Peek into a preschool classroom on any given day during the pandemic and you will observe childhood industry in its purest form. On campus or online, you see heads bent over Lego creations in the making, or you might see exuberant dancing on the floor and on the screen, or see and hear partnerships and collaborations across the room that occur spontaneously despite social distancing hoops to maintain separate areas. Attention and engagement flow through these movements and hands-on activities. They look like they’re having fun, but these children are learning while playing.
Developmentally appropriate learning games and activities teach children and foster independence by clarifying the task goals, encouraging repetition, acknowledging and building on successes. Planning a play-based hands-on academic curriculum that is appropriate for small children is a delicate balance of considerations that must all be in line if the goal is a confident, curious child who is ready for kindergarten. Active learning fosters academic skills by including specific target skills into a game or a fun activity or project. For example, in the preschool 4 virtual and on-campus classrooms, the children remember their phonics through vision, sound and motion activities. They learn to construct letters using wooden lines and curves. They assemble string telephones in science, build pattern towers in math and develop number sense using spinners, dice and Unifix cubes.
Hands-on projects and movement games that include poses and freeze dances also support engagement, as do screen and board games that target specific skills. These are especially useful because many games can be played repeatedly for practice, and the mental breaks help to extend their ability to pay attention. The inclusion of developmentally appropriate hands-on learning activities encourages repetition and practice, accommodates individual student learning styles and preferences, and allows for each child’s ability to focus.
Most recently, the virtual students and the on-campus students began a series of Lego Challenges. This week every student built a bridge and then shared their creations on screen. In the coming month, there will be other opportunities to build towers, cars or boats as they count, sort and classify the attributes and utility of three-dimensional geometric shapes. The children enjoy sharing their creations as much as they love building them, and they also strengthen their ability to follow directions, listen for information, and determine the boundaries of the task. We hope that your children will share their enriching experiences with you.
