eliminated recess since 2002

The next blog will detail how play should be included in a curriculum and how Goddard balances play with academics.