With the introduction of OFSTED into the Pre-school arena, we as a playgroup follow the Early Learning Goals curriculum. We encourage and promote maximum learning through play and fun. The following list of activities, which will be provided during your child’s stay with us, will inform you of how we intend to reach these goals:
Home Corner-Role Play
Children love to dress up and pretend. The home corner provides the scope to do this. They can use this as an opportunity to act out their own experiences and home life, and involve others in their fun. We regularly change the home corner -transforming it into a shop, restaurant, post office, library etc., to give the children a variety of situations to be imaginative in. This helps them to build and expand their knowledge of the world they live in.
Constructional Play
Handling and playing with manipulative toys such as Lego, stickle bricks, pegboards and puzzles not only strengthens and stimulates children's smaller muscles but it also helps to lay the foundations for maths. Sorting, comparing, building and counting all come into play when construction is going on. Simple pre-math concepts such as: smaller, larger, on top of, under, longer, shorter, lighter and heavier, are all experienced when using constructional toys. Children learn about size, shape and colour and are encouraged to do simple addition and subtraction as they play.
Physical Play
Climbing, sliding, running, jumping, riding bikes and throwing balls are all important for young children as they grow. Children have lots of energy to use up, offering activities that provide an opportunity to do this safely and enjoyably, helps a child to develop self confidence, a sense of balance and co-ordination and also builds an awareness of space and speed.
Painting
Children’s ability to learn through creativity is boundless. Painting enhances a child's ability to learn colours and textures. At Playgroup the children are unrestricted in their use of colour and design and are free to express their thoughts and preferences through artistic means. Do not be discouraged if your child brings home paintings that have multi-coloured skies and red grass etc. - exploration and individuality through painting is encouraged here. Children see through magical eyes, and paint what they see and not what we necessarily see. Painting is not limited to brushes and sponges, children like to explore and experiment with paint giving it texture by adding flour, making it shiny by adding sugar and watering it down to do water paintings. Letting children be free to explore and experience the magic of paint, creates a great learning environment and opens doors to many other learning experiences.
Playdough
Dough, clay and plasticine are a brilliant tools for imaginative and creative play. It initiates lots of conversation and is a great relationship builder. Children are full of new ideas and creations; dough helps them to express their ideas and their experiences. Children enjoy the varieties of doughs we provide, some are sticky and stretchy, others are hard and less pliable, either way children enjoy the opportunity to pull, stretch, twist, cut and shape doughs, and you should see the smiles on their faces when the cornflour dough comes out!
Natural Materials
This activity is boundless in its learning resource and it provides an opportunity for children to discover that the world that they live in is jam packed with interesting and fun and “free” materials that are safe and stimulating. Providing sand, soil or water on a regular basis helps children to keep this concept in their minds and can be a real benefit to parents, as it is inexpensive and full of learning opportunities. Playing with and discovering natural materials is a good stepping stone to science and pre-math skills, as a lot of quantity, measurement and consistency ideas are formed at these activities. It also begins the first steps to environmental and multicultural issues. We begin to discover that not all soils, sands and waters are the same, and other parts of the world have more or less of these resources than we do. It is a good foundation for respect for our environment.
Collage and Creative “Making”
This may include such things as collage, junk modelling, papier-mâché etc. Children love to be free to express their thoughts and ideas and often have vastly different colour and shape concepts to adults.
At Playgroup they are not bound by adult direction and are free to be as creative as they wish. Praise from adults when they have independently created something, builds a great sense of self worth and confidence that they will carry with them all their lives. Offering a wide variety of materials to work with helps children to learn what each material’s value can be, and how one may differ from another. E.g. A child may be using a glue stick to stick a piece of tissue paper on his paper, but has to use tape to hold a twig on the paper, this teaches not only that some things are heavier and not flat but also that different adhesive materials do different jobs. Playgroup always tries to provide this opportunity to be independent and creative at every session.
Simple Science
Tackling science in a way that is interesting, simple to understand and fun is always a challenge. Children have a built in desire to want to know everything. They are always asking questions, forming opinions and showing an interest in new ideas. Because of this, teaching them simple science is very rewarding. Surprisingly for adults, children can retain a vast amount of information and never seem to be unwilling to learn. Discovering how their bodies function, how the air moves, how water, sun and soil feed the plants and trees, are all concepts new and exciting to young children. Learning about magnets and looking under microscopes - viewing a variety of leaves and plants - are all foundational steps in scientific skills.
Book Corner
Pre-reading and literacy skills inevitably begin here. Children love stories that are read with momentum and enthusiasm. They love the uniqueness of books and the magical qualities they contain. Books provide a variety of experiences such as humour, sadness, joy, wonder, make believe and reality. Reading has a vital role in our lives and allowing children to handle, look at and choose books for you to read to them, builds a sense of importance about reading. Children find it easy to relate to books when they read about things that they are feeling or experiencing, it helps them to realise that others may have had those experiences too. We try to be very selective and wise about our book corner, hoping to provide a wide variety of books that are multicultural, real life experiences, fictional, funny, informative and challenging. Reading for us is a fun experience! We often use puppets, music or props to retell stories or make them more interesting. Of course the benefits of learning to sit with the rest of the group and listen for a short span of time are obvious. Reading on the mat with an adult - one to one - is sometimes just what a child needs especially if they have not had too brilliant a start to their day. We often find that reading and looking at books with a small group of children is relaxing and enjoyable for them and for us.
Writing/Drawing and Colouring Table
Each session we provide will always have at least one opportunity to write, draw or colour, be it with pens, pencils, chalk or other writing materials. We know that in order for children to build pre-writing skills they must be given the opportunities to practice making squiggles, forming letters and also drawing and handling writing equipment. The process of writing is easy to follow. Once the child has taken an interest in writing, drawing and colouring (which does not always happen for each child at the same time), squiggles, lines, circular shapes and dots soon turn into letters of their name and also numbers. Children need a lot of praise and not pressure when tackling pre-literacy skills. Handling a pencil is a challenge in itself, and praise and encouragement to keep trying are great incentive to a child especially if it comes from the people they love. We use other forms of writing too, such as typewriters, stamping letters and sponge painting with letters etc., so that children begin to realise that writing is not restricted to paper and pen only.
Cookery
Children enjoy cooking and making foods especially if they get to eat it at snack time. We often incorporate cookery into our snacks; food preparation is a lot of fun for all of us. Cookery is a great opportunity for children to learn about quantities, textures and tastes. We are careful not to choose recipes that are rigid in their ingredients because we know that what we see as a tablespoonful of flour is different to what a child sees.
Music and Dance
Singing, playing instruments, dancing and clapping all play a vital role in a child's development. As children learn to balance and co-ordinate their arms and legs, they become more aware of shape and speed. Children like to hear their own voices and are give opportunities to sing solo regularly. Children learn hand/eye co-ordination when playing instruments and also begin to experience rhythm and sound. Having fun with music and dance encourages children who tend to be shy and inhibited to be more confident and outgoing. We often see remarkable developments in confidence, in children who normally are quite shy when it comes to music and dance.
We hope that your child's stay with us at playgroup is an enjoyable one, and that we have met our goal as a group to adequately equip your child in their early years of education.