Jean Piaget's Contribution to Cognitive Psychology

Cognition is the way we use our minds to understand the world. Children THINK
and PROCESS information differently and they relate differently to adults to help them make
sense of their experiences. Piaget was the first psychologist to make a systematic study of
cognitive development. He developed the theory of cognitive child development from detailed
observational studies of children, and a series of simple tests.

Prior to Piaget’s work, a common assumption was that children are merely less competent
thinkers than adults. Piaget showed that young children think in strikingly different ways
compared to adults.

Cognitive growth refers to the development of a child's mental abilities, including memory,
problem-solving skills, and attention. Heredity refers to the genetic traits that are passed down
from parents to their offspring. Genetics play a significant role in cognitive and language growth
apart from environmental factors such as quality of caregiving and education

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

Stage Age Characteristics of Stage

The child learns by doing: looking, touching, sucking. The child also has a
Sensorimotor 0-2 primitive understanding of cause-and-effect relationships.

The child uses language and symbols, including letters and numbers.
Egocentrism is also evident. Conservations mark the end of the
Preoperational 2-7 preoperational stage and the beginning of concrete operations.

The child demonstrates conservation, reversibility, serial, ordering, and a

mature understanding of cause-and-effect relationships. Thinking at this
Concrete Operations 7-11 stage is still concrete.

The individual demonstrates abstract thinking, including logic, deductive

Formal Operations 12+ reasoning, comparison, and classification.
 Cognitive Development - Memory
Information that is received through the senses will be moved into the memory so that they can
use that information later on in the future. Information is first taken very briefly to the sensory
memory store. Information is then moved to the short-term, or working memory where the
information is acted. Information is finally stored in long-term memory.

Most people cannot recall events that occurred before the age of 3, which is called infantile
amnesia. Although research on infants has shown that they have a remarkable ability to
remember for lengthy periods of time, and that memory requires the ability to use the same
encoding processes that were used when the experience first happened.
Encoding processes are the transformation processes through which new information is stored in
long-term memory. Movement activities improve children’s memory skills, creativity and
comprehension. A combination of sit-down and standing activities, and exploring different
learning materials, stimulate more neural pathways to cognitive development.

Cognitive Development - Memory

Children frequently use various encoding strategies to find and retrieve information, some of
which include:

- Scripts: memory for the way a common occurrence in one's life, such as grocery shopping,
takes place

- Rehearsal: repeating information to remember it

- Elaboration: a memory strategy that involves creating extra connections, like images or
sentences, which can tie informati
 Cognitive Development - Attention
Attention can be either selective or sustained. Selective attention is tuning into certain things
while tuning out others, while sustained attention is maintaining focus over time. In regards to
infants, have a strong preference for novelty, and this allows them to learn as much about the
world as they can by focusing their attention on what is new. Habituation is the reduction in the
response to a stimulus that is repeated. Selective attention continues to develop through middle
childhood and there are two aspects of cognitive functioning that affect attention.

Processing speed - Efficiency with which one can perform cognitive tasks.

Automaticity - The process by which skills become so well practiced that you can do them
without much conscious thought.

Cognitive Milestones
At 1 year old
At 2-year-old
At 3-year-old
At 4 year old
At 5 years old

• Explores objects in many different ways (shaking, banging, throwing, dropping)

• Finds hidden objects easily

• Looks at the correct picture when the image is named

• Imitates gestures

• Begins to use objects correctly (drinking from a cup, brushing hair, dialling the phone,
listening to the receiver)
 Heredity, Language and Neurological Development
Language Development

Certain genes have been linked to language development e.g. FOXP2 gene: Genetic factors
are estimated to account for approximately 50% of language development

Transmission of Language
Transmission of Language can be passed down from parents. Children tend to learn a language that is
similar to what they hear at home. Children who are exposed to multiple languages early in life are more
likely to develop proficiency in each language

Brain development
Language development is linked to brain development. Different regions of the brain are dedicated to
various language-processing tasks. Timing of the development of these brain regions is critical for
language acquisition.

Early Language Exposure is Critical

Children who are exposed to language earlier have better language skills later in life. Parental involvement
in language development is crucial.
Stages of Language Development
➥ Pre-linguistic stage or Cooing
➥ Babbling stage.
➥ Holophrastic stage
➥ Two-word stage.
➥ Telegraphic stage.
➥ Multi-word stage.

Language Stages
Pre-Linguistic Stage :-
1. The first stage of language development occurs between zero and six months.
2. Don't have developed language skills hence communicate with sounds.
3. Cry, coo, and utter nasal murmurs as their vocal tracts develop.
4. Can recognize voices and sounds in addition to facial expressions and voice tones

Babbling Stage :-
1. Second stage of a child's language development
2. Occurs between the ages of 6 and 9 months.
3. Children show the following behaviours:
4. Mouth muscles and teeth grow to prepare children for more advanced talking, making
noises and syllables that aren’t yet words and babble.

Holophrastic Stage :-
1. The third phase of language development, also known as the holophrastic stage, usually
happens between the ages of 9 and 18 months.
2. Language skills usually have increased enough for them to say single words that
describe objects or identify their basic needs. For example: a child in this stage might say
"dada" as a way of getting their dad's attention.

Telegraphic Stage :-
1. The telegraphic stage occurs between the ages of 24 and 30 months.
2. Children can speak phrases that are not only longer but also have more than two
elements.
3. Correct grammar still isn’t prevalent in this stage, but the sentence conveys that the
cat is standing up in addition to being on the table.
4. The child also develops the ability to understand basic instructions, including two-part
orders like "go to your table and get your books."
 Multi Word Stage :-
1. 30-month-old children enter the multi-word stage.
2. Build increasingly complex sentences that allow them to better communicate their ideas.
3. Start to incorporate morphemes to make more semantically sound phrases.
4. For instance, they know to use the word “dogs” instead of “dog” when referring to more
than one dog. The telegraphic stage occurs between the ages of 24 and 30 months.

Language Milestones
At 1 Year Stage :-
➜ Pays increasing attention to speech.
➜ Responds to simple verbal requests.
➜ Responds to “no”.
➜Uses simple gestures, such as shaking head for “no”.
➜ Babbles with inflection.
➜ Says “dada” and “mama”.
➜ Uses exclamations, such as “oh-oh!”.
➜ Tries to imitate words.

At 2-3 Year Stage :-

1. Points to object or picture when it’s named.
2. Recognizes names of familiar people (family members), objects, and body parts.
3. Says several single words (by fifteen to eighteen months).
4. Uses simple phrases (by eighteen to twenty-four months).
5. Uses two- to four-word sentences.
6. Follows simple instructions.
7. Repeats words overheard in conversation.

At 4 Year Stage :-
1. Typically understands complex sentences.
2. Understand the concepts of “same” and “different”.
3. Has mastered some basic rules of grammar.
4. Speaks in sentences of five to six words.
5. Speaks clearly enough for strangers to understand.
6. Tells stories.

At 5 Year Stage :-
1. Recalls part of a story.
2. Speaks sentences of more than five words.
3. Uses future tense.
4. Tells longer stories.
5. Says name and address.
6. Carries out a series of 3 directions.
7. Understands rhyming.
8. Sentences can be 8 or more words in length.
 Social and Emotional Development

Social Development.
Social development starts at birth :- A child learns how to behave and interact
effectively with others and it involves learning social values, expectations, rules, and
skills.Social development also relies on emotional development as the child learns how to
manage or regulate their own feelings. This especially occurs when the child develops a
relationship with another person.

Emotional Development.
• Emotion expresses readiness to establish, maintain, or change one’s relation to the
environment
• Emotions influence cognitive processes:
a) perception of others and situations
b) learning and remembering information
• Emotional signals affect other’s behaviours
• Emotional reactions of others regulate children’s social behaviours

Development of Basic Emotion.

• Infants experience :
a) Pleasure – positive emotions
b) Distress – negative emotions
• Rapid change and more discrete emotions will develop and by 9 months infants are thought to
experience all basic emotions
• Basic emotions that develop in the early years are as follows:
• Happiness, interest, surprise, fear, anger, sadness and disgust.

Socio-Emotional Development and Milestones

Socio-Emotional Development At 6 to 12 Months Old

➤ Show interest in their new surroundings and know/recognise their main carers.
➤ Gain rapid confidence
➤ Face anxiety or separation fears when left.
➤ Experiment with noises and actions by when mimicking others.
➤ Regulates emotion by approaching or retreating from stimulation
➤ Engages in social reinforcing
➤ Detects the meaning of others' emotional signals
Socio-Emotional Development At 1-2 Years Old
➤ Self-conscious emotions emerge but depend on encouragement from adults.
➤ Begin to use language to assist with emotional regulation.
➤ Begin to appreciate that others' emotional reactions may be different from them
➤ Displays empathy
➤ Acquires vocabulary of emotional terms e.g. “No”
➤ Begin to play alongside their peers - Parallel Play
➤ Learn to throw tantrums to get the attention of the adults as a form of rebellion. This is the concept of
terrible twos.

Social and Emotional Milestones At 6 to 12 months old

➤ Show interest in their new surroundings and know/recognise their main carers.
➤ Gain rapid confidence.
➤ Face anxiety or separation fears when left.
➤ Experiment with noises and actions when mimicking others.
➤ Regulates emotion by approaching or retreating from stimulation.
➤ Engages in social reinforcing.
➤ Detects the meaning of others' emotional signals.

Social and Emotional Milestones At 1-2 years old

➤ Self-conscious emotions emerge but depend on the encouragement from adults.
➤ Begin to use language to assist with emotional regulation.
➤ Begin to appreciate that others' emotional reactions may be different from them.
➤ Displays empathy.
➤ Acquires vocabulary of emotional terms e.g. “No”.
➤ Begin to play alongside their peers - Parallel Play.
➤ learn to throw tantrums to get the attention of the adults as a form of rebellion. This is the concept of
terrible twos..

Social and Emotional Milestones At 1 year old

1. Shy or anxious with strangers.
2. Cries when mother or father leaves.
3. Enjoys imitating people in play.
4. Shows specific preferences for certain people and toys.
5. Able to show frustration when being restrained or denied of request.
6. Tests parental responses to his behavior (What do you do if he cries after you leave the room?).
7. May be fearful in some situations.
8. Prefers attention from mother and/or regular caregiver.
9. Repeats sound or gestures for attention.
10. Finger-feeds himself.

11. Extends arm or leg to help when being dressed

Social and Emotional Milestones At 2-3 years-old
➤ Imitates behavior of others, especially adults and older children.
➤ Increasingly aware of herself as separate from others.
➤ Increasingly enthusiastic about the company of other children.
➤ Demonstrates increasing independence.
➤ Begins to show defiant behavior.
➤ Increasing episodes of separation anxiety toward midyear, then they fade.

Social and Emotional Milestones At 4 years old

➤ Imitates behavior of others, especially adults and older children.
➤ Increasingly aware of herself as separate from others.
➤ Increasingly enthusiastic about the company of other children.
➤ Demonstrates increasing independence.
➤ Begins to show defiant behavior.
➤ Increasing episodes of separation anxiety toward midyear, then they fade.

Social and Emotional Milestones At 5 years old

➤ Wants to please friends.
➤ Wants to be like her friends.
➤ More likely to agree to rules.
➤ Likes to sing, dance, and act.
➤ Shows more independence and may even visit a next-door neighbor by herself.
➤ Aware of sexuality.
➤ Able to distinguish fantasy from reality.
➤ Sometimes demanding, sometimes eagerly cooperative.

Social and Emotional Milestones At 6 years old

1. Self-conscious emotions are clearly linked to self-evaluation.
2. As representation and language improves, use active strategies to regulate emotion.
3. begins to conform to emotional display rules.
4. understanding of causes, consequences, and behavioural signs of emotion improves accuracy and
complexity.
5. As language develops, empathy becomes more reflective.

Social and Emotional Milestones At 7-8 years old

1. Self-conscious emotions are integrated with inner standards of excellence and good behaviour.
2. conformity to and conscious awareness of emotional display rules.
3. can reconcile with conflicting cues when explaining others' emotions.
4. empathy increases as emotional understanding and perspective-taking improve.
 Issues in the Context of Early Childhood Development
Developmental vs Environmental Factors
Developmental changes can shape all aspects of life.
Early years of environmental influence shape:
a) physical
b) emotional
c) cognitive, and social aspects of a child’s personality.

Poor Access to Quality Programs

1. Lack of access to quality early childhood education:
2. Affordability Vs. high costs of early childhood care and education.
3. Underfunded programs.
4. Long waiting lists,
5. Poor quality of support.
6. Lack of resources.
7. Long-lasting impact on the child's future life prospects.

Trauma and Violence

Exposure to violence and trauma that children in their early years leads to the following:
a) Lifelong effects on children’s mental and emotional Health
b) Behavioral issues
c) Depression
d) Anxiety.

Lack of Healthcare
1. Lack of health care leads to :
a) malnutrition,
b) poor nutrition
c) significant effect on physical development
2. Many children in disadvantaged communities lack adequate nutrition, which can lead
to stunted growth and poor health outcomes into adulthood.

Poverty Environment
1. A poverty environment leads to stressors that adversely affect their development due to
the possible conditions:
a) exposure to environmental toxins,
b) lack of access to healthcare resources
c) inadequate housing leads to overcrowding and affects social-emotional growth
and development
2. High stress levels in an environment can cause developmental delays in children.
 Principles and Perspectives of Early Childhood Education
Theoretical Underpinnings
1. Principles and practices of early childhood education are based on a set of guidelines,
theories, and approaches e.g. Montessori, Waldorf, and Steiner.

2. Early years education is designed and used by educators to ensure that:

a) Young children are cared for;
b) They are educated in an appropriate manner.

Child-Centered Approach
1. Emphasizes that the child is at the center of the learning process and that education
should be tailored to their individual needs, interests, and abilities.

2. Early childhood educators often adopt a play-based approach to teaching and learning,
which allows children to learn through exploration, experimentation, and discovery.

Child-Centered Curriculum
 Is planned and implemented with a focus on children learning through play.

 Reflects a range and variety of experiences to cater to children’s needs, interests, and abilities.

 Takes account of the need for children to pursue their own interests and play experiences.

 Recognises the child’s voice, it captures the child’s ideas and intentions, and recognises their learning
strategies or learning goals.

 Is communicated appropriately to children, families, and educators through written and verbal information.

 Is sufficiently flexible to permit changes initiated by children and educators working together

 Reflects the interests and diversity of the children and the expertise of the educators

 Reflects the connections between children, families, and communities and the importance of reciprocal
relationships and partnerships for learning.

 Values the cultural and social contexts of children and their families and values the cultural and social
contexts of children and their families.

 Is sufficiently flexible to permit changes initiated by children and educators working together.

 Reflects the interests and diversity of the children and the expertise of the educators.

 Reflects the connections between children, families, and communities and the importance of reciprocal
relationships and partnerships for learning.
  Educator’s Role in a Child-Centered Approach
Observer
 Noticing – for example, making mental notes

 Photography – for example, taking pictures as and when things happen

 Timelines – for example, identifying a child or area and checking in every 10 minutes

 Frameworks – for example, checklists or looking for characteristics

 Focussed – for example, looking at a specific area or child for a period of time

 Written – for example, an account or detailed ‘story’

Facilitator
1. Creating learning environments that encourage children to explore, solve problems,
create, and construct

2. Engaging in sustained shared conversations with children to extend their thinking

3. Recognising spontaneous teachable moments as they occur, and using them to build
on children’s learning

Role Model
1. Positive ways to relate to others for example by approaching for a play taking turns and
good manners like saying ‘please’ and ‘thank-you’.

2. Emotional regulation skills for example by practising coping strategies with children or
sharing personal stories about emotions.

3. Skills to support children’s activities – for example, rather than telling a child how to paint
with leaves, show the child how to dip the leaf in paint and then let them take over.

Curriculum and Pedagogy

Curriculum in Early Childhood Education
- Refers to the learning experiences provided to children in the early childhood classroom

- Includes content, goals, and objectives of the learning experiences and activities.

- Purpose of a curriculum is to promote a child’s development across the various domains:

 Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education
1. Refers to the teaching strategies and methods used by teachers to facilitate learning in
children.

2. Pedagogy is critical as it shapes a child’s learning experiences.

3. Pedagogical approach used in early childhood education should be child-centered and

focus on promoting a child’s development

Designing a Curriculum
Factors to Consider
1. Appropriate pedagogical approaches to facilitate children’s learning
2. Play-based learning
3. Scaffolding
4. Early childhood education is the foundation of a child’s future success

Play Based Learning

1. Play is a child’s natural way of learning and exploring their environment as it builds
curiosity in children:
2. Play will create a conducive environment for learning via:

a) Exploration
b) Discovery
c) Experimentation

Theorist Behind Play Based Learning

1. Jean Piaget developed developmental stage theory which states that play involves a
systematic process of learning that can even be identified by stages.

2. Proposed that children need environmental stimuli and experiences to guide their
cognitive development.

3. Through sensory play, children digest new knowledge and store it for later reference.
 Advantages of Play-Based Learning
 Develop social skills as children play together and negotiate with each other communication such
as empathy, teamwork, sharing, turn-taking, etc.

 Lay the foundation for healthy relationships and teamwork in their later years.

 Builds confidence and self-esteem when they are encouraged to take risks and try new things in a safe and
supportive environment.

 Helps to develop creativity and imagination when children explore and experiment with different
materials.

 Develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills when children engage in open-ended play.

 Enjoyable and exciting for children as they are naturally curious and love to explore and experiment.

Scaffolding and Its Types

Scaffolding refers to the support provided to children by teachers to facilitate their learning.
Teachers provide support to children by breaking down complex tasks into simple, manageable
steps. Help children to learn new skills and concepts while gradually releasing responsibilities
when they are independent.

Types of Scaffolding:
Verbal
Visual
Interactive scaffolding.

Stages of Scaffolding:
Modeling
Support/prompting
Independence.

Applications of Scaffolding
Language Acquisition
Teachers can model new vocabulary or complex sentence structures for children to repeat or
use in conversation. For example, during show-and-tell, the teacher can demonstrate how to
use new words such as "spectacular" or "marvelous" in a descriptive sentence.
Literacy and Mathematics
1. Developing phonological awareness (e.g. letter - sound correspondent), letter recognition for
upper and lower case, and reading comprehension.

2. Number sense, counting forward and backward, quantifying, addition, subtraction

Guided Practice
Teaching step-by-step processes in several learning areas such as art projects, science experiments, block
building. Involve providing step-by-step instructions or demonstrating how to use materials effectively

Grouping Strategies
Children learn from observing and interacting with one another. Can create small groups with learning
objectives in mind to encourage collaborative learning. Enables student-by-student feedback and peer
modeling of correct practices.

Visual Cues and Prompts

Helps children to remember key concepts: Chart illustrating how to count from one to ten, a poster
showing how to form letters and numbers.

Gradual Release of Responsibility

Gradually release more responsibility to their learners, moving from heavy support to slight guidance
through physical support, partial physical support, modeling, verbal support, visual support, independence,
etc.

Goal Setting and Reflection

1. Teachers help learners set goals for their learning, goals can be measured on an agreed-upon
assessment.

2. Through reflection, children develop metacognitive skills, enabling them to identify areas of
strength and opportunity.
 Importance of Motor and Sensory Development
 Motor and sensory development are essential for children's growth and development.

 A crucial aspect of their cognitive, physical, and emotional development.

 Designing the right learning environment and experiences can significantly impact the child's learning
outcomes and motor and sensory development.

Balancing the Right Amount of Stimulation

 Finding the right balance between sensory stimuli when designing the learning environment, a highly
stimulating environment leads to children feeling overwhelmed and an under-stimulating environment may
cause boredom.

 Provide an environment that encourages exploration and sufficient challenges while stimulating their
sensory receptors, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, etc.

 Provide fun and interactive activities such as sandboxes, and obstacle courses.

 Provide fun and interactive activities e.g. sandboxes.

 Obstacle courses that encourage a range of movement such as jumping and crawling.

Incorporating Sensory Play

Sensory Play
1. Stimulates the child's senses and assists in cognitive and physical
development. Incorporating sensory activities into the early childhood curriculum
allows children to explore and develop their fine and gross motor skills. Examples of
sensory play include sand trays, water through, clay tables going on swings, and
learning to count.

2. Sensory play also enhances creativity and language skills. It encourages learning
through exploration, curiosity, problem-solving, and creativity. It helps to build nerve
connections in the brain and encourages the development of language, motor skills,
and creates a calming effect, which reduces stress and anxiety in children.
 Characteristics of Sensory Play
The different characteristics of sensory play are aligned to the development of children’s senses:

1. Visual,
2. Auditory,
3. Kinesthetic
4. Tactile along
5. Balance
6. Proprioception

Incorporating Various Types of Play

Tactile Play
Tactile play happens when children explore an object with their hands e.g. kinetic sand.
Children can learn and discovery the physical attributes of pressure, temperature, vibration
density, and strength.

Vestibular Sensory Play

Rolling around, hanging, swinging, and jumping can all contribute to a child’s development of balance.
The sense of balance and movement comes from the vestibular system, which is located in the inner ear.

Proprioception Sensory Play

Pushing, pulling, and jumping all help children develop spatial awareness of their bodies. Through
proprioception, children learn where they are physically in space and how their limbs relate to the rest of
their body.

Auditory Sensory Play

Auditory play helps your child differentiate sounds develop their hearing and associate with different
objects. For example, when a child hits a wooden spoon and a saucepan.

Visual Sensory Play

It helps to develop children's vision and sight. Playing with objects, and identifying colours and patterns is
a fun and engaging way to encourage visual sensory play.

Olfactory and Taste Sensory Play

Olfactory relates to the sense of smell. It is also directly related to taste. It’s harder to gauge when a child is
using their sense of smell and taste, but obvious examples include when they smell flowers or test the taste
of their brand-new building blocks. Children can develop these senses through games that encourage the
exploration of smell and taste.
 Opportunities and Natural Materials
Creating Opportunities
1. Physical development depends on regular exercise and movement.

2. Designing a learning environment that promotes mobility can have significant

benefits.

3. Some examples of movement-oriented activities include dance, yoga, Exploring

objects in many different ways (shaking, banging, throwing, dropping)other forms of
physical activities that require increased activity levels or movement.

4. Encouraging physical activity also supports cognitive and social skills.

Natural Materials
1.
Natural materials offer a sensory-rich experience that can help children develop motor
skills and promote sensory acquisition.

2. Examples of natural materials include sticks, stones, and leaves encourage the
development of motor and sensory skills

3. When using natural materials children learn to work with different textures and materials,
which enhances fine motor skills and improves their sensory experiences.

Designing Learning Environments

Learning Environments
1. Creating a Safe and Positive Learning Environment
2. Importance of Learning Centers and Collaborative Grouping
3. Teaching Through Daily Routine

Safe and Secure

1. A safe and secure learning environment ensures the physical and emotional well-
being of the child.

a. Be free from hazards,

b. Have clearly defined rules,
c. Be appropriately supervised.
 Factors to Consider
1. Age-appropriate materials
2. Childproofing
3. Adequate adult supervision
4. Creating a safe and secure environment allows children to be more willing to explore and
take risks to promote development.

Daily Routines and Collaborative Learning

Daily routines are essential for managing the learning environment well. Class Rules teach
expected behaviours before starting the lesson.

Putting children of varying abilities in groups where those who are of higher ability will be able to
support the weaker learners in the classroom during activities.

Ensuring a Conducive Learning Environment

 Designing the learning environment and experiences to foster motor and sensory development is essential
for children's growth and development.

 The right learning environment should provide opportunities for learning through sensory play, physical
activities, natural materials, and a safe environment.

 By providing such an environment, children can develop their cognitive, physical, and emotional skill sets
to the fullest.

Fostering cognitive growth in learning environments:

 Cognitive development refers to the growth and development of a child's mental processes such as
attention, perception, memory, reasoning, problem-solving, and language development.

 Plays a crucial role in their academic and social success.

 Tips to Provide an Effective Learning Environment
Tip 1: Promote Active Learning
1. Active learning motivates children to learn and explore new concepts.

2. Encourage children to participate in hands-on learning activities, experiments, and

exploration.

3. Active learning helps children develop their thinking skills and critical thinking
abilities, which are crucial for cognitive development.

Tip 2: Provide Engaging Materials

1. Learning materials should be engaging and interesting for children.

2. Provide children with materials and resources that they can interact with, such as
books, games, puzzles, and interactive software.

3. Combining technology with learning can significantly enhance cognitive development

by providing great visual aids and enhancers for retention.

Tip 3: Encourage Collaborative Learning

1. Collaboration is an excellent way to foster cognitive development.
2.
Children can learn from each other, gain new perspectives, and develop critical
thinking and problem-solving skills.

3. Encourage students to work in groups on activities and projects.

4. A collaborative approach stimulates different ideas exchange and interaction, making

the learning experience more enjoyable.

Tip 4: Use Modelling

1. Modeling is an effective method to foster cognitive development.

2. Demonstrate a learning process to a child,

3. Allowing the child to observe, process, and replicate the same process

4. With modeling, children learn by watching how others do things, which can
significantly enhance their cognitive development.
 Tip 5: Offer Opportunities
1. Encourage children to explore, experiment, and discover their environment for cognitive
development.

2. Create opportunities for children to explore open-ended activities that can stimulate their
curiosity and creativity.

3. Outdoor activities, like walks and field trips, broaden a child's knowledge and
understanding of their world.

4. Creative activities and excursions provide many different stimuli to move the minds
beyond the four walls of a room or school.

Early Years Mathematics Curricula

 foundation and development of mathematical concepts in children between birth and the age of eight that
covers essential mathematics concepts (e.g. number sense).

 involves teaching young children basic arithmetic, measurement, geometry, and problem-solving skills
usually by the age of 5 to 6 years old.

 Plays a critical role in the cognitive development of children.

 It trains children to be logical thinkers and problem-solvers.

 Early years math education provides children with the opportunity to explore, experiment, and discover
math concepts in a fun way.

 develops important life skills e.g. handling money, and budgeting,

 helps children to understand the world and make more informed decisions

Why Early Years Math Education Matters

 It trains children to be logical thinkers and problem-solvers

 Early years math education provides children with the opportunity to explore, experiment, and discover
math concepts in a fun way.

 Develops important life skills e.g. handling money, budgeting,

 Helps children to understand the world and make more informed decisions.

 Designed to provide children with a rich learning environment that promotes exploration, discovery, and
experimentation to develop children's mathematical skills, including counting, geometry, and spatial
awareness

 Curriculum must be accessible, engaging, and enjoyable through the use of activities, songs, and stories.
 Current Research in Early Years Math
1. Focus on the best ways to teach math to children to develop a strong mathematical
foundation. Quality and relevance of the curriculum to solve real-world problems (e.g.
cooking, shopping, playing games). Role of technology in teaching and learning (e.g.
interactive games, online quizzes, digital simulations).

2. Play-based learning teaches math concepts and develops mathematical thinking and
social-emotional development. importance of teacher training in early years math
education as they shape children’s learning experiences and ensure that they have the
skills and knowledge. Some of the key mathematical concepts and number skills
are, Number Sense, Shapes and Spatial awareness, Patterns and Symmetry, Sorting
and Classifying and Sorting and Classifying.

Intro to Children's Growth and Development - Lesson

Summary
Upon successful completion of this module, you will be able to:

 The process of social development begins at birth. The learning of social values, rules, and skills involves
a child's ability to behave and interact effectively with others.

 Emotional development also plays an important role in social development as the child learns emotional
regulation. In addition to influencing cognitive processes, it also affects learning, recalling information,
mood, and other behaviours.

 The study of pedagogy focuses on how teachers facilitate learning in their students through the use of their
teaching strategies and methods, along with the design of a curriculum.

 Sensory and motor development are important in the early stages of development of a child, which can
significantly impact their learning environment and learning environment.

 Children's cognitive development is facilitated by the math curriculum in the early years by teaching them
basic arithmetic, measurement, geometry, and problem-solving skills.

 Number sense includes number identification and counting which is the first concept that should be
introduced in preschool education.

 Spatial awareness is a child’s capacity to imagine or visualize in one’s mind the positions of objects, their
shapes, their spatial relations to one another, and the movement they make to form new spatial relations.
 Module 2: Emotional Strategies in the Early Years

Emotional Strategies in the Early Years - Learning

Outcomes
Having completed this module you will be able to:

 Analyze the reliability of various assessment tools used in measuring cognitive, social, and emotional
development in children.

 Summarize the intersectionality of identity factors (e.g., race, gender, culture) in understanding child
development.

 Evaluate the efficacy of intervention programs aimed at addressing developmental delays or challenges in
early childhood.

 Discuss the different models of early childhood education and their implications for child development
outcomes.

 Describe the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on neurodevelopmental processes and
resilience in children.

 Recognize evidence-based strategies for promoting positive parent-child interactions and attachment bonds
during early childhood.

Teaching Number Sense

Number sense refers to the children's ability to understand and manipulate numbers and their
relationships in real-life contexts. Number sense includes number identification and counting
which is the first concept that should be introduced in preschool education. At preschool age,
children are naturally curious and have a desire to learn new things. Thus, it is necessary to
introduce number sense to them in ways that are engaging and relevant to their interests. There
are a few activities to teach number sense:

Number Recognition
Children can learn to recognize numbers by sight. Teachers can incorporate number recognition
for numbers 0 to 10 through wall displays, flashcards, or even the use of everyday items around
the classroom such as the the counting rods.
Real-Life Math
Children can practice counting toys in the classroom, sorting small objects (e.g. counters),
and measuring water or sand during playtime.

Finger Counting
Encourage children to use finger counting to build number sense. As they learn to count using
their fingers, they also develop an understanding of the sequential nature of numbers.

Visual Representations
Visual representations provide children with a tangible understanding of numbers. Blocks, lego,
or other manipulatives can be used to represent different numbers, and operations or to build
patterns.

Teaching Number Sense

Counting Games
Excellent way to introduce preschoolers to numbers from zero to ten. For example: counting
objects in the classroom or counting steps while walking.

Songs and Rhymes

Fun mathematical songs and rhymes engage children in learning by using rhythm and
repetition. For example, the English folk song “ten green bottles” is used to teach counting
down from 10 to 1.

Shape Recognition
Shape recognition games and activities can be used to introduce geometry concepts to
preschoolers.

Teaching Shapes
Teach basic shapes to children as well as real-life examples:

Circle
A circle is round like a ball or a tire. Can you think of something that is shaped like a circle?
(Examples: pizza, clock, tire)

Square
A square has four straight sides and four right angles. Can you think of something that is shaped like a
square? (Examples: tissue box, picture frame, checkerboard).
Triangle
A triangle has three straight sides and three points. Can you think of something that is shaped like a
triangle? (Examples: pizza slice, ice-cream cone, traffic sign)

Rectangle
A rectangle has four straight sides, but only two of them are the same length. Can you think of something
that is shaped like a rectangle? (Examples: book, window, door)

Oval
1. An oval is like a stretched circle. Can you think of something that is shaped like an oval?
(Examples: egg, football, potato)

2. Play a game: Tell them that you are going to show them an object and they have to tell you what
shape it is. Please show different pictures and ask the children to identify the shape

3. Identify different shapes in your environment.

Teaching Spatial Awareness

Spatial awareness is a child’s capacity to imagine or visualize in one’s mind the positions of
objects, their shapes, their spatial relations to one another, and the movement they make to form
new spatial relations. It is the ability to perform spatial visualization and spatial reasoning in the
head. Use spatial vocabulary as your child plays with toy blocks such as above vs. below, in
front of vs. behind of, next to, edge, corner, face, and side, etc.

Use math talk: For example “The rabbit is behind the chair”, “You are sitting next to the
dog/cat/your sister”, and “Some of the blocks are round and some of them are triangles.” Play
with shape sorters. Talk with the child about the color and number of sides. Have the child crawl
through a tunnel or be in a space where they can see both ends and use the vocabulary “in” and
“out.”

Teaching Symmetry
Symmetry refers to a balanced, harmonious relationship between the different parts of an object
or shape. An object or shape that is symmetrical has two or more sides that are identical in size
and shape when divided down the center. Symmetry plays a significant role in mathematics.

It is a fundamental concept in geometry that helps children understand spatial relationships. It

also helps develop problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and spatial reasoning
 Teaching Symmetry
Symmetry Drawing
This activity involves folding paper in half and drawing a shape on one side. After folding the
paper, the child can trace the shape on the other side, creating a symmetrical image.

Mirror Play
Provide a mirror for children to explore their reflections. This activity can help children understand how
symmetrical figures look like their own image.

Pattern Blocks
Use pattern blocks to create symmetrical patterns. Start with simple shapes and ask the child to create a
symmetrical shape by placing the blocks on the opposite side.

Cutting Symmetrical Shapes

Provide children with construction paper in pre-cut shapes. Ask them to cut along the line to create a
symmetrical shape.

Symmetry Objects
Provide objects or toys that are symmetrical in nature. Encourage the children to identify the symmetrical
lines on the objects.

Teaching Patterns
Begin with simple patterns such as AAB, ABB, or ABAB. Use objects like blocks, colors, stickers,
or beads to build patterns. Begin with two or three objects to make simple patterns and slowly
build on the complexity of the pattern. Engage the senses as young children learn best when
they use their senses. Examples: creating patterns with leaves and stone, creating patterns with
pasta, or marshmallows.

Sensory play is an easy way for children to learn and engage with the world around them. Make
it a game by filling in missing pieces For example Play fill in the missing Lego pattern. patterns.
Hide a Lego block and ask the child to observe the pattern, find the missing block, and complete
the sequence.
This activity can be done in groups, and the child who finds the missing object may create the
next pattern. Create patterns with songs Singing songs with patterns reinforces pattern
recognition skills. "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," "Row, Row, Row
Your Boat." Use technology e.g. educational apps, iPad games, or sensory tables for visual
learning. Teach repeat patterns using games, puzzles, and coloring activities that help children
focus and retain the lesson.
 Teaching Sorting and Classifying
Sorting and classifying is the ability to group objects or ideas into categories based on their
similarities and differences. Critical in developing higher cognitive skills such as problem-solving,
critical thinking, and reasoning.
An essential step in their overall development and can easily be incorporated into their daily
routines.

Sorting objects
Grouping objects into categories based on their similarities or differences. For example
shapes, size, color.

Sorting foods
Sorting foods according to different types of fruits and vegetables. Sort them by texture, color, or even by
the type of fruit or vegetable.

Grouping animals
Ask children to sort stuffed animals into categories based on their habitats or the types of food they eat.
They can also categorize animals into groups such as pets, farm animals, or animals that can fly.

Sorting clothing
Excellent way to teach young children about colors and sizes. Ask them to sort laundry by
color or size. You can also mix up different types of clothing and ask them to sort them into
categories such as shirts, pants, or dresses.

Teaching Measurement
Weight is how heavy an object is. We measure weight using units such as grams, ounces, and
pounds.Take two toys: a small ball and a big stuffed animal. Ask the children to predict “ If we put
both of them on a scale, which one do you think is going to be heavier? “

Length measurement
Length measurement provides a great opportunity to introduce early mathematical concepts.
Show kids what length is and how it can be measured by using objects like pencils, crayons,
and building blocks. Line up objects end to end to measure their length. You can even use
your own body, such as your arms or hands, to show length.

Use Visual aids

Kids are visual learners, you can use rulers, yardsticks, or measuring tapes as visual aids to give them a
better understanding of the concept of length. You can also show them pictures of different objects and
have them guess which one is longer or shorter.
Use Simple Language
Kids learn better with engaging language and more importantly with simple language. Use easy-to-
understand vocabulary when teaching measurements, such as “long”, “short”, “tall” or “small”.

Hands-on Activities
Engage preschoolers with fun hands-on activities to reinforce the concept of length. For example, you can
ask them to find the longest or shortest crayon in their collection or measure how much string it takes to go
around their head.

Play Games
Kids love games and making them around the concept of length can make learning more fun. Play games
that involve measuring, such as measuring how far a toy car can go or who can balance blocks on their
head the for the longest period of time.

Mathematics in Reading and Storytelling

Storytelling and reading enhance children's comprehension, engagement, and overall enjoyment
of math. Counting stories helps young learners gain a better understanding of basic
mathematical concepts such as addition and subtraction.

E.g. Tell a story about a group of animals having a picnic, where they count the number of apples
and sandwiches they have. As the story progresses, you can ask the children to count the
sandwiches or apples as they are mentioned in the story, and then ask them questions such as
"How many apples did the animals have in total?" or "How many sandwiches are left over?".
Stories that incorporate shape and pattern recognition to help young learners improve their
pattern recognition and spatial skills.

For example, you can tell a story about a group of friends who go on a camping trip. As they walk
through the forest, they see different shapes and patterns, such as triangles made by tree
branches or square tents. You can ask the children to identify the shapes and patterns as they
are described in the story, and then ask them to talk about what they see in their own lives that
relate to these shapes and patterns.

Mathematics in Science and Nature

Outdoor Activities
Outdoor activities like gardening or being at playground offer opportunities to teach
measurement, geometry, and spatial relations. For example, measuring garden beds, or
calculating distances and angles while playing sports.
Grocery Shopping
Involve children in grocery shopping by having them help you count items, compare prices,
and calculate the total cost of items.

Cooking
Provides an excellent opportunity for teaching measurement and fractions. Invite children to
measure out ingredients with measuring cups and spoons or help you divide ingredients in
half or into quarters.

Daily Household Chores

Teach measurements through laundry or cleaning activities. Items for laundry can be sorted into
attributes by shape, size and color.

Time Management
1. Teach children how to read time on various clocks.

2. Difference between digital vs. traditional clock.

3. Concept of morning, afternoon, and night.

4. Plan schedules based on different times of the day.

Socio-Emotional Learning
Refers to the process through which children develop the skills to: understand, manage
emotions, build healthy relationships, and enhance their self-awareness and control. Lays the
foundation for children to become emotionally intelligent, resilient, and able to navigate life's
challenges in a healthy and positive way.

Emotion Identification
Using mirrors, facial expression cards, storybooks, and toys to help children understand their
emotions.

Empathy
Encourage children to see situations from another person's point of view by asking them to imagine how
they would feel in someone else's situation, and this could be achieved using puppets, role plays, or
storytelling.

Self-Regulation
Taking moments to pause, encouraging deep breathing, and mindfulness techniques provide opportunities
to practice self-regulation strategies.
 Positive Reinforcement
Providing positive feedback helps to increase self-esteem while also promoting prosocial behavior. This
can be done using storytelling, and songs.

Social Skills
Social skills help children interact with the world around them through relationship development, verbal
communication, and body language. Social skills benefit preschoolers as they make it easier for a child to
make friends, share with classmates, and cooperate with others

Social Skills Activities: Greetings and Introductions

Teach the Skill
Tell the child that when he meets someone new, he should say “Hi, I’m ____ (his name).
What’s your name?”

Practice the Skill

Have the child practice saying this to everyone that is available - peers and other teachers.

Use the Skill in Real Life

Take the child child somewhere that he will meet other children who do not know him well. This could be
the play-place at McDonald's, a park, or a community resource place

Teach the Skill

Tell your child that if she wants something that someone else has, she needs to ask for a turn. She can do
this by saying “my turn” or “May I have a turn”

Practice the Skill

Tell your child that if she wants something that someone else has, she needs to ask for a turn. She can do
this by saying “My turn” or “May I have a turn”

Use the Skill in Real Life

Take your child somewhere that she will be playing with other children. Remind your child that she will
need to ask politely for turns when she gets there.

Sharing and Empathy Skills

Importance of teaching sharing and empathy: Help children build connection, regulate emotion,
promote helping behaviors, and prevent bullying, teachers can encourage children to listen and
resolve conflicts peacefully. Model positive behaviour in the classroom as children imitate
teachers and peers in the classroom.
 Milestones in Empathy skills:

 6 months old - Babies start using social referencing.

 18 and 24 months old - toddlers develop a theory of mind.

 20 and 24 months - toddlers recognize one’s self in a mirror which signals that a child has a firm
understanding of himself as a separate person.

 48 months - understand the concept of empathy.

Activities to Promote Sharing

Pass the Object
1. Get the child to sit in a circle and hold onto an object. Roll balls

2. Play music and ask the children to pass around the object.

3. When the music stops. that child is either the winner, or they are ‘out’ ( depending on
which version of the game you prefer to do).

Roll Balls
1. Get a few coloured balls and place them on the chute, quite close to the edge.

2. Get the children to stand up with the parachute. The idea is to roll the ball around the
edge of the chute, in a wide circle, all helping to keep it from rolling off.

3. Remind the children to learn to help each other in keeping the ball in the center.

4. Cultivate the spirit of teamwork and empathy through reminders of who should have a
turn.

Sharing Bins
1. Create a box for each child with their photo on, and spread a range of items such as
legos, cars, and felt tips on a table.

2. Explain to the children that all the toys that will be offered on the table are to be
shared.

3. Let the children take it in turns to add items from the selection to their box.
 4. Cultivate the spirit of teamwork and empathy through reminders of who should have a
turn.

Paper Plate Friends

1.
Provide each child with a paper plate and explain they will be decorating their plates to
make funny faces.

2. Provide bowls of different materials such as coloured wool, straw, and buttons and
separate these amongst the table

3. Provide a limited number of scissors and glue to encourage the children to share
resources and possibly wait for others to finish using them first.

Teaching Empathy
Validation of Emotions
Teach children to cope with difficult situations by explaining or reasoning. Labeling and
validating difficult feelings actually helps children learn to handle them.

For example: “You are really mad that I gave Annie the toy first. I understand. You love the
animal toy. It’s okay to feel mad. When you are done being mad you can choose to request
your turn”.

Using “I” Messages

1. Use “I” messages to explain thoughts and feelings.

2. it models the importance of self-awareness.

3. For example, when a child hits, say “ I don’t like it when you hit me. It hurts.”

Empathy through Puppets

1. Use puppets or dolls to imitate sharing and empathy.

2. Create a puppet show in which one character is upset because a friend is not sharing.

3. Speak to the children and ask what they think should happen.

4. Explain that if the sad character takes the toy, it will upset the other character.

5. Allow the children to talk through the options and the effect on others.
 Language Teaching for Early Years
Language-rich environments help preschoolers learn more effectively and efficiently. Language
is critical to human interaction and communication, and it is crucial to cognitive and social
development. A preschool classroom is a setting where children learn critical language
skills. Essential to create a language-rich environment that will foster language development and
ensure children's success.

Speak in clear and correct language when conversing with children. Correct language usage
includes proper pronunciation, grammar, and syntax. Children learn by imitation; hence important
to cultivate proper habits. Language spoken should be age-appropriate, comprehensible, and
challenging to encourage children to enhance vocabulary development.
Books and other printed materials should be accessible: Associate the letter symbols on the page
with sounds and words. Reading books and participating in guided reading sessions with a
teacher can help develop vocabulary and comprehension skills. Speak in clear and correct
language when conversing with children about books.

Engaging in meaningful conversation with the children will foster language development and
encourage social interaction: Inspire children to initiate conversations, ask questions, and
participate in classroom discussions. Encourage expressions of emotion and thoughts to learn
new words, and phrases, and express ideas.

Importance of Creating a Language-Rich Environment

Engaging in meaningful conversation with the children will foster language development and
encourage social interaction: Inspire children to initiate conversations, ask questions, and
participate in classroom discussions. Encourage expressions of emotion and thoughts to learn
new words, and phrases, and express ideas.

Guided use of media and technology: Children should not be expected to comprehend all the
visuals and audio that they encounter. Teachers should be actively involved in guiding children in
their use of technology, using these tools in meaningful ways to support their learning.

Creating a Language-Rich Classroom

Use visual aids such as pictures, charts, and graphs to help children learn new vocabulary
easily. Hang posters with the English alphabet, colorful charts or with everyday objects that
describe them. Example: a poster of a pear cup with the word “pear” written in bold letters can
help the children learn both the object and its name. Reading aloud the following can help the
children improve their listening, speaking, and comprehension skills such as stories, books, and
poems. Select books with simple language and large pictures that are relatable to children.

Encourage conversation: Set aside time to share their experiences and thoughts.
Ask open-ended questions to express their ideas and opinions: 'What is your favorite fruit?' 'What
did you do over the weekend?'
Music and songs help children memorize new words and phrases easily through songs and
rhymes. Use age-appropriate songs with simple lyrics and an upbeat rhythm. For example, the
“Wheels on the Bus' song with hand movements encourages children to learn new words and
improve their pronunciation. Role-play activities such as acting out real-life scenarios using role-
play can help children learn new vocabulary and improve their speaking skills.

Create play areas in different parts of the classroom. e.g. a doctor's office, a grocery store, or a
restaurant. Encourage children to pretend buying and selling grocery items is a fun way to learn
new words and phrases.

Strategies to Incorporate Language Learning

Learning language is a brain exercise that helps children develop language skills, cognitive
abilities, and cultural awareness. Essential to have a strategy in place that will make the learning
process fun and enjoyable:
Play a game using new vocabulary words, e.g. "Simon Says", Read stories while introducing new
words and phrases.

Incorporate music and movement into language learning such as through songs, dances, and
fingerplays. Include foreign language learning into daily routines, like mealtime, where students
can learn food and eating-related vocabulary. Teach greetings and introduce cultural customs
from various parts of the world during circle time. Use technology e.g. online games, videos, and
other language-learning apps. Children must acquire different types of vocabulary: Listening,
Speaking, Writing and Reading.

Techniques for Teaching Vocabulary

Use visuals
Use colourful and interactive learning materials that can help them visually process new
vocabulary words. Use flashcards, pictures, and videos to help your students understand
complex terms. Example: Show students a picture of a dog, then ask them what the animal is
called. Then, provide them with the vocabulary word, and repeat it several times until they
are able to say it fluently.
Play Word Games
1. Games such as "I Spy" and "Scavenger Hunt" can be both educational and fun for
preschoolers.

2. Help children associate new vocabulary words with their meanings.

3. Example: Play a game of "I Spy" and ask the students to find objects that match the
description given by the teacher. For example, "I spy something that is red and has
four legs."

Use Repetition
1. Repetition is a tried and tested method for learning new words and accurate
pronunciation

2. Verbal repetition is a technique in which children articulate a word after hearing it

3. Repeat new vocabulary words as often as possible to help children retain them

4. Can use picture association as well to help reinforce the meaning of the words

5. Helps in teaching the concept of time of the day and opposites

Techniques for Teaching Grammar

Use Repetition
Use repetitive activities to help students master basic grammatical structures. The phrase is
repeated to provide clarity and emphasis, highlighting deeper meanings in the text. Example:
When teaching prepositions, provide students with multiple examples using these positions
(above, below, over, under, etc.) in sentences every day. For example "The ball is above the
tree" and "The bird flies over the street"

Use Songs
Songs with simple grammar structures. Children can learn and remember rhymes and lyrics
easily which can help them understand basic grammatical rules. Example: Teach the singular
and plural forms of nouns by singing a silly song: "One monkey, two monkeys, three
monkeys, four. Five monkeys jumping on the bed."

Model the Sentence Structure

Introduce a sentence as a group of words that express a complete thought that includes
vocabulary and grammar. Say aloud sentences consisting of nouns and verbs. Example: “ I am a
boy.”
 Teaching Speaking and Listening
Preschool children are in a stage of their social and emotional development where they are
learning to interact with others and express themselves verbally. Encouraging speaking and
listening skills in the classroom can help to develop their language and communication abilities.

Circle Time Discussions

Have group discussions and encourage children to speak up.

Designate a topic or theme for the conversation and encourage each child to share their
thoughts and experiences related to that topic.

For example, if the topic is "family," ask children to share a story about a family member or
describe what they like to do with their family

Show and Tell

Encourages children to practice speaking in front of their peers

Building their listening skills as they pay attention to their classmates.

Example: Choose a different child to bring in an item to share with the class, and encourage
them to describe why they chose the item and what makes it special to them.

Role-Playing
Listening to stories is an excellent way to develop children's listening skills.

Choose a variety of age-appropriate books and read them aloud to the class

For example, one child could be the doctor, while another child is the patient.

Encourage children to share their favorite parts of the story or ask questions about the plot.

Storytelling
Pair up children and encourage them to have conversations with each other. Provide prompts or questions
to get them started, such as "What is your favorite color?" or "What is your favorite food?"
 Addressing Language Learning
Partner Conversations
1. Active learning motivates children to learn and explore new concepts.

2. Encourage children to participate in hands-on learning activities, experiments, and

exploration.

3. Active learning helps children develop their thinking skills and critical thinking
abilities, which are crucial for cognitive development.

Story Time
1. Choose a variety of age-appropriate books and read them aloud to the class.

2. Encourage children to share their favorite parts of the story

3. Ask questions about the plot and invite responses.

Songs
1. Melody, rhythm, language, and movement can be taught through songs.

2. Singing nursery rhymes and children’s songs would help in building their vocabulary,
pronunciation skills, grammatical structures

3. For Example, "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" teaches body parts vocabulary and
introduces children to basic sentence structure by repeating the sentence “.

Use of Technology in the Preschool

Technology can make the language learning experience more interactive, engaging, and
effective.Technology can be one of the ways to create a real and enjoyable atmosphere for
young language learners when it is used correctly. Children can improve their language and
cultural awareness by using technology in different social and cultural contexts.

Interactive Whiteboards
Provide a fun and engaging way for children to learn languages. Teachers could make online
flashcards and quizzes for children to learn vocabulary, sentence structure, and phonetics.
Use videos or songs that can help children learn the language through listening and
comprehension skills.
 Educational Learning Apps
In the appstore - e,g. Apps like Duolingo, Teach Your Monster to Read, and Endless
Alphabet.

Apps make learning fun and interactive for children and can be used with minimal direction
or supervision.

Apps can enhance their language development by improving their vocabulary, grammar, and
comprehension skills..

Digital Games
Provides an exciting and interactive way for preschoolers to learn vocabulary, sentence formation, and
grammar.

Games like Bingo, Storytelling, and Word games can challenge children mentally whilst instilling
language learning concepts of spelling and vocabulary.

Video Conferencing
A great way to connect children with different cultures and language speakers worldwide.

Offers the opportunity to converse with someone who speaks the language fluently

Provides a real-time experience for children to engage in meaningful conversations and

exchange culture, ideals, and similarities with friends

Phonics and Literacy Teaching

Early Literacy Skills
Early literacy skills for preschoolers are:

Reading
Comprehending
Writing
Listening
Speaking
Components of Early Literacy Skills
Oral language development - listening comprehension, verbal expression, vocabulary
development skills.

Understanding the alphabetic code - phonological awareness and knowledge of the alphabet.

Print knowledge - awareness and understanding of print concepts such as directions to read a
book and book orientation.

Key Components
Phonemic Awareness: Focuses on developing an understanding of sounds and their
relationships to letters and words.

Activities: Rhyming games, Sound recognition exercises, Word segmentation

Activities to Teach Phonemic Awareness

Rhyming Games
Rhyme Exposure - The teacher sounds out rhyme to children

Rhyme Recognition - Children hear the rhyme and point it out

Rhyme Production - Get children to produce their own rhymes and ask “What rhymes with
what?

Sight Words Flashcard

Reveal the word on the flashcard.

Cover the flash card or word card with a piece of card and slowly reveal it.

Children are encouraged to guess which one it is.

Once the card is shown, chorally drill the word with the group using different intonations and
silly voices to keep it fun

Key Components of Teaching

Vocabulary Development: Expands children's word knowledge and comprehension skills.

Activities: Introducing new words through stories, labeling and discussing objects, and word
association games.

Sight Words: Helps children recognize frequently used words by sight.

Activities: flashcards, word walls, incorporating sight words into sentences.

Reading Aloud: Enhances listening skills, increases vocabulary, and fosters a love for reading.

Activities: engaging storytime sessions, interactive discussions, shared reading.

Effective Strategies for Teaching Literacy

Create a Literacy-Rich Environment
Fill classrooms with the following to foster a print-rich atmosphere. books, posters, labels.
Provide accessible reading materials that match children's interests and reading levels.

Make Literacy Interactive and Engaging

Incorporate hands-on activities and games that encourage active participation and stimulate
learning. Songs and rhymes, creating with playdough, reading aloud.

Personalize Instruction
Recognize and adapt to individual learning needs and preferences. guided reading, buddy
reading.

Provide differentiated activities and materials to cater to diverse abilities at their own pace: helps
to build phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and phonological awareness.

Collaborate With Families

Involve parents and caregivers in supporting literacy development at home. Share suggestions
for read-aloud and interactive activities that can be done together at home. Provide a homework
package to explain the literacy activities that are done at home so that they can follow-up at
home.

Nurturing Emotional Intelligence in Preschoolers

Emotional Intelligence In Preschoolers
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, manage, and express emotions
effectively at a young age.

Teaching emotional intelligence helps to build: self-awareness, empathy, and better

communication skills.

Navigate social interactions, build positive relationships, and cope with the challenges
Benefits of Teaching Emotional Skills
1. Improved social relationships as they understand their own emotions.

2. Enhanced communication skills as children learn to express feelings.

3. Better self-regulation and behavior to cope with frustration or disappointment.

4. Increased empathy and kindness make preschoolers more compassionate.

5. Long-term mental health benefits.

Understanding Preschoolers' Emotional Development

1. Preschoolers experience a wide range of emotions. joy, excitement, frustration, sadness.

2. Limited emotional vocabulary and regulation skills make it challenging to manage

feelings effectively.

3. Importance of modeling and guidance.

Components of Teaching Emotional Skills to Preschoolers

Emotion Recognition
1. Help preschoolers identify and label emotions, and use facial expressions, drawings,
and stories.

2. Studying facial cues and expressions helps with emotion association

3. Drawings help to convey nuances of emotions helping to recognise feelings of self

and others

Emotion Regulation
1. Teach coping strategies help to manage feelings effectively, deep breathing, counting,
etc.

2. Encourage them to express emotions constructively through:

3. Verbal communication, creative outlets, physical activities

Empathy to Help Preschoolers
1. Promote understanding of others' feelings through role-playing.

2. Stories that explore different perspectives of character’s feelings.

3. Lays the groundwork for healthier relationships.

Social Skills
1. Encourage sharing, cooperation, and conflict resolution.Teach the "Golden Rule” as
follows:

2. Do Unto Others as You Would Have them Do Unto You.

3. Don't treat people the way you wouldn't want to be treated.

4. Treat other people the way you want them to treat you.

Strategies for Teaching Emotional Skills

Storytelling
Read age-appropriate books with emotional themes. e.g. Ruby’s Worry by Tom Percival, I
Am Not Scared by Todd Parr.

Discuss characters' feelings and actions:

Build a feelings vocabulary.

Pause to check in with yourself and your kids throughout the day.

Name and notice the emotions you’re feeling– and how they come and go.

Emotion Play
Engage in play activities that involve emotional expression (e.g., puppets, dolls). For
example, your preschooler could pretend to be kind and concerned like a teacher or a doctor.

Create opportunities for messy play, like playing with sand, mud or paints. This is a great
way for children to express feelings like happiness or sadness.

Encourage your child to paint and draw as a way of expressing emotions. Painting and
drawing can soothe and calm your child if they’re frustrated or sad.

Allow open discussions during play.

Mindfulness and Relaxation Activities
Practice intentional breathing.

Focus on the five senses.

Create mandalas used in colouring.

Get in touch with the nature.

Engage and explore the senses through outdoor environment activities.

Create a sensory surprise bag.

Practice relaxation techniques like yoga for kids.

Feelings Chart
Create a visual chart of emotions.

Take pictures of each feeling.

Select one emotion at a time and take pictures of children making facial expression that matches
the feeling.

Print/Develop the pictures and attach them to the poster template.

Add different pictures of other emotions as children learn to identify and express the different
feelings.

Use it to identify and discuss daily emotions - glad, fear, surprise, disgust, anger, worry and
happy.

Incorporating Emotional Learning into Curriculum

Embed Emotional Learning
1. Start the day with a student check-in
2. Create opportunities for partner and group work
3. Build social-emotional vocabulary
4. Include reflective writing
5. Allow time for talking
6. Link emotions to academic subjects (e.g., art projects representing emotions).
7. Design a “calm-down corner.”
Challenges Implementing a Socio-emotional
1. Limited Attention Span making it difficult to engage preschoolers during lessons .

2. Diverse Learning Styles of preschoolers make it difficult to find teaching strategies

that cater to the individual needs of each child in a classroom setting.

3. Emotional Regulation may be difficult for some children making it difficult for them
to participate in lessons effectively

Solutions in Overcoming Challenges

1. Use short, interactive activities like games, stories, and hands-on tasks, breaking lessons
into manageable segments for age-appropriate engagement and sustained interest.

2. Differentiated Instruction helps to address the diversity of learning styles among

preschoolers.

3. Create an emotion-centric classroom environment to help preschoolers develop

emotional regulation skills.

Assessing Emotional Development in Preschoolers

Use the following approaches to assess the social-emotional growth of children and the skills
acquired in the classroom: observations, direct observations, behavioural patterns, checklists,
and discussions with parents.

Direct Observation in the classroom, playground, or during social interactions. Observe how
children respond to situations, handle conflicts, and express their emotions. Tracking behavioral
patterns by carefully observing a child's behavior over time to identify patterns which include how
they can be supported. how a child responds to stress,
interaction with peers, and handling transitions.
Emotional Development Checklists provide a structured way to assess various aspects of a
child's emotional growth. emotional expression, social interactions, and self-regulation. Teachers
can use these checklists to track a child's progress and provide intervention. Teachers can get
input about a child's behavior and emotional responses at home, which can complement the
observations made in a preschool.

Structured parent interviews provide details about the child’s emotional development. Maintaining
open communication with parents can allow sharing of concerns or observations about the child’s
emotional well-being.
 Language Teaching for Early Years
Importance of early grammar skills:

A strong foundation for future language development.

Enhanced language proficiency

Clarity in communication and writing skills.

Introducing Grammar Concepts

Reading Books, Storytelling, and Conversation
1. Diverse Book Collection: exposes children to varied sentence structures; use of nouns,
verbs, and adjectives

2. Interactive storytelling: encourage children to complete sentences or describe

characters

3. Circle time discussions: sharing of thoughts and feelings to complete sentences

Immersion in a Language-Rich Educational Setting

1. Vibrant classroom environment: display colourful posters and charts
2. Using labels everywhere in the classroom e.g furniture, learning centres
3. Using word of the day concept: discuss the meaning of words and its use in sentences.

Encourage Questions and Curiosity

1. Playing the "Why" Game

2. Show and tell
3. Ask Open-Ended questions

Building Receptive Vocabulary

Vocabulary Development
1. Vocabulary development is a crucial precursor to grammar.
2. Vocabulary is the foundation of communication.
3. Early vocabulary development linked to reading and writing success.
4. Preschoolers' brains learn thousands of words during preschool years
5. Vocabulary development precedes grammar acquisition.
6. Knowing words helps children understand and use sentence structures.
Use Age-Appropriate Books and Activities
1. Selecting Age-Appropriate Books:
2. Developmentally appropriate level, themes and illustrations, and language
complexity.
3. Exposes children to vocabulary while keeping them interested in learning.
4. Interactive Reading: Ask questions about the story, characters, and events.
5. Vocabulary-rich Activities: Pair books with real-life activities (e.g. visiting a zoo after
reading about animals)

Explore Synonyms, Antonyms, and Word Families

1. Synonyms: Introduce words that have similar meanings. e.g. "happy," and provide
examples of synonyms like "joyful," "cheerful," and "content."

2. Antonyms: introduce words with opposite meanings. e.g. "big" and provide examples of
antonyms like "small" or "little."

3. Word Families: show words that share a common root or base word. E.g. the word family
for "read" includes "reader," "reading," "reads," and "readable."

Basic Grammar Concepts

1. Simplicity is the key guiding principle.

2. Focus on foundational concepts:

3. Nouns (people, places, things)

4. Verbs (action words)

5. Adjectives (descriptive words)

Activities to Teach Nouns

Grasp Essential Concepts
Nouns are words that name people, places, things, or ideas. Helping children grasp this
concept is essential for building their language skills. Here are activities for teaching nouns:
Name the object, Show and tell, Stories exercises, Noun sorting activities, Noun and game
puzzles, Art and Craft activities

Name the Object

Activity 1: Create a classroom word hunt where students search for specific nouns, such as "Find
something blue" or "Locate an animal."
Activity 2: Use flashcards with images of various nouns, and have students take turns naming the objects
they see.
Activity 3: Set up a "noun center" with various objects, toys, or pictures, and encourage students to label
and describe them using nouns.
Show and Tell
Organize regular show-and-tell sessions where students bring in an item from home and explain what it is,
what it's used for, and why it's special. This helps reinforce their understanding of concrete nouns.
Encourage students to use adjectives alongside their nouns to provide more detailed descriptions. For
example, "I brought my soft, stuffed teddy bear."

Noun Sorting Activities

Provide students with a variety of word cards containing nouns and other word types like verbs or
adjectives. Have them sort these cards into different categories, emphasizing the noun category. For
advanced learners, introduce abstract nouns like love, happiness, or freedom and discuss their meanings
and how they differ from concrete nouns.

Stories Exercises
Encourage students to write short stories or sentences using nouns. You can provide prompts like "Write a
story about a magical castle," prompting them to use nouns like "castle," "wizard," and "dragon." Read
stories or books together, and ask students to identify and underline the nouns they come across in the text.

Noun Games and Puzzles

Incorporate educational games and puzzles that focus on nouns, such as crossword puzzles or word
searches. These activities can make learning more enjoyable and help reinforce noun recognition.

Art and Craft Projects

Combine creativity and language learning by engaging in art and craft projects. For instance, have students
create noun collages by cutting out pictures from magazines and categorizing them into different noun
groups. Alternatively, they can make noun-themed drawings or paintings, labeling the nouns they include.

Action-Oriented Games
Action-oriented games and activities. Incorporate movement and action. e.g. jumping, dancing, running,
verb-rich storytelling. Make learning more immersive and memorable.

Interactive Activities for Teaching Grammar

Fun and Engaging Activities
1. Fun and engaging activities to reinforce grammar concepts:
2. Sorting games (nouns, verbs, adjectives)
3. Storytelling with creative elements.
4. Puppet shows and role-play
Teaching Grammar Through Storytelling
1. Narrating and creating stories.
2. Encourage preschoolers to use nouns, verbs, and adjectives in their stories.
3. Gradually introduce basic sentence structure

Visual Aid and Digital Resources

1. Use visuals, charts, and flashcards.
2. Incorporate educational apps and interactive media.
3. Educational videos and songs.
4.
Encouraging Questions and Curiosity
1. Create an environment where children feel comfortable asking questions.
2. Encourage them to explore language.
3. Praise their efforts and curiosity.

Helping Preschoolers to Learn Grammar

Collaboration With Parents
1. Engage parents in the learning process.
2. Share resources and tips for reinforcing grammar at home.
3. Encourage regular communication between school and home.

Challenges and Solutions

1. common challenges: attention span and engagement.

2. Tips and strategies for overcoming these obstacles: games, visual

aids, storytelling, breaking down into bite-sized information, and
providing information into age-appropriate segments.

Focus on Preschool Early Literacy

Understanding the Significance
1. Foundation for Lifelong Learning
2. Enhanced Cognitive Development
3. Increased Self-Confidence
Developmental Milestones in Literacy
1. Sequential Progression
2. Emergent Reading and Writing
3. Vocabulary Expansion
4. Phonological and Phonemic Awareness
5. Print Concepts

Importance of a Literacy-rich Environment

1. Language Enrichment
2. Cognitive Development
3. Early Literacy Skills:
4. Social and Emotional Growth
5. Preparation for School Success

Phonological Awareness
1. Foundation for Reading

2. Sound-Symbol Correspondence

3. Reading Comprehension

4. Predictor of Literacy Skills

5. Intervention and Support

Activities to Develop Phonological Awareness

Rhyming Games Through Rhyming Text
1. Choose a book with rhyming text e.g. Giraffes Can't Dance Giles Andreae or nursery
rhymes e.g. twinkle twinkle little star and read it aloud to the child.
2. Pause at rhyming words and ask the child to identify them. For example, in "Twinkle,
Twinkle, Little Star," ask, "What words rhyme with 'star'?"
3. Encourage the child to come up with their own rhyming words related to the story.

Phoneme Segmentation Using Picture Book

1. Select a simple picture book with clear illustrations. e.g. “Where is the spot?”

2. Point to objects or characters in the book and ask the child to identify the initial sound
of the word. For example, "What sound do you hear at the beginning of 'dog'?"

3. Gradually progress to more complex words and ask them to identify sounds in the
middle or end of words. “e.g. which letter has the /p/ sound in the word Spot?”
Sound Blending
1. Choose a story with repetitive phrases or sentences.
2. Read a sentence but segment a word into its individual sounds, e.g., "C-a-t sat on the
m-a-t."
3. Ask the child to blend the sounds together to guess the word. This helps them
understand the connection between sounds and words.

Activities That Utilize Rhymes and Songs

Rhyme Time Treasure Hunt
1. Create a list of rhyming words related to a theme or topic (e.g., animals, food, colors).
2. Hide pictures or objects representing these words around the room or outdoor area.
3. Sing a rhyme or song related to the chosen theme and encourage children to find the
hidden items that rhyme with the words in the rhyme. For example, if you sing about
a "cat" and "hat," children search for a picture of a "bat."

Phonemic Sound Chants

1. Select a specific phoneme (sound) you want to focus on, such as the "b" sound.
2. Create a chant or song that incorporates words with that phoneme, like "Bouncing
Bunnies by the Blue Bay."
3. As you sing the chant, emphasize the target phoneme. Encourage children to join in
and emphasize the sound with you. This activity helps children become more aware of
specific phonemes in words

Song-Based Storytelling
1. Choose a popular song, such as "Baby Shark" or "The Wheels on the Bus."
2. Read a short story related to the song's theme or characters.
3. After reading, sing the corresponding song together and ask the children to identify
words or phrases from the story that were also in the song. This reinforces vocabulary
and comprehension through familiar melodies.

Alphabet Awareness and Letter Recognition

Teaching the Alphabet as a Pre-reading/Writing Skill
1. Foundation for Literacy as building blocks of written language
2. Letter Recognition to identify and decode words in text
3. Phonemic Awareness for reading and spelling
4. Print Awareness to understand the orientation of the text
5. Pre-writing skills to recognise and form letters
Letter Recognition Activities as a Pre-reading / Writing Skills:
1. Early Reading Proficiency in which being able to identify and distinguish letters helps in decoding
words, sentences, and eventually, full texts.
2. Alphabetical Order aids in locating and organizing information, such as in dictionaries and
encyclopedias
3. Phonics Development Understanding the relationship between letters and sounds, which is
essential for reading and spelling.
4. Letter formation to shape letters when they start writing words to sentences
5. Print awareness in which understanding that letters form words, words create sentences, and text is
read from left to right.

Introducing Reading to Pre-schoolers

Word Building with Letter Tiles
Provide children with letter tiles or magnetic letters. Select simple, three-letter words (e.g.,
fat, dog, sun) related to their vocabulary. Ask them to use the letter tiles to build the words by
matching the letters to the corresponding sounds. Encourage them to sound out each letter as
they place it, reinforcing the connection between letters and phonemic awareness.

Hear the Rhymes and Spell

Focus on word families (e.g., -at, -ug, -en) that share common endings. Provide a list of words from the
same word family (e.g., cat, hat, bat). Ask children to identify the common ending and practice spelling
new words within that word family (e.g., rat, mat, sat). This activity reinforces both phonemic awareness
and spelling patterns.

Picture-Word Matching
Select a set of picture cards depicting simple objects or animals (e.g., cat, dog, sun). On separate cards,
write the corresponding words. Encourage children to match each picture with its corresponding word,
associating the written word with the image. This activity promotes word recognition and reinforces the
connection between written and spoken language.

Interactive Storytelling
Choose a picture book with engaging illustrations and a simple storyline. As you read the book together,
encourage the children to participate actively by asking questions about the pictures, predicting what might
happen next, or discussing the characters' feelings and actions. After finishing the story, have a group
discussion to recap the plot and ask the children to share their favorite parts or suggest alternate
endings. This activity enhances comprehension and critical thinking while making reading interactive and
enjoyable.
Role-Play of Characters From Storybook
Select a story with well-defined characters. Get children to read a book in groups and ask each other to
help to read out words are have difficulty pronouncing. After reading the book, invite the children to
engage in role-play by taking on the roles of the characters. They can act out scenes from the story, use
props or costumes, and even improvise their own dialogues. This activity encourages creativity,
imaginative play, and a deeper comprehension of the story's characters and their ability to recall of story
plot.

Choosing Appropriate Books for Preschoolers to Maintain Curiosity

Age-appropriate content such as illustrations and themes related to daily experiences. Diverse Topics e.g.
nature, family, friendship, and cultural diversity. Engaging Illustrations and captivating pictures
complement the text. Interactive Features e.g. lift-the-flap, touch-and-feel, and sound buttons. Child's
Interests e.g dinosaurs, dragons, unicorns, pugs

Introducing Writing to Preschoolers

Foundational Pre-writing Skills
1. Fine Motor Development - colouring, using playdough or threading.

2. Basic Strokes and Shapes - straight lines, curves, circles and zig-zags.

3. Creating Lines and Patterns - connecting the dots, tracing along simple mazes.

Scribbling and Drawing Stages

1. Exploratory Scribbling where children hold writing tools and make marks on papers.

2. Controlled scribbling where they make intentional shapes and lines although they
make still appear abstract.

3. Representational Drawing of objects or people and forming some shapes of letters.

4. Early Writing Attempts -to write own names or simple words e.g. dog, cat.

Selecting Appropriate Writing Materials and Tools

1. Exploratory Scribbling is where children hold writing tools and make marks on paper.

2. Controlled scribbling where they make intentional shapes and lines although they make
still appear abstract.

3. Representational Drawing of objects or people and forming some shapes of letters.

4. Early Writing Attempts - writing own names or simple words e.g. dog, cat.
 Penmanship and Fine Motor Skills
Developing Fine Motor Skills
1. Colouring: Hold and maneuver crayons or colored pencils with precision. Learning to
stay within line

2. Cutting Using scissors: Coordinated finger and hand movement to cut along lines and
shapes. Manipulating

3. Small Objects: Building blocks, beads, or puzzles helps to sharpen fine motor skills

Teaching Basic Penmanship

1. Correct Grip: foundation for developing proper penmanship (precise control and comfort). Tripod
grip where the tool is between the thumb and first two fingers

2. Comfort and Control: Controlled grip leads to writing with ease and accuracy, minimising fatigue

3. Hand Position: Encourage children to maintain relaxed wrists and appropriate distance from paper
for legible handwriting

Letter Formation and Writing Practice

1. Starting Points and Direction: Emphasize starting points and the direction of strokes e.g. letter "A"
:

2. Starting Point: Begin at the top of the letter.

3. Direction of Strokes: First, form a diagonal line from the top left to the bottom right. Then, create
another diagonal line from the top right to the bottom left. Finally, add a horizontal line
connecting the two diagonals at the center.

Letter Formation and Writing Practice

1. Proper Sizing and Spacing:
2. Teach children to pay attention to the size of letters and spaces between them.
3. Practice on lined paper helps to reinforce skills.
4. Practice and Repetition:
5. Provide opportunities to practice writing letters and words accordingly.
6. Introduce more complex words and sentences as their skills develop.
 Emotional Strategies in the Early Years - Lesson
Summary

Below you will find key information covered in this module:

 Number sense refers to the children's ability to understand and manipulate numbers and their relationships
in real-life contexts.

 Number sense includes number identification and counting which is the first concept that should be
introduced in preschool education

 Excellent way to introduce preschoolers to numbers from zero to ten. For example: counting objects in the
classroom or counting steps while walking.

 Spatial awareness is a child’s capacity to imagine or visualize in one’s mind the positions of objects, their
shapes, their spatial relations to one another, and the movement they make to form new spatial relations.

 Symmetry refers to a balanced, harmonious relationship between the different parts of an object or shape.

 Outdoor activities like gardening or being at playground offer opportunities to teach measurement,
geometry, and spatial relations

 Sorting and classifying is the ability to group objects or ideas into categories based on their similarities and
differences.

 Socio-Emotional Learning refers to the process through which children develop the skills to: understand,
manage emotions, build healthy relationships, and enhance their self-awareness and control.

Early Movement and Discovery - Learning Outcomes

Having completed this module you will be able to:

 Analyze the early years framework on expressive arts and creativity.

 Summarize aesthetic learning in early education.

 Evaluate techniques to creative teaching of colors to children.

 Discuss artwork engagement with children to explore understanding of colors.

 Describe teaching colors through everyday play.

 Recognize the two forms of guided play.

Module 3: Early Movement and Discovery

What are Movement Activities?

What are they?
Movement activities, also known as gross motor activities, engage the body's large muscles,
contributing to the development of gross motor coordination. For children, movement may be
wild, and regular exercise is sought through play activities with enough freedom. While free
play is important, initiating specific movement and gross motor activities with a child helps
develop large muscle groups.

Activities can be designed for several reasons in which children can take a break from intense
play, to encourage outdoor play, skill-building, or for bonding and fun. Movement activities
foster skills like turn-taking, cooperation, vocabulary development, social skills, and various
gross motor skills (strength, balance, hand-eye coordination).

Movement activities the early years

● There are many different kinds of activities which is tied to movement: Imaginative and creative
activities such as drawing, all sorts of games, physical play such as rolling a ball or dancing.

● During playtime is one of the main ways that children learn, develop and grow especially
including their motor skills development, keeping them healthy and build their coordination and
strength.

● Physical play involving your child each day strengthens their muscles and bones and gives
them the chance to practice physical skills. It’s also good for children's confidence, as they test
their abilities and discover that they can climb higher, run faster and jump further all the time.

● When a child gets plenty of physical activity into their day through play, it’s good for their
overall health and wellbeing.

● Children also explore and learn about the world through movement and play to keep build their
coordination and strength and at build their cognitive understanding of the world,

● Each stage of development comes with new opportunities for learning as exemplified
below: infant explore by touching, grasping, banging something, or crawling. Toddler explore by
walking or climbing. Young children can be curious and excited to learn about their surroundings.

Fundamental Movement Skills

Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) underpin daily living activities and serve as the foundation
for engaging in sports and more complex movement skills as children grow. The early years are
particularly crucial for establishing and developing this foundation. The fundamental movement
skills to be developed through Health and Physical Education include:
1. Locomotor Skills:
Refer to body movements involved in transitioning from one place to another. Many locomotor skills are
utilised in daily activities (e.g. running after a bus or leaping over a puddle). They are also fundamental in
various games and sports (e.g. jumping up to catch a ball or dodging an opponent) as well as during active
play (e.g. crawling through a tunnel or climbing in the playground).

2. Stability (non-locomotor):
Skills involve a child in maintaining and/or attaining balance. Stability is a key element for every human
movement and necessary for all locomotor and object skills. Examples of stability skills include static and
dynamic balance, bending and curling, turning, twisting, and stretching.

3. Object Control (manipulative):

Skills require the child to control an object using part of the body or using equipment. Object control skills
involve:

● Sending an object away (e.g. rolling, throwing or kicking a ball)

● Receiving an object (e.g. catching a balloon)
● Controlling an object (e.g bouncing or dribbing a ball)

Exploring Movement Through Physical Activities for

Young Children
There are several ways to explore movement through physical activities as for young children which
are exemplified below:

3 Years and Below

The young ones aged 3 years and below learn a lot by experimenting on their own. If the
child looks like they are concentrating on something, like pouring water in the bath or
stacking blocks, stand back for a moment and let them problem-solve for themselves. This is
exercise for their brain coordinating with their motor skills.

Drawing is a good way to exercise little hands and be creative. Put out some crayons and
paper. Childrencan also experiment with tearing and folding the paper to build the
finger strength and coordination.

Ranges of Motor Movements

Use blocks, cardboard boxes or plastic cups to build a tower and ask the following questions
to explore various ranges of motor movements:

○ “How high can you go?“

○ “What happens when you knock it over?”
○ “What other shapes can you build?”
Teachers Matter for Children’s Movement
Teachers play a crucial role in helping children stay active, particularly those from marginalized
communities.

Unfortunately, children are least active during classroom lessons, with those in center-based
preschools and full-day kindergarten being less active than their part-time or home-based
childcare counterparts.

Given the predominantly sedentary nature of typical educational programming, this article offers
guidance to support teachers in providing more opportunities for energetic play and movement to
support self-regulation, well-being, and academic achievement.

Advantages of Movement Activities in Early Childhood

What are they?
1. Regular physical activity during infancy is crucial for proper growth and
development, preventing developmental delays.

2. Movement activities promote brain development as children's brains grow through

movement and exploration, evident in babies spending hours moving and exploring.

3. Throughout preschool years, children require ample movement for continued growth

Opportunities for Physical Activity

Energetically playful and physically active lessons can be integrated throughout the school
day. Incorporate physical literacy principles into the curriculum, encouraging movement at
different intensities to boost self-regulation. Build movement opportunities into the daily
schedule, creating chances for children to move more and sit less.

Encourage all forms of movement, making activities inclusive and celebrating various skills
(see lesson plan : rolling Around Movement Activity). Model physical activity inside and
outside the classroom, participating in movement and sharing active habits. Make movement
meaningful and fun, using it to help children set goals and connect with others.

Opportunities for Self-Regulation in the Classroom

Incorporate movement into playful learning centers, integrating it with story time, numeracy skills,
and writing. Take activities outdoors, providing opportunities for increased physical activity and
hands-on environmental learning. Balance opportunities for unstructured and structured play,
allowing children to self-select activities and fostering a supportive classroom environment.

Promote culturally-responsive and inclusive movement, supporting all children's participation

throughout the day. Make physical activity a way to connect with families, supporting parents in
understanding the importance of movement and encouraging knowledge sharing about different
cultures and forms of movement.
 Lesson Plan - Rolling Around
The Lesson Plan
The "Rolling Around" movement activity is designed to engage children in a fun and
beneficial gross motor skill development session. Participants pretend to be logs of wood,
stretching their arms overhead and rolling on the grass to coordinate their ear, neck, shoulder,
and hip muscles while building overall strength. The activity offers versatility by
incorporating sloped environments for an added element of enjoyment, particularly when
rolling downhill. Additionally, participants can experience the joy of movement by using
blankets on the grass, where one child holds an end while the other rolls into the mat and out
again.

This holistic approach to motor skill development not only emphasizes physical coordination
but also encourages social interaction and cooperation among children. Through guided
warm-ups, demonstrations, and reflection, the lesson plan aims to create a positive and
engaging experience, fostering a lifelong appreciation for physical activity.

Objectives
● Develop gross motor skills in children through the rolling movement activity.
● Enhance coordination of ear, neck, shoulder, and hip muscles.
● Build strength and body awareness.

Materials Needed
● Open outdoor space or a park with a sloped area.
● Blanket for each child participating.

Introduction (5 minutes)
● Greeting: Welcome the children and gather them in a circle.
● Engagement: Begin with a brief discussion about movement and the importance of staying active for a
healthy lifestyle.

Warm-Up (5 minutes)
● Stretching: Lead the children in simple stretching exercises to prepare their muscles for movement.
● Discussion: Briefly discuss the parts of the body involved in rolling (ear, neck, shoulder, hip muscles).

Activity (15 minutes)

● Demonstration: Demonstrate the rolling movement by pretending to be logs of wood. Model stretching
arms overhead, rolling on the grass, and moving hands to the edges.
● Group Practice: Have the children practice the rolling movement together, emphasizing coordination and
smooth transitions.
● Sloped Rolling (if available): If in a garden with a slope or a grassy bank at a park, encourage children to
experience the added fun of rolling downhill.
● Blanket Rolling: Lay blankets on the grass. In pairs, one child holds an end of the blanket while the other
lies on the opposite end. The child on the blanket rolls into the mat, then rolls out again.
Cool Down (5 minutes)
● Relaxation: Guide the children in a short relaxation activity, encouraging them to lie down and breathe
deeply.
● Reflection: Ask the children about their experience with rolling and how it felt to use different muscles.

Closure (5 minutes)
● Summarize the activity, discussing the importance of movement for physical development.
● Applaud the children for their participation and effort in the rolling activity.

Assessment
● Observe each child's participation and ability to follow the rolling instructions, noting improvements in
coordination and muscle control.
● The early childhood curriculum recognizes play as fundamental for children's development as it
encourages motor movement
● Utilizing play, learning, and development in early childhood education addresses concerns about a
potential shift from play-based to goal-oriented education.

Lesson Plan - What Am I? (Animal Movements)

The Lesson Plan
The "What Am I?" lesson proved to be an engaging and multifaceted activity, focusing on
the development of fantasy play, thinking skills, and gross motor abilities. The session
involved participants choosing different animals and creatively maneuvering like them, with
the added excitement of alternating guesses about the chosen creature. To enhance the
challenge, diverse categories were suggested, encouraging participants to imitate animals
with specific movements such as jumping, flying, or running.

The lesson fostered creativity, social interaction, and cognitive skills as participants explored
a range of movements. The selection of creatures, including a tortoise, crab, elephant, seal,
snake, butterfly, and rabbit, provided a diverse and enjoyable experience, contributing to a
holistic development of the children involved.

Objective
● Develop gross motor skills, fantasy play, and thinking skills through the "Who Am I?" animal movement
activity.
● Enhance creativity and physical coordination by imitating various animals.
● Foster social interaction through alternating guessing and role-playing.

Materials Needed
● Open indoor or outdoor space.
● Animal cards or images for reference.
Introduction (5 minutes)
● Greet the children and gather them in a circle.
● Discuss the importance of movement for both physical and mental development. Introduce the "Who
Am I?" activity as a fun way to combine imagination and gross motor skills.

Warm-Up (5 minutes)
● Conduct a brief stretching session to prepare the children's muscles for movement.
● Explain that the activity involves pretending to be different animals, encouraging creativity and
movement.

Activity (15 minutes)

● Demonstrate how to move like different animals, using exaggerated movements. Showcase the animals
on the provided list (tortoise, crab, elephant, seal, snake, butterfly, rabbit).
● Have the children practice imitating each animal, emphasizing the unique movements associated with
each one.
● Introduce the guessing element by having children take turns picking an animal and acting it out. The
rest of the group guesses the animal.
● Make the activity more challenging by suggesting different categories (animals that jump, fly, or run)
and having children choose animals accordingly.

Cool Down (5 minutes)

● Guide the children in a short relaxation activity, encouraging them to take deep breaths.
● Discuss the different animals imitated and ask the children about their favorite part of the activity.

Closure (5 minutes)
● Summarize the activity, emphasizing the combination of physical movement, imagination, and social
interaction.
● Applaud the children for their creativity and participation.

Assessment
Observe each child's engagement, creativity, and ability to imitate various animals, noting their enthusiasm
and understanding of the activity's objectives.

World Health Organization Guidelines on Physical

Activities
World Health Organization Guidelines recommend children engage in a variety of movement
intensities throughout the day. Energetic play: especially at higher intensities, promotes
children's health and development. Higher intensity activities : like running, jumping jacks, and
wheelchair use benefit heart health and reduce anxiety and depression. Walking or stretching
while seated is beneficial for restoring attention. The intensity continuum ranges from standing to
light walking to higher intensities in the "huff and puff" category, raising heart rate and inducing
breathlessness. Active learning across various intensities, especially higher intensity activities,
offers maximum benefits to children:

1. Light Intensity Activities

1. Stretching, throwing a ball, sliding down a slide, slow crawling, marching, reaching for the sky,
and touching the ground.
2. Can be performed while sitting or standing.

2. Moderate Intensity Activities

Fast walking, wheelchair use, repeated jumping, hopping, skipping, climbing inclines,
climbing on play equipment, swinging with legs kicking.

3. Vigorous "Huff and Puff" Intensity Activities

Jogging, running, walking upstairs, bicycle/tricycle riding, jumping jacks, jumping rope, climbing
across bars, wheelchair sprinting.

Case Observation of a Movement Activity to Help a Child

Regulate Emotions.
It is crucial to approach the movement activities with a positive perspective, avoiding its use as a
form of punishment or as a consequence for challenging behavior. Instead, educators should
adopt a responsive approach, recognizing challenging behaviors as potential indicators of a
child's unmet need for increased movement opportunities. In such instances, movement can be
employed as a constructive tool to aid in regulating a child's behavior and emotions in a healthy
and supportive manner.

This shift in perspective aligns with a more holistic understanding of children's needs,
emphasizing the importance of movement as a positive influence on their overall well-being and
development, which is illustrated in the next slide with the case study. When Sarah, a pre-
kindergarten student, became frustrated with the counting lesson, they threw the counting bears
all over the floor.

Their teacher, Miss Dawn, expertly and immediately engaged movement to address the strong
emotion. First, Miss Dawn calmly reminded Sarah of the dangers and damage that could result
from throwing toys. Then, recognizing Sarah’s frustration may reflect a need for an active break,
suggested Sarah move in a bear crawl to pick up each bear, count each one as they pick them
up, and return each bear safely to the bucket.
 Physical Literacy
 Physical literacy develops knowledge, skills, and attitudes for a healthy, active life in children and it
Involves understanding body movement and language to describe it.

 Similar to language literacy, physical literacy denotes the ability to move the body with competence and
confidence across various physical activities and environments.

 Young children's physical literacy emphasizes gaining independence to transition into healthy, active
adolescents.

 Studies indicate a correlation between physical literacy in preschoolers and active, skilled adolescents,
highlighting the importance of early development for long-term physical well-being.

 Children should learn that the best activities are those they enjoy for life.

 Sampling various activities like dance, yoga, Tai Chi, stretching, games, and sports is essential.

 Practices like Yoga Nidra and body scan meditation enhance embodied awareness.

 Culturally responsive teaching incorporates diverse languages during activities.

 Developing patterns of joyous physical activity from a young age is crucial.

The Young Child and Physical Literacy

A young child who is physically literate is one who has the motivation confidence, knowledge,
skills, and fitness necessary to enjoy a physically active lifestyle and who is committed to healthy
habitual movement behaviors, including recommended regular physical activity and limited
sedentary behaviour. This includes factors like:

 Physical Activity - Involves engaging in body movements that not only enhance health but also contribute
to increased energy expenditure. This includes various forms of exercise and play.
 Fundamental Movement Skills - Comprises the foundational building blocks for basic movement. These
skills include achieving balance, mastering locomotor movements like running, jumping, hopping, and
skipping, non-locomotor actions such as twisting, spinning, bending, lifting, and swinging, as well as
object control skills like throwing, catching, and kicking.
 Perceptual Motor Development - Encompasses crucial skills such as hand-eye coordination, essential for
activities like hitting a baseball. Spatial awareness involves moving in different directions and heights
(high, low, forward, backward). The brain-to-body connection is demonstrated through actions like the
right hand touching the left knee. The concept of speed (fast vs slow) is also a part of perceptual motor
development.
 Capacity - Involves the child's knowledge, competency, and understanding of physical activity. This
encompasses not only the ability to perform specific movements but also an understanding of the benefits
and importance of staying physically active.
 Motivation - Involves the child's knowledge, competency, and understanding of physical activity. This
encompasses not only the ability to perform specific movements but also an understanding of the benefits
and importance of staying physically active.
 Confidence - Denotes the child's self-reliance and assuredness in their ability to move and be physically
active. Confidence is crucial for trying new activities, overcoming challenges, and maintaining a positive
attitude toward physical endeavors.

Promoting Physical Literacy

What is it?
Learning movement skills occur naturally when children interact with the environment and
the world around them (e.g., with others, in the classroom, outdoors, playground). Creating
exciting and positive movement experiences for preschoolers is easier than one may think. By
adopting an approach that puts the child at the centre and taking on the role of facilitators,
educators can guide preschoolers towards meaningful movement experiences.

Teachers introduce and define fundamental movement skills in the classroom which can
include the following:
○ Activities during transitions, like choosing movement to line up, enhance skills.
○ Diverse activities include tiptoeing, galloping, crawling, hopping, and rolling.
○ Inclusion of traditional games from various cultures enriches physical literacy.
○ Co-creation of activities by consulting communities fosters a welcoming environment.

Factors that limit physical literacy

The following conditions and limitations can collectively hinder a child's ability to lead a
healthy, active lifestyle during childhood and adolescence:

Genetic makeup, gender, and ethnicity or race can influence a child's physical literacy.
Societal norms or stigmas within families, such as gender-related beliefs, may impact a
child's engagement in sports and physical activities. The level of support from the family,
especially if not from an athletic or active background, can influence a child's interest and
participation. Economic constraints, including the expenses associated with sports activities
(uniforms, registration, transportation), can be a limiting factor.

Children with chronic conditions like asthma or visual and hearing disabilities may face
challenges in participating in certain physical activities in the classroom. Weather conditions
and proximity to parks or playgrounds can act as barriers, impacting a child's ability to
engage in outdoor activities.

Guiding principles to facilitate Physical Literacy

Parental perceptions of safety in playgrounds and parks can influence a child's access to outdoor
play spaces as some parents may prevent children from having opportunities to play.

Based on learner-centered approaches, the 5Es empowers educators to design effective

physical literacy lessons for children in the classroom. By adopting an approach that puts the
child at the center and taking on the role of facilitators, educators can guide preschoolers
towards meaningful movement experiences. The 5Es framework provides guiding principles to
help educators design and facilitate positive and meaningful movement experiences for children.
The framework outlined below covers the 5 aspects that educators should consider when
designing and facilitating movement lessons.

The 5Es
1.Environment
● Designing Learning Environments:
Teachers play a crucial role in creating learning environments that foster exploration,
discovery, and adaptation. The physical space, whether it be a classroom or a playground,
should be carefully considered to facilitate diverse movement opportunities.

● Reflecting Movement Goals:

The set-up of activities within the environment should align with specific movement goals.
For instance, if the objective is to enhance precision in throwing, providing a low target for
accuracy or a higher target for overarm throws can be strategically implemented.

● Adaptive Spaces:
Recognizing that each child may have different needs and preferences, an adaptive
environment ensures that children with varying abilities can engage comfortably. This may
involve creating spaces that cater to different levels of mobility and accessibility.

2. Experiences in Movement
● Variety of Movement Skills and Concepts:
To promote physical literacy, teachers should plan for a diverse range of movement experiences that
encompass various skills and concepts. This might include activities that focus on balance, coordination,
agility, and spatial awareness.

● Equipment Variety:
Offering a wide array of equipment, such as beanbags, adds versatility to movement experiences. Different
types of equipment challenge children in different ways, contributing to the development of various motor
skills.
● Laterality Development:
Encouraging the use of both left and right hands/feet in activities supports the development of laterality.
This inclusivity ensures that children are exposed to and comfortable with utilizing their entire body,
fostering a more comprehensive physical skill set.

3. Experiences in Movement Cont'd

● Surfaces and Terrains:
Providing movement experiences on different surfaces, including cement floors, grass, and sand,
introduces children to diverse sensory inputs. Each surface requires varying levels of coordination and
adaptation, enhancing their ability to navigate different terrains confidently.

● Inclusive and Adaptive Approaches:

Recognizing and accommodating individual differences, teachers should adopt inclusive approaches that
consider the unique needs and abilities of each child. Adaptive strategies ensure that movement
experiences cater to the diverse range of learners in the classroom.

4: Exploration
● Encouraging Self-Discovery:
Emphasize the importance of allowing children the freedom to explore and discover their own functional
movement solutions. This approach promotes autonomy and helps children develop a deeper
understanding of their bodies and capabilities.

● Communication Strategies:
Utilize short and simple cues, analogies, or external-focused instructions to guide children in their
exploration. For instance, using phrases like "Make a ball flight like a rainbow" provides a vivid and
relatable image that aids in comprehension.

● Freedom of Choice:
Empower children by providing them with choices during movement activities. This not only enhances
their decision-making skills but also allows them to tailor their experiences to their preferences, fostering a
sense of ownership and engagement.

5: Engagement
● Tailoring Activities:
Design activities that keep children actively engaged and provide appropriate challenges based on their
individual abilities. Vary the level of challenge to cater to diverse learners within the group, ensuring that
each child is appropriately stimulated.
● Diverse Activity Types:
Cater to different learning styles and preferences by incorporating various activity types, such as group
games and obstacle courses. This diversity ensures that each child can find enjoyment and success in
different settings.

● Maximizing Participation:
Strive for maximum participation by structuring activities that involve all children. This not only promotes
inclusivity but also fosters a sense of community and shared experience.

● Storytelling and Music:

Integrate storytelling and music into movement activities to enhance engagement. Stories and music not
only make the activities more enjoyable but also provide a narrative context that can stimulate imagination
and creativity.

6: Encouragement
● Creating a Supportive Environment:
Foster a supportive atmosphere that encourages children to try new movements without fear of failure.
Emphasize the value of the learning process and celebrate effort rather than focusing solely on outcomes.

● Strength-Based Approach:
Focus on highlighting and reinforcing the strengths of each child. Recognizing and appreciating their
individual abilities builds confidence and motivates continued effort.

● Positive and Specific Feedback:

Provide positive and specific feedback during and after activities. For example, acknowledging a child's
successful jump across a simulated river with a specific comment like "I like how you jumped across the
river" reinforces positive behaviors and achievements, contributing to a positive self-image.

Understanding Movement Intensities

"huff and puff"
In the exploration of physical activity and its impact on the body, children are introduced to
different movement intensities, ranging from light to moderate and vigorous. A concrete
understanding of the "huff and puff" category becomes crucial, serving as a tangible
representation of the concept of breathing in and out.

Teachers facilitate this understanding by introducing the notion of heartbeats, linking them to
fast movements, and allowing children to feel their own heartbeat. The activities within the
"huff and puff" range are thoughtfully balanced with lighter activities to provide a clear
contrast in heartbeats and intensity levels. Specific activities such as Farmers Animal Rescue,
Juice Makers, and Beanbag Toss are strategically designed to encourage energetic play,
engaging children in movements that fall within the vigorous intensity category.

a Holistic Approach
To ensure a well-rounded experience, children rotate through 5-minute play stations,
dedicating 15 minutes to activities that are at or above the light intensity threshold. This
structured approach not only fosters physical activity but also helps children become attuned
to the varying levels of exertion.

Incorporating a holistic approach, teachers encourage children to actively feel their heartbeat
during different experiences, aiding them in differentiating between light and vigorous
intensity. Additionally, the naming of emotions during these activities contributes to the
development of self-regulation, as children learn to associate feelings such as tired, happy, or
great with their physical exertion, promoting a deeper understanding of their own bodies and
emotions.

Well-Being and Self-Awareness

Encouraging children to actively feel their heartbeat during various experiences serves as a
valuable tool in helping them distinguish between light and vigorous intensity levels of physical
activity. This approach enables children to connect their internal bodily responses with different
exertion levels, fostering a heightened awareness of their own physical limits.

Furthermore, the practice of naming emotions during these activities plays a pivotal role in the
development of self-regulation. By associating emotions like tired, happy, or great with specific
levels of exertion, children not only enhance their emotional intelligence but also learn to
navigate and regulate their own responses to varying physical challenges, contributing to their
overall well-being and self-awareness.

Activity Plan 1: "Farmers' Animal Rescue"

The Lesson Plan
In this activity, children take on the role of farmers whose animals have escaped. Their task is
to swiftly return the animals to their correct enclosures. To do this, they will run to a card,
count the number of animals depicted, and then move to the corresponding position on the
number line while imitating the movement of the animal. This engaging and dynamic lesson
integrates numeracy skills with physical activity.

Lesson Objectives
Children will:
● enhance their locomotor skills by engaging in movements inspired by various animals.
● grasp the concept of cardinality by correlating the number of animals on flashcards with the
corresponding position on the number line.
● develop an understanding of ordinality by moving to the correct position on the number line, aligning
with the counted animals.
● practice counting aloud as they move along the number line, reinforcing their counting skills.
Classroom Setup
● Arrange a number line on the ground, spanning 5–10 meters or as desired.
● Place a numbered marker (0 to 10) at each end of the number line.
● Disperse flashcards or pictures of various animals around the room.

Teaching Points
● Counting and Movement: Emphasize the correlation between the number of animals on the card and the
position on the number line. Children count aloud as they move.
● Multisensory Learning: Encourage children to embody different animals' movements. For instance, they
might hop like a frog (using a 2-foot horizontal jump), crawl like a bear on all fours, or slither like a
caterpillar.
● Speed Variation: Introduce the concept of different intensities by using imaginary slow-motion and fast-
forward buttons. Encourage children to adjust their speeds accordingly during the activity.

Assessment
● Observe children's ability to match the counted animals to the correct position on the number line.
● Assess their understanding of cardinality and ordinality through their movements.
● Note the variety and creativity in their animal imitations.

Modification
● For children with mobility challenges, adapt movements to their capabilities, ensuring inclusivity.
● Provide additional support for counting if needed.

Activity Plan 2: "Juice Makers' Challenge"

The Lesson Plan
In this fun and active lesson, children become juice makers tasked with creating delicious
fruit juice! They will run to hula hoops placed around the room, each containing pictures of
fruit. Without counting, they estimate the quantity, then use their ball to dribble, bounce, and
squash each fruit while counting aloud.

After the fruity fun, they'll arrange the fruits in order from least to greatest (or greatest to
least).

Lesson Objectives
Children will:
● develop proper dribbling techniques using their fingertips, ensuring control and coordination.
● practice two-hand catching techniques to enhance their coordination and motor skills.
● estimate quantities of fruits without counting, fostering their ability to make informed guesses.
● grasp the concept of ordinality as they arrange squashed fruits in order, either from least to greatest or
greatest to least.
Classroom Setup
● Arrange hula hoops around the room, each containing a large piece of paper with printed fruit.
● Provide each child with a ball suitable for bouncing and catching.

Teaching Points
● Fundamental Skills: Emphasize proper dribbling techniques using fingertips, bouncing the
ball to waist height, and two-hand catching, especially for children under 5.
● Preparation: Prior to the game, allow children to practice dribbling to enhance their skills.
● Comparative Analysis: After squashing the fruit, encourage children to compare the
number of bounces with their initial estimation. Discuss whether their guesses were over or
under the actual count.

Assessment
● Observe children's proficiency in dribbling and catching.
● Evaluate their ability to estimate quantities without counting.
● Assess their understanding of ordinality as they arrange the fruits in the correct order.

Modification
● Provide additional assistance for younger children in mastering dribbling and catching.
● Adjust the game's complexity based on the children's age and skill level.

Activity Plan 3: "Throw and Match Challenge"

Lesson Plan
In the "Throw and Match Challenge," children engage in an exciting activity that combines
underhand throwing, quantity-numeral mapping, and ordinal reasoning.

Scattered flashcards on the ground represent various quantities. Children select a card, find
the corresponding numeral, then return to the throwing location. They toss a beanbag into the
hula hoop to the left of 5 if the number is less than 5, or to the right if greater than 5.

Objectives
Children will:
○ Children will develop and demonstrate proper underhand throwing technique.
○ Children will enhance numeracy skills by matching quantities with corresponding numerals.
○ Children will strengthen ordinal reasoning skills by throwing to the left or right of.

Classroom Setup
● Arrange a number line on the ground, placing the number 5 in the middle.
● Position hula hoops on either side of 5 as target areas for throwing beanbags.
● Set up a pylon about 1–2 meters from the number line, serving as the throwing point.
● Scatter flashcards on the ground representing various quantities.
Teaching Points
● Throwing Technique: Emphasize proper underhand throwing technique, focusing on
weight transfer by stepping with the foot opposite their throwing hand.
● Numeracy Skills: Reinforce counting aloud before throwing to help children determine
whether the selected number is before or after 5.

Assessment
● Observe children's underhand throwing proficiency.
● Evaluate their ability to match quantities with numerals.
● Assess ordinal reasoning as they decide whether to throw to the left or right of 5 based on
the quantity.

Modification
● Provide additional support for children struggling with underhand throwing.
● Adjust the distance from the pylon based on children's skills and desired difficulty level.

Play in the Early Years

Play in Childhood
● Play significantly influences children's learning and development as it is associated with
cognitive and social-emotional development, preparing children for academic success and
lifelong achievements.

● play as an educationally powerful process where learning occurs spontaneously, while

others argue this oversimplifies the complexity of play and its connections with learning.

● Through play, children observe, regulate, and restrain themselves, gaining mastery over
various skills and developing an awareness of limits.

● Importance of engaging children to reflect on learning in their playful activities to avoid

creating a dichotomy between play and learning.

● Some parents and early years teachers may harbor doubts about the role of play in child
development in which questions arise about the effectiveness of play-based learning in
preparing children for the transition from preschool to primary school.
Cultural Influences in Play
● Play is shaped by culture, and there are variations in how children play across cultures.

● Understanding cultural factors is crucial for a deep understanding of cultural values and the
benefits of play in childhood.

● Exploring and learning about culture begins in early childhood, contributing to the
development of self-esteem, cultural identities, and awareness.

● specific practices in home and early years settings, more than broader sociocultural
influences like social class, are directly related to children’s outcomes.

Play is a fundamental aspect of children's lives across cultural communities, acknowledged

for its importance in early childhood development. UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
also recognizes play as a fundamental need and right of children, emphasizing the importance
of understanding play from children's perspectives.

Perspectives of Play for Children

○ Piaget's Genetic Epistemology Perspective which sees play reflects cognitive development
stages, categorized into functional, constructive, symbolic/fantasy play, and games with rules.
Piaget's theory identifies phases of intelligence development during early childhood, focusing on
cognitive growth.

○ Vygotsky's Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) which views play as a social activity in
which children interact with their socio-cultural environment where Play, supported by parents,
educators, and peers, acts as a driving force for cognitive, social-emotional, and motor
development.

○ Gopnik's Evolutionary Perspective which views childhood, evolutionarily, is a time for exploring
human possibilities through active and explorative learning. It emphasizes messy and intuitive
play actions, allowing children to gather information and adapt without adult-like planning.

Connection Between Play and Learning

Play and Learning
In early childhood education, play and learning are closely connected, recognized as essential
for children's development.
● Play occurs both indoors, like in classrooms, and outdoors, such as nature-based
environments, offering diverse learning experiences.
● Outdoor play is sometimes viewed in early childhood education (ECE) as a time for
relaxation rather than as a valuable component for children's learning and development.
● Traditionally, the potential benefits of outdoor play in ECE settings have not been fully
appreciated for enhancing children's learning outcomes.
Types of Play
There are various play types which are beneficial in cognitive and linguistic development, peer
group socialization, and cultural learning which are as follows:

Functional play encompasses physical activities that are essential for children's gross motor development.
This type of play involves actions like running, riding bikes, sliding, tumbling, engaging in friendly fights,
and climbing. These activities not only contribute to the development of coordination, balance, and
strength but also provide an outlet for physical energy. Functional play is often characterized by its
spontaneous and energetic nature, allowing children to explore their physical abilities and interact with the
environment in a dynamic way. It also helps to facilitate social relationships.

Constructive Play
Constructive play involves the use of objects and materials to create, build, and manipulate.

Children engaging in constructive play may be found drawing, building sandcastles, or creating huts and
shelters. This type of play promotes fine motor skills, spatial awareness, and creativity. It encourages
children to think critically, plan, and problem-solve as they use various materials to bring their imaginative
ideas to life. Constructive play also fosters a sense of accomplishment and pride as children see the
tangible results of their efforts.

Symbolic Play
Symbolic play, on the other hand, revolves around the world of imagination.

This category includes activities such as role-play, dramatic play, Children engage in symbolic play when
they pretend to be someone else, act out scenarios, or take on different roles. This form of play is crucial
for developing creativity, social skills, and emotional intelligence. Through symbolic play, children
explore different perspectives, learn to cooperate with others, and understand social roles and relationships.

Sociodramatic
Sociodramatic play is a multifaceted form of play in which participants take on various social roles
within a dynamic play script.

This type of play is regarded as a key social activity that not only provides an entertaining outlet for
children but also serves as a powerful tool for learning and the development of essential social skills and
sociocultural knowledge. Participants in sociodramatic play engage in a complex activity that demands a
range of skills, including social awareness, linguistic competence, and effective communication. Creative
and equal participation in sociodramatic play requires children to navigate and understand the social
dynamics embedded in the play script, fostering a deeper understanding of societal roles and relationships.
As children immerse themselves in these imaginative scenarios, they not only enhance their cognitive
abilities but also strengthen their social and emotional intelligence through the nuanced interactions within
the play context.
Mixed Play
Mixed play represents a dynamic blend of various play types, with no single type predominating. In
mixed play, children seamlessly integrate elements of functional, constructive, and symbolic play. This
versatility allows for a well-rounded play experience, where children can switch between different modes
of engagement, combining physical activity, creative expression, and imaginative exploration. This fluidity
in play reflects the complexity of children's development, highlighting the interconnectedness of physical,
cognitive, and social-emotional aspects in their play experiences.

Play Objects in the Early Childhood Classrooms

What are they?
1. Objects within early childhood settings play a pivotal role in shaping the
opportunities and possibilities for children's engagement. The availability of diverse
objects, both indoors and outdoors, has consistently demonstrated positive influences
on children's development. Objects that serve multiple functions, such as sand and
clay, hold a particular appeal for children, offering a rich and versatile medium for
exploration.
2. The incorporation of loose parts, designed to encourage open-ended play, is deemed
essential in fostering crucial aspects of children's development, including
experimentation, creativity, discovery, and overall enjoyment. Recognizing the
inherent value of objects, children naturally gravitate towards interacting with them,
intuitively incorporating them into their play experiences.

The Exploration of Objects

1. The exploration of objects is intricately linked to cognitive functions, contributing to
problem-solving skills and convergent thinking. When meaningfully engaged with
objects, children experience deep learning, creating a foundation for comprehensive
understanding and skill development.
2. Intentional inclusion of various objects within early childhood environments not only
enhances the quality of play experiences but also serves as a catalyst for various
learning opportunities.

Pretend Play
Engaging in pretend play is crucial for children's social-cognitive and emotional development. It
involves imaginative scenarios that prompt kids to comprehend and navigate social contexts. It
helps them become better at thinking about and using these imaginative ideas, which is
important for their development.

Pretend play involves cognitive skills, behavioral regulation, and communication, thereby
enhancing children's ability to imagine and visualize hence encouraging skills such as
perspective-taking, fostering the ability to understand and empathize with others' feelings and
viewpoints and promoting emotion regulation.. Pretend play provides a safe space for children to
practice social scenarios, allowing them to experiment with different interpersonal dynamics,
roles, and social scripts.
Associations Between Pretend Play and Children's Social-
Cognitive and Emotional Skills
What is it?
The socialization aspect of pretend play involves children enacting diverse social scenarios,
contributing to the development of social-cognitive and emotional skills through valuable
social experiences with their bodies. Although improvements in emotional expressiveness are
observed, there are no significant effects on emotion understanding or regulation outside of
play.

When children engage in pretend play, it helps them develop something called "Theory of
Mind." This means they start to understand and predict what others might be thinking or
feeling. This skill is crucial, especially for kindergarten-aged children, as it helps them
navigate social situations.

What is the help?

Interestingly, playing pretend has also been shown to help 4-year-olds from low socioeconomic
backgrounds improve their emotional regulation. Pretend play often involves negotiation and cooperation
between children to create and sustain imaginative scenarios, promoting social skills such as collaboration
and compromise. It serves as a platform for children to experiment with their behavior, offering
opportunities for exploration.

Active participation in pretend play positively influences social behavior and peer relationships by
exposing children to positive peer interactions such as sharing, waiting, and asserting. Children engaged in
pretend play negotiate play actions and roles, presenting challenges that foster the development of
cooperative skills and assertiveness.

What are the situations?

In social pretend play situations, children exhibit more socially competent behavior compared to other
social play scenarios, characterized by longer interactions with larger peer groups, increased affect, and
greater reciprocity. Social pretend play is associated with various positive social skills, including
cooperation, assertiveness, affective perspective-taking, and engagement in social activities.

Children exposed to pretend play activities demonstrate higher decreases in disruptiveness and
improvements in social behavior. Through pretend play, children not only have fun but also learn about
social norms and conventions. In the imaginative worlds they create, kids must follow or adapt societal
rules. The social skills they develop in pretend play don't stay confined to their make-believe worlds.

What is the influence?

Studies show that these skills transfer to real-life social situations, influencing how children navigate and
comprehend their social environment beyond the boundaries of play. While it may seem like just play,
pretending is a powerful tool for shaping children's understanding of the social world around them.
 School Readiness Through Playful Learning and
Play-Based Learning
Play-based learning theory emphasizes that how children learn is as important as what they
learn as it advocates for meaningful discovery in early childhood to foster creativity and
lifelong learning. Both free play and guided play are considered the best context for learning
during early childhood.

Guided play involves intentional preparation and introduction of books, activities, or toys to
facilitate pleasurable explorations of core themes During guided play, children actively
collaborate and engage in meaningful play with others. Supportive and interactive
relationships between teachers and children are foundational for high-quality teaching
through play.

How To Use Them?

Teaching through interactions, encompassing emotional support and instructional support, is
linked to development in math, pre-reading, language, and social skills.Supportive
relationships and interactions between teachers and children, combined with a play-based and
age-appropriate curriculum, are deemed essential for high-quality early childhood education.
The Play-based Learning Curriculum centers on developing school readiness skills,
addressing social competence, self-regulation, language, and math skills.

When learning through play is defined as joyful, meaningful, iterative, socially interactive
and actively engaging experiences, it fosters cognitive, social, emotional, creative and
physical skills.

Characteristics
Characteristics of play with the focus on holistic skills development can impact the following
pedagogical approaches from implementation to explore new concepts or ideas in young
children:

○ Active learning,
○ Collaborative and cooperative learning,
○ Experiential learning,
○ Guided discovery learning
○ Inquiry-based learning
○ Problem-based learning
○ Project-based learning
○ Montessori education.
 Play Pedagogies are Highly Effective
Educational Methods
Discovery learning, problem-based learning, inuiry learning, and experiential learning are
educational methods used along a spectrum, ranging from minimally guided to extensively
guided, highlighting the continuum between teacher and student guidance. It is vital for
educators to comprehend the concept of "playful pedagogies" and to grasp their potential
effectiveness, especially under specific conditions within the learning environment.

Play pedagogies can be more effective in fostering social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and
creative skills compared to traditional or highly guided approaches in pre- school classrooms.
Under playful conditions, children demonstrate learning gains over time.

The Ability to Transfer Acquired Skills

They showcase the ability to transfer acquired skills to novel problems, exhibit accurate recall of
knowledge, achieve deeper understanding of concepts, establish improved connections between different
concepts under playful conditions The above leads to learning in children over time. Teachers who make
playful teaching work well use a mix of different ways to guide and support learning, combining various
approaches.

Teachers are like guides or helpers, ensuring lessons are well-organized and supporting students
throughout their learning journey. Even though teachers are supportive, they plan and organize lessons to
create a good learning environment. Lessons often begin with talking about what students already know,
getting them ready for new learning followed by children getting a chance to talk about what they learn.

Classroom
Teachers and students create classroom rules together, sharing the responsibility and giving students the
freedom to do things on their own. Teachers use different ways to help students learn, like asking open
questions, giving hints, and providing examples. Children get to do things with their hands, exploring ideas
and materials to understand better. Teachers let children decide some things about their learning, like how
to do an activity or when it's finished.

Learning Through Play and Global Education Policy and

Practice
Through evidence-based research, anthropologists, developmental psychologists, and
neuroscientists extensively study and document the natural inquiry process of play.
Psychologists in the 1900 (i.e. Dewey; Vygotsky) made early connections between play and the
scientific inquiry process, emphasizing its influence on child development.
 Neuroscientists discovered that play refines the prefrontal cortex, stimulates protein production for
neuron growth, while play deprivation negatively affects brain development. Play-based
interventions are used for children struggling with socio-emotional skills, contributing to positive
peer relationships. Learning through play is perceived as native to preschool. International
research now measures holistic skills, including socio-emotional learning, creative thinking,
global competence, innovation, and physical development. Challenges to Implementing Learning
Through Play are as follows:

 The definition of play is complex and contested, creating a challenge in incorporating it into education.

 Lack of standardized tools for assessing gains in playful learning conditions, coupled with misguided
priorities favoring basic academic skills over whole-child development.

 Varied views on play and learning contribute to low acceptance in schools, influenced by diverse learning
environments.

 The distinction between play and learning poses a challenge, with lay definitions emphasizing play as non-
serious or recreational.

Slide: Integrating Play With Learning Activities

What is it?
● Integrating play into preschool learning can work wonders in the classroom.
● Try having children form letters with their bodies, spell out words using various
movements, or walk to form shapes like circles, squares, and triangles.
● Teachers can also use song and dance to teach grammar or throwing and catching to
reinforce addition and subtraction skills.
● While it may not be possible to integrate movement into every lesson, these activities are
perfect for introducing new concepts or wrapping up a topic.

Hopscotch and Share

"Hopscotch and Share”: The activity is designed to achieve multiple objectives,
incorporating both play and social interaction. The primary aim is to encourage children to
actively participate in game play by taking turns hopping or jumping forward onto designated
mats or hula hoops. This not only promotes physical activity but also fosters coordination and
teamwork within a group setting. The cooperative element is further emphasized as children
are encouraged to work and play together, creating a supportive environment for shared
experiences.

Following the physical component, the activity integrates a creative aspect by having children
share and talk about their drawings. This not only enhances communication skills but also
provides an opportunity for self-expression.
Let’s jump and Count
The necessary materials for this activity include hula hoops or mats for the movement
component and children's drawings, emphasizing the versatility of the exercise in combining
physical engagement with cooperative play and creative expression.

"Let’s jump and Count": The activity integrates physical play with mathematical learning. The
primary goal is for children to practice counting in 2s up to 20 in an engaging and active manner.
To accomplish this, the children pair up and form a queue. They navigate through an obstacle
course that includes activities like balancing walks on a beam and jumping over obstacles,
making the learning experience dynamic and interactive.

Required Materials
As each pair completes the course and reaches the other end, they participate in counting aloud
in 2s, reinforcing the mathematical concept in a hands-on way.

The required materials for this activity include hula hoops to mark the course and a balancing
beam, emphasizing the incorporation of simple yet effective elements to promote both physical
and cognitive development in a playful setting.

Active Play Area

Suggested Activities in the Active Play Area
● An Active Play area or corner is a designated area within a preschool where children can
play independently using various resources provided. It serves as a movement-focused
learning corner that promotes safe and engaging physical activities

● This space can be utilized during free play time or while waiting to be picked up, allowing
children to choose activities and play with friends.

● It can also be integrated into the Numeracy or Literacy learning corner for a multi-
functional space.

● The primary objective is to encourage children to explore movement independently and

creatively in a fun and safe environment.

1. Bowling Game:
1. Bowling Game: The objective of the Bowling Game is for children to play independently and aim to
roll down as many bowling pins as possible. To play, children will take turns rolling the ball towards the
standing bowling pins, counting the number of pins that are knocked down with each roll.

The setup involves placing the bowling pins in an upright position, and children move a distance away
before taking their turns to roll the ball. The materials required for this game are simple and include a ball
and a set of bowling pins. This activity not only provides a fun and engaging experience for children but
also encourages the development of hand-eye coordination, counting skills, and social interaction as they
take turns and play together.
2. The Dart Ball Game:
2. The Dart Ball Game: It is designed to encourage independent play among children while enhancing
their aiming and throwing skills. The primary objective of the game is for children to play independently
by aiming and accurately throwing dart balls at a designated target. To play, children will take turns aiming
and throwing the dart ball at the target board.

The setup involves placing the target board at an appropriate height, and children are required to move a
certain distance away from the board before attempting to throw the dart ball. The materials needed for the
Dart Ball Game include dart balls and a target board. This game not only promotes physical activity but
also helps develop hand-eye coordination and precision in a fun and engaging way.

3. The Number Line Exercise:

3. The Number Line Exercise: The activity is designed to promote physical activity and movement
among preschoolers while incorporating educational elements. The primary objective of this activity is to
engage preschoolers in active participation and enhance their motor skills. To play, preschoolers are
encouraged to throw a dice with various motor skills listed on its faces. For instance, if the dice lands on
"Hop" and the number 2, preschoolers will hop two times.

The activity continues as they repeat the process, following the instructions on the dice, until they reach the
last number on the number line. The setup involves educators encouraging preschoolers to write the
numbers on an A3 paper, which is then pasted on the floor in the correct order. The materials needed for
this exercise include A3 paper, markers for writing numbers, dice, and tape.

4. The Movement Spinner:

This activity not only keeps preschoolers physically active but also introduces a playful way of learning
numbers and associating them with specific movements.

4. The Movement Spinner: The goal is to get children to play and exercise independently. Preschoolers
play by spinning the activity and number spinners to choose the exercise and how many times to do it. This
exercise keeps kids busy and amused, encouraging enjoyable physical activity. Two spinners—one with
workout moves and the other with numbers—are created.

These spinners may be manufactured from robust card stock with a pin as the central axis and an arrow or
paperclip as the spinning indication. After setup, the movement spinners may be put at the Active Play
Corner so kids can easily enjoy this dynamic and fun activity. This easy exercise promotes physical
activity and independence in preschoolers using card stock, a pin, and an arrow or paperclip.
 Guided Play
Two Forms of Guided PAlay
Guided play lets teachers educate while promoting good play. Teacher-led play incorporates
free play, emotional participation, and collaborative discovery while actively directing
children. Guided play lets kids develop language, learn about child-relevant social and
cultural topics, and collaborate. Children acting out story plots and using literacy props
improve reading abilities. It applies to youngsters with inadequate language skills and
cultural and linguistic diversity.

Teachers who use native language play in bilingual preschools increase attention,
engagement, and agentive language acquisition. It scaffolds linguistic and cultural learning
for diverse youngsters. Teacher-led pretend play using fantasy scripts, material objects,
and discursive tactics maintains interest, employs diverse vocabulary, and models the
target language.

Setting Design by Adults

1. Setting Design by Adults:
Adults purposefully structure the environment to emphasize specific learning goals. Within
this designed setting, children are granted autonomy to explore and engage in activities that
align with the intended educational objectives.

A practical example of this approach can be observed in classrooms with well-designed

learning and play corners. These corners are carefully curated to encourage exploration and
play while focusing on targeted learning outcomes. In such environments, children have the
freedom to navigate within the designed space, promoting both autonomy and guided
learning.

Adults Observing and Commenting

2. Adults Observing and Commenting:

Adults play a supportive role by watching children engage in activities initiated by the children
themselves. Adults then offer comments, encouragement, or pose open-ended questions to
enhance the learning experience. An Example form of guided play is observed when children are
building a tower in a play corner. Here, adults may ask open-ended questions to stimulate critical
thinking and learning during the construction process.

Another example involves training instructors to reinforce the meanings of new words while
children are engaged in play sessions, demonstrating how adult involvement can enrich the
learning outcomes of child-directed activities.
 Why is Guided Play Effective?
Guided play offers an exemplary pedagogy because it respects children’s autonomy and their
pride in discovery. It may help to cultivate children’s love of learning, promoting their engagement
while offering support for knowledge acquisition. Guided play creates a confluence of
environmental and psychological factors that gently shape not only the desired outcomes in
learning but also a more positive attitude toward learning itself.

For example, in a setting where children take the lead and actively participate, exploring different
shapes—both regular and irregular—becomes a starting point for comparisons and
discussions. The variety of shapes in the play environment naturally sparks curiosity and
involvement, laying the foundation for deeper learning experiences.

Children and teachers ask questions, fostering development. This approach acknowledges that
various features of objects prompt diverse interactions among children, creating a
diverse learning space.

Additionally, when adults support children during self-directed activities, it enhances the learning
opportunities even further.

Guided Play Lesson Plan: Building a Castle with

Princesses and Knights
The Lesson Plan
In this guided play session, 5-year-olds built castles with colorful blocks, exploring spatial
awareness and creativity while learning about princesses and knights. A engaging tale
introduction led the children to explore shapes and colors while building castles
together. Princesses and knights' miniatures helped youngsters create stories, overcome
obstacles, and have wonderful adventures.

The session combined supervised, imaginative play with educational goals including spatial
knowledge and color awareness. Teamwork was stressed during the collaborative building
activity, and accountability was reinforced after cleaning. The guided play session combined
educational aims with creative inquiry in a dynamic and participatory way.

Objective
● Children will engage in guided play to construct a castle using colored blocks, fostering creativity,
spatial awareness, and imaginative storytelling.

● Introduce concepts of shapes, colors, and storytelling through the theme of princesses and knights.
Materials
● Colored building blocks (variety of shapes and sizes)
● Small figurines of princesses and knights
● Large play area or building surface.
● Storybook about castles, princesses, or knights
● Imaginative props

Introduction (10 minutes)

● Gather children in a circle and introduce the theme of the day: building a castle with princesses and
knights.
● Begin with a short discussion about castles, asking questions like "What do you know about castles?"
and "Who lives in castles?"
● Read a storybook related to castles, princesses, or knights to set the stage for the play.

Building Activity (20 minutes)

● Distribute colored building blocks to each child and explain that they will be building a castle using their
imagination.
● Encourage children to experiment with different shapes and colors, discussing the characteristics of each
block as they build.
● Introduce the figurines of princesses and knights, explaining their roles in the castle.
● Provide guidance on constructing various parts of the castle, such as towers, walls, and gates.
● Foster collaboration by encouraging children to share ideas and build together.

Imaginative Play (15 minutes)

● Once the castle is built, invite children to engage in imaginative play with the princesses and knights.
● Encourage storytelling by asking questions like "What adventures are the princesses and knights going
on?" and "What challenges do they face?"
● Introduce optional imaginative props, such as toy dragons or treasure chests, to enhance the storytelling
experience.
● Facilitate interactions among children, allowing them to create their narratives within the castle setting.

Closure (10 mins)

● Gather the children together and ask them to share their favorite parts of the castle and the imaginative
play.
● Discuss the shapes, colors, and structures they used in their castle designs and its significance.
● Reinforce the concept of collaboration and creativity in building and storytelling.

Assessment Criteria
● Evaluate the extent to which children developed spatial awareness and creativity through guided
construction. Assess the diversity of shapes and colors used in building the castles and the degree of
individual and collective creativity displayed.
● Examine the success of introducing concepts of shapes and colors in a hands-on and engaging manner.
Evaluate the children's understanding of basic shapes and colors as demonstrated through their
construction activities.

● Assess the development of imaginative play skills by examining the quality of storytelling produced
during the guided play session. Evaluate the children's ability to create narratives, face challenges, and
engage in exciting adventures within the castle setting.

● Measure the success of the guided play in promoting social interaction and collaborative play. Evaluate
the level of interaction, communication, and teamwork demonstrated by the children throughout the
building and imaginative play activities.

Children’s Play in the Digital Age

The New Era
Play has always been an essential part of how children learn and have fun, and even with the
rise of technology, the core aspects of play have stayed the same. Nowadays, kids are
attracted to "Internet of Toys," where toys connect to digital services, blending the real world
with the virtual one. Many children also use tablets, and this digital play has its perks – it
helps them learn digital skills, gain knowledge on different subjects, and explore cultural
heritage.

Educational games and apps on these devices contribute to learning various skills and
knowledge:
○ technical skills
○ critical digital literacy
○ digital citizenship
○ subject knowledge,
○ cognitive,
○ social-emotional
○ creative skills.

Digital Play

Digital play has the potential to be highly beneficial for children with diverse needs, offering
specific apps designed to cater to various abilities. Tailored applications can provide targeted
support for children with different learning styles, cognitive abilities, or developmental needs. This
inclusivity in digital play enhances the learning experience and fosters a more supportive
environment for children with unique requirements.

Digital play doesn't take away from a child's imagination. In fact, kids engage in imaginative and
creative activities using digital tools. Children collaborate in various ways, from multiplayer
 games to using AI voice assistants with peers through digital technologies. While technology
changes how children play, it doesn't stop them from being creative and having fun.

The following games which children play promote creativity:

Examples of Creative Apps: YouTube, Minecraft, Roblox, BBC apps, LEGO, Sago Mini, and Toca
Boca are highlighted as apps fostering creativity.

Monitoring and Facilitating Digital Play

Monitoring digital play aims to foster healthy exploration. Educators are positioned as crucial
mediators in children's interactions with technology. They play a pivotal role in guiding children
through the digital landscape, ensuring that the use of technology aligns with
educational goals and developmental needs.

 This active involvement extends beyond merely introducing children to digital tools; it encompasses
monitoring and facilitating their engagement to maximize educational benefits while minimizing potential
drawbacks.

 Facilitating digital play enables constructive guidance, providing an opportunity for educators to engage in
discussions with children about responsible technology use.

 By actively observing children's interactions with technology, educators gain insights into their
preferences, interests, and learning styles.

 It allows for the timely identification and addressing of any potential issues that may arise during digital
play sessions, contributing to a balanced and positive digital play experience for children.

 As facilitators, adults have the responsibility to curate and curtail digital experiences, steering children
towards age-appropriate content and fostering a healthy balance between online and offline activities.

 This role is particularly significant in navigating the evolving digital world, where children's exposure to
technology can impact various aspects of their development.

 The modeling of good practice becomes an integral component of the learning environment, shaping
children's attitudes, behaviors, and understanding of technology's role in their lives.
 Module: Arts and Creativity in the Early Years
Creativity in the Early Years
Curiosity, wonder, inventiveness, adaptability, exploratory behavior, imagination, and
originality define creativity. Risk-taking, tolerance for ambiguity, openness to experience,
and new perspective are also traits of creative people. creativity may be expressed in many
ways. Children use newly taught concepts in new ways to demonstrate everyday
inventiveness.

Children's free exploration of their surroundings expresses everyday ingenuity. They employ
all their senses to interact with things and situations, expanding their behavioral
repertoire. The social construct of appropriateness determined by adults in their
surroundings contrasts with this freedom to create. This finding has helped preschools
include creativity into their curriculum and instruction, highlighting the significance of
imagination.

Aesthetic Learning in Early Education

Arts are essential to our life and profoundly embedded in our existence. "Aesthetic
incunabula." is innate in infants. This natural relationship to aesthetics is not limited to self-
conscious artists but is a fundamental part of intelligence, altering sensory interaction.

Understanding aesthetics as a fundamental feature of intelligence reveals that art transcends

traditional boundaries and impacts all aspects of life. Using art and creative activities in
preschool helps us realize the fullness of being human.

By incorporating artistic thinking into early childhood education, we go beyond the surface.
We're exploring youngsters' perspectives. This shows us their innate interest and ingenuity
and enables them express their own perspectives. These artistic methods empower youngsters
to feel in control and capable.

Early Years framework on expressive arts and creativity

Artistic and cultural awareness fosters children's imagination and inventiveness. Creative ways in
preschool make youngsters feel like they belong. This involves honoring each child's experience
and letting them express themselves via art. Through painting, toddlers learn about themselves,
their place in the world, and how they fit in. Children need regular arts experiences to explore
and experiment with a variety of mediums and materials.

The quality and diversity of what youngsters see, hear, and do affects their comprehension, self-
expression, language, and arts communication. Their understanding of what they hear, respond
to, and see depends on their frequency, repetition, and depth of experience. Arts-based
preschool education enhances learning. A deeper understanding of human intellect fosters
creativity, self-expression, and a real connection to the world.
 Preschool Arts Education Trends
In preschool education, we recognize the importance of arts for young kids. Two main approaches
that are usually used by preschool teachers are as follows:

1. Teacher-guided and product-focused approach

This often involves crafts. Here, teachers lead children in structured activities with a specific
result in mind, aiming to develop particular skills.

2. Open-ended opportunities guided by well-informed teachers

This follows the emergent curriculum concept. This approach emphasizes responding to each child's
unique needs and interests. Teachers, in this case, need to be actively involved, responsive, and tuned in to
each child's individuality, fostering creativity and self-expression without a set outcome. In this setting, a
preschool arts teacher adopts a 'pedagogy of listening.'

This means they carefully observe, document, and provide informed and high-quality arts education, acting
as facilitators who let the learning path unfold naturally based on the children's interests. This not only
helps develop artistic skills but also encourages independence and self-discovery, aligning with the broader
goals of early childhood education.

Preschool Arts Education Trends Cont'd

1. Drawing - An art learning process and/or product?
The value of drawing in early childhood education has sparked discussions, with
considerations on both the process and the final product. Some educators question whether
the emphasis should be on the journey or the end result as children have differing abilities.
Drawing serves as a creative outlet for kids to manifest new ideas based on what they've
learned, utilizing various art materials to express themselves and explore their understanding
of the world around them.

Rather than fixating on the finished picture, experts emphasize that the creative process in
drawing holds more significance. The act of drawing becomes a journey of exploration,
fostering imaginative thinking and self-expression. Children aged 5-8 years enjoy expressing
their creative thoughts through artistic drawing. They have a keen interest in showcasing their
imagination and ideas on paper, using various colors and shapes to bring their creations to
life.

2. Drawing - What is it?

This age group finds joy in drawing to communicate and explore their imaginative worlds. Drawing is
perceived as a bridge for kids to connect their real-world experiences with the realms of their imagination.
It becomes a visual language through which they communicate and make sense of their surroundings. The
level of productivity in drawing doesn't always equate to creativity in young children. Context plays a
crucial role, emphasizing the importance of evaluating creativity within the unique context of a child's
experience.

For original ideas to flourish, children are encouraged to concentrate on their creative process. This not
only motivates them to generate more ideas but also instills a sense of ownership and self-expression.
Encouraging them to draw artistically allows them to develop fine motor skills, express themselves
visually, and build confidence in their creative abilities.

3. Drawing - Drawing Materials

Providing them with a variety of drawing materials and allowing them the freedom to experiment with
different techniques enhances their artistic experiences and fosters a love for self-expression through
drawing. The lack of expertise in young children may initially limit their creativity, but it also enables
them to approach art with openness and originality, creating works that reflect their evolving
understanding of the world.

When children appear uncreative, it might be attributed facing challenges in expressing their ideas. This
underscores the need for creating environments that offer opportunities for spontaneity and flexibility,
allowing children to freely express their thoughts and emotions. Educators are urged to foster spontaneity
in children's artistic endeavors, encouraging originality while imparting essential drawing conventions.
This approach aims to strike a balance between free expression and foundational skills in the creative
process.

Creative - Aesthetics Curriculum

What are they?
A creative - aesthetic curriculum in early childhood education wants to mix learning and play
to help kids be more creative. Kids naturally play and learn together, but sometimes they
separate the two when talking. The main goal is to connect the joy of learning with fun play
experiences, so kids become more creative in the future.

When researchers looked at children's drawings, they found that teaching in a way that
focuses on helping kids express themselves can make them more creative as well as develop
aesthetic learning. In order to effectively translate art activities into valuable learning
experiences, it is important for teachers to understand the elements of art. This will enable
them to facilitate art experiences that help children develop an understanding of the art
vocabulary they need in order to respond to or interpret the visual world around
them. Experiences in art should introduce children to the following basic elements of
art:
1. Line
A line is defined as a continuation of a dot or a continuous mark that suggests a certain direction,
implies movement and expresses a degree of energy (e.g. thick, strong lines) to the viewer.

This can be made using implements such as pencils, markers, crayons and sticks. It can also be
a line created by the edge of an object or by the folds of a piece of paper or fabric. Teachers can
introduce children to words that are used to describe lines (example: “long”, “short”, “thick”, “thin”,
“horizontal”, “vertical”, “diagonal”, “smooth”, “continuous”, “zigzag”, “broken”) to enable them to
talk about their artwork more meaningfully.

2. Colour
Colour is produced when light is reflected back to the eye upon striking an object and has the
following characteristics: • They are used to attract attention or camouflage.

They can make us feel relaxed or excited. • They can be used to create areas of brightness and
dullness, lightness and darkness, warmth and coolness in an artwork. The three primary
colours are red, blue and yellow. They are used to produce the other colours. Mixing two
primary colours in equal amounts results in a secondary colour. For example: • Yellow +
Red = Orange • Yellow + Blue = Green

3. Shape
Shape is defined as the area of an object or picture. Shapes can also be created without lines,
for example, by using a mass of colour. 3-dimensional shapes (e.g. pyramids, spheres and
cubes) are known as forms. Children can be given opportunities to create 3-dimensional
representations of things they see using clay, dough, blocks, sandpaper and scrap materials
such as boxes and bottles.

Teachers can introduce children to words that are used to describe shapes and forms (e.g.
“round”, “oval”, “triangle”, “rectangular”, “circular”, “broad”, “narrow”) to help them
understand the concepts better.

4. Texture
Texture refers to the tactile quality of objects. It can either be authentic (i.e. real-life) or simulated
by using a combination of art elements in a picture (e.g. lines can be used to depict rough
surfaces and broad paint strokes to simulate smooth surfaces).

Children may use objects of different texture to create a picture. They can be guided to describe
the texture observed in a picture/painting using words such as “rough”, “smooth”, “furry”, “prickly”,
“slippery”, “hard” and “soft”.
 What Makes an Enabling Creative-Aesthetic Environment
for Children?
An enabling creative aesthetic environment in the preschool classroom will provide children with:

 Opportunities to experiment with inspiring and accessible media and tools.

 The freedom to make a mess and mix materials.

 Space to create individually and collaboratively.

 Opportunities to make choices on the art media they would like to work with.

 The right help at the right time; ensure children are given sensitive and appropriate help when they ask or
are struggling with their creative work.

 Support to develop mastery in a range of skills, techniques and safety rules.

 The vocabulary of feelings and opportunities to take part in activities that allow them to express their own
feelings and emotions with regards to their aesthetic creation

 Opportunities to talk about and evaluate their own created work and achievements.

Introducing Colours to Young Children

Understanding the intricacies of color perception development, from early differentiation to the
cognitive challenges of naming colors, provides valuable insights into the multifaceted nature of
human sensory and cognitive development which are essential when working with young
children which are covered in the following:

1. Color Perception Development

Early Differentiation: At around 18 months, most children begin the process of differentiating
between colors. This marks a crucial developmental milestone in their visual perception
abilities.

Multisensory Awareness: Alongside color differentiation, children also become aware of

other sensory elements such as textures, sizes, and shapes. This period signifies the
integration of various sensory inputs into their growing cognitive understanding.

2. Full Understanding of Colors

Cognitive Complexity: While basic color differentiation starts earlier, it may take until the age of 3
for children to fully understand and confidently name colors. This delay is due to the cognitive
complexity involved in discerning and categorizing the varying hues within each color category.
Hues and Naming Challenges: The challenge lies in comprehending the spectrum of hues that
fall under a single-color category. For instance, recognizing that both light and dark shades of
blue belong to the same overarching category requires a more advanced cognitive ability.

3. Cultural Variations
Diversity in Recognition (Across Cultures): Different cultures and languages exhibit
variations in the number of distinct colors they recognize. Some cultures might have a more
extensive color vocabulary, while others may categorize colors differently based on cultural
and linguistic influences.

Non-Universal Hues: The range of hues representing a specific color is not universal.
Cultural and linguistic nuances influence how individuals within a particular community
perceive and name colors. This highlights the subjectivity and cultural relativity embedded in
the concept of color.

Techniques for Creative Teaching of Colors to Children

By embracing a holistic and interactive approach that integrates colors into various aspects of a
child's environment, educators can foster a rich and enjoyable learning experience. Recognizing
that each child learns differently, these diverse teaching techniques accommodate various learning
styles and ensure a well-rounded understanding of colors.

1. Hands-On Exploration
Teaching colors is most effective when woven into the fabric of everyday experiences.
Incorporating colors into play allows children to engage their senses and associate colors with
tangible objects.

2. Nature Walks and Outdoor Play

Venturing into nature during walks or outdoor play unveils a vibrant spectrum of colors. By highlighting
the vivid hues of flowers, leaves, and the sky, children can seamlessly link abstract color concepts to
tangible, real-world examples.

Utilize outdoor exploration as an educational tool, whether in a garden, park, or playground. Encourage
discussions about the myriad colors present in flowers, leaves, or playground equipment. This hands-on,
real-world experience serves to fortify color learning in a natural setting, creating a dynamic and engaging
educational environment for children.

3. Interactive Lessons
Teachers play a pivotal role in creating a visually stimulating learning environment. They can point out
color attributes in the classroom, using colorful materials, posters, and educational aids to reinforce the
understanding of different colors.
4. Thematic Approaches
Integrating color themes into lessons can capture children's attention and make learning more enjoyable.
For example, a week dedicated to the colour blue: It could involve various blue objects, stories of blue sky
or sea, and activities with blue materials.

5. Matching Games
Encouraging children to match objects by color is a practical and engaging technique. This could involve
sorting toys, clothes, or everyday items based on their colors. This hands-on approach helps solidify color
recognition through active participation.

6. Color Recognition Games

Integrate simple color recognition games into the reading session. For instance, you can say, "Every time
we see the color blue, let's clap our hands." This not only reinforces color learning but also adds a fun and
physical element to the activity.

7. Color Flashcards
Create or use color flashcards featuring different colors. Show the flashcards to the children and ask them
to identify and name the colors. You can gradually increase the difficulty by introducing more shades and
hues.

8. Colorful Storytelling
Engaging children with colorful books or storytelling that emphasizes specific colors can significantly
enrich their color vocabulary. By associating colors with characters or objects within the narratives, the
context provided aids in memory retention. To initiate this process, begin by carefully choosing a diverse
range of colorful and captivating books from the library that specifically center on colours. Choose books
featuring vibrant illustrations with clear representations of various colors, encompassing both fiction and
non-fiction genres to offer a well-rounded learning experience. This approach not only fosters language
development but also enhances a child's ability to identify and recall different colors through the engaging
medium of storytelling.

9. Using paints and coloured papers

Hands-on activities like, painting, and crafting with a variety of colors allow children to express
themselves while reinforcing color concepts. The tactile experience, combined with visual stimulation,
contributes to a more holistic understanding of colors.

10. Music and Movement

Incorporating music and movement into color lessons adds a kinesthetic element. Dancing to songs that
mention colors or using colored scarves during movement activities can create a dynamic and memorable
learning experience.
11. Positive Reinforcement
Providing positive reinforcement, such as praise or small rewards, when children successfully identify or
match colors, creates a positive association with the learning process. This encouragement boosts
confidence and motivation.

Artwork Engagement with Children to Explore

Understanding of Colors
By actively engaging with children's artwork, educators can transform the act of creating into a
rich learning experience. Through observation, discussion, and interactive activities, children not
only enhance their color comprehension but also develop valuable cognitive, linguistic, and
emotional skills in the process. The following are strategies to improve artwork engagement.

1. Colorful Art Activities

Engage children in art and craft activities that involve mixing and naming colors. Provide
them with a variety of colored paints, markers, or crayons, and ask them to create artwork
while verbalizing the colors they use.

2. Analyzing Artwork Colors

When children create artwork, educators can leverage the opportunity to observe and discuss the colors
they choose. This process goes beyond the act of creating and extends into the realm of critical thinking.
Observing the color palette in a painting or drawing provides valuable insights into a child's preferences,
perceptions, and understanding of colors.

3. Encouraging Color Naming

Actively encouraging children to name the colors they use in their drawings or when selecting art materials
promotes language development. This verbal interaction reinforces the connection between visual stimuli
and linguistic expression. It helps children articulate their thoughts and express themselves using color-
related vocabulary.

4. Color Association Games

Incorporating games that involve naming colors during art sessions adds an element of fun and
engagement. For instance, educators can initiate activities like "color scavenger hunts" where children
search for specific-colored materials. This not only reinforces color naming but also turns the learning
process into an interactive and enjoyable experience.

5. Discussing Color Choices

Engaging in conversations about the reasons behind color choices fosters an understanding of how colors
convey emotions and moods. This exploration of the emotional aspects of color enhances the depth of
creative expression, allowing children to communicate their feelings through art.
6. Multi-Sensory Association of Colors with Other Senses
Artwork engagement allows for the incorporation of multisensory elements. Discussing not only the visual
aspects of color but also associating them with other senses, such as the feel of different art materials or the
scent of colored markers, creates a richer and more immersive learning experience.

7. Creating Color Portfolios

Maintaining a portfolio of children's artwork over time provides a visual timeline of their color exploration
journey. Regularly reviewing these portfolios allows educators, parents, and children themselves to witness
progress, identify patterns, and celebrate milestones in color understanding.

Lesson: Teaching Colours through Everyday Play.

The Lesson Plan
This lesson aims to introduce and reinforce basic color recognition skills among 3-5-year-
olds through engaging, hands-on activities. Using various materials such as toys, playdough,
scarves, and picture books, the lesson encourages vocabulary development and social
interaction during group play.

The activities include free play with colorful toys, sorting objects by color, drawing on
colored sheets, and dancing with colorful scarves to music. The lesson concludes with a story
time session, discussions about colors, and a brief reflection on the children's favorite colors
and enjoyed activities.

Lesson Objectives
● To introduce and reinforce basic color recognition skills through hands-on, playful experiences.
● To promote vocabulary development by encouraging children to verbally express and name colors.
● To foster social interaction and cooperation during group play activities.

Materials Needed
● Various colorful toys, building blocks, and playdough.
● Colored scarves, ribbons, or fabric pieces.
● Colorful picture books.
● Large, sturdy paper or cardboard in different colors.
● Colorful markers or crayons.
● Music player for color-themed songs.
● Clear containers or baskets for sorting activities.

Introduction (10 minutes)

● Greeting and Circle Time: Begin with a warm welcome, sing a hello song, and gather the children in a
circle.
● Color Song: Introduce a simple color song with accompanying hand movements to create an engaging
start.
Main Activities (30 minutes)
● Colorful Toy Play: Provide a variety of colorful toys and encourage free play. Facilitate conversations
about the colors of the toys and ask questions like, "Can you find something red?". Color Sorting: Use
clear containers or baskets and ask children to sort toys or objects by color. Guide children in identifying
and placing items in the corresponding colored container. Drawing Representation. Hand out large paper
or cardboard sheets in different colors. Let children use colorful markers or crayons to create their own
drawings or color the provided sheets.

● Colorful Scarf Dancing: Distribute colorful scarves or ribbons to each child. Play lively music and
encourage the children to dance, twirl, and move the scarves in response to the music.

Transition (5 minutes)
Sing a fun clean-up song together while tidying up the play area.

Conclusion (10 minutes)

● Gather the children for a story time session with colorful picture books.
● Engage them in discussions about the colors they see in the illustrations.
● Recap the colors explored during the activities.
● Have a brief discussion about their favorite colors and what they enjoyed the most.
● Sing a goodbye song to conclude the lesson.

Assessment
● Observe children's participation and engagement during activities.
● Assess their ability to identify and name colors during play and discussions.
● Note any collaborative interactions and sharing among the children.

Lesson: Designing Pretty Things at Learning Centers

The lesson Plan
In this expressive arts and design lesson for4-6 -year-olds, children explore various learning
centres, fostering creativity by experimenting with tearing, gluing, and overlaying materials.
The objective is to create unique crafts with the intention of making special Mother's Day
gifts.

The learning centres include fabric decoupage jars, an outdoor collage activity, jam jar
luminaires, and decoupage-style Mother's Day cards. Each centre offers hands-on
experiences with different materials and techniques. The lesson concludes with a gathering to
share and discuss the children's creations, emphasizing the importance of creativity and
crafting unique, aesthetically pleasing items.
Objective
● Explore expressive arts and design in indoor and outdoor learning centres.
● Utilize tearing, gluing, and overlaying materials in crafting.
● Foster creativity through experimentation with colors and textures.
● Create unique crafts with the intention of making a special Mother's Day.

Materials
● Clean jars (pickle, jam, or cardboard containers)
● Glue and glue brushes
● Thin fabric cut into small pieces.
● Glass jars
● Pre-cut colored tissue paper squares.
● Decorations (sequins, craft jewels)
● Paper card folded in half.
● Scraps of colored paper (old magazines)
● Glue sticks
● Card craft boxes (7x7x3.5cm)

Introduction (5 minutes)
● Begin by discussing the concept of making pretty things.
● Explain that today, the children will be exploring decoupage, a fun and creative way to decorate objects.
● Get children to rotate between different learning centres that requires an adult to facilitate each centre’s
activity.

Learning Centre 1: Fabric Decoupage Jar (20 minutes)

● Provide each child with a clean jar, glue, glue brushes, and thin fabric pieces.
● Demonstrate how to spread glue on the back of fabric pieces and place them onto the jar, overlapping
edges.
● Encourage children to experiment with colors and textures, creating their unique designs.
● Let the jars dry, and optionally, add extra decorations once dry.
● Discuss the possibility of using the jars as special gifts for Mother's Day.

Learning Centre 2: Outside Play Area Collage (20 minutes)

● Set up a large sheet of stiff paper in the outside play area.
● Draw a large shape with a bold pen as an outline for the collage.
● Provide colored scraps suitable for gluing, such as paper, magazines, fabrics, foam shapes, and wallpaper
off-cuts.
● Organize children into small groups and let them tear up and glue materials onto the shape.
● Display the group creation for everyone to see.
Learning Centre 3: Decoupage Style Mother's Day Card (20 minutes)
● Provide each child with a sheet of paper card folded in half, card hearts (pre-cut or drawn and cut by
older children), scraps of colored paper, and glue sticks.
● Instruct children to tear colored paper into small pieces and glue them onto the heart shape.
● Encourage the use of different materials, such as fabric and tissue paper, for added texture.
● Discuss the uniqueness of each child's creation and how it can be given as a special Mother's Day card.

Conclusion (5 minutes)
● Gather children to share and discuss their creations.
● Emphasize the importance of creativity and making unique, pretty things.

Assessment
● Assess children demonstrate an understanding of fitting shapes into given templates.
● Evaluate the degree of interest in learning center activities.
● Assess whether three and four-year-olds demonstrate independent creativity.
● Observe if they actively look at colors, shapes, and designs, making choices based on preferences.
● Determine if they try out new ideas, discard materials, and replace them with others during the creative
process.
 Science and Discovery
Science and Discovery in the Early Years
Science and discovery of the world involves children exploring and interacting with various
aspects of their environment, including homes, schools, families, neighborhoods, cultures,
events, and the wider world. Children's natural curiosity and wonder drive their need for
opportunities to explore, experiment, manipulate, create, and learn about their surroundings.
This is also a principle in science learning.

Teachers play a critical role in facilitating the processes that help children satisfy their
curiosities and encourage them to make discoveries.

Exploring Discovery Learning

The goal of Discovery of the World is to widen children's knowledge and provide essential
skills to make sense of the world, laying the foundation for learning in geography, history,
and science.Examples of hands-on learning include catching a grasshopper, observing its
behavior, mixing and sieving water and sand, measuring construction heights, predicting
weather through cloud observations, drawing on architectural observations for constructing
stable structures, and exploring the invention of the wheel to build toy vehicles.

Children gain a better understanding of the world around them when they find out why things
happen and how things work by exploring and discovering relationships of change and
growth, and of cause and effect. Exploration and discovery begin with children’s natural
curiosity. Teachers can also inspire children by asking questions and modeling a sense of
wonder themselves.

The Learning Goals

The learning goals for Discovery of the World focus on the need for teachers to guide
children to:

○ Sustain and extend their curiosity.

○ Discover things for themselves.
○ Build on what they already know and understand.
○ Come up with their own solutions and reasons for explanations.
○ Cultivate a sense of care and appreciation of the environment.

Cognitive Development in Science and Discovery

Learning:
Children's cognitive development undergoes significant evolution as they actively engage in
constructing an understanding of people, objects, and real-life situations through firsthand
experiences. The process of observation, comparison, questioning, experimentation, and
discovery plays a pivotal role in shaping their thinking and fostering essential process skills
crucial for their future learning.

Observation
Observation allows children to keenly perceive their surroundings, enabling them to absorb
details, notice patterns, and make connections.

Through comparisons, they start recognizing similarities and differences, laying the
groundwork for critical thinking and analytical skills. Asking questions becomes a natural
instinct, driving their curiosity and prompting a deeper exploration of concepts and ideas.

Experimentation
Experimentation serves as a hands-on approach to learning, encouraging children to test
hypotheses, understand cause-and-effect relationships, and draw conclusions based on their
own actions. This active involvement in the learning process enhances their problem-solving
abilities and cultivates a mindset of inquiry.

Discovery, the culmination of these cognitive processes, instills a sense of accomplishment

and satisfaction. It reinforces the idea that learning is an ongoing, dynamic process,
encouraging children to approach challenges with resilience and a growth mindset.

Process Skills
These foundational process skills are not only vital for immediate academic success but also
serve as a solid framework for lifelong learning.

The ability to observe, compare, question, experiment, and discover empowers children to
navigate an ever-changing world with confidence, adaptability, and a continuous enthusiasm for
acquiring new knowledge.

Learning Experience

Teachers could design a learning experience or set up an environment that allows children to
observe these relationships taking place. The following are examples:

○ Provide blocks of different sizes and encourage children to find out if the addition of one more
block will cause their structure to collapse.

○ Provide a set of magnets and objects for children to observe their properties – pushing and
pulling each other, attracting some objects and not others • Collect leaves from around the
school grounds for children to observe, describe, classify, and compare by colour, texture and
shape.

○ Arrange a field trip to the Museum for children to learn about life in the past.
 Process Skills in Science and Discovery Learning
As children are given opportunities to develop these process skills, they begin to gain confidence
in their ability to think for themselves, reason, build connections, make representations and
communicate their ideas to others.

1. Observing:
To learn about their environment, children use all five senses to make sharp observations and
absorb useful information. Sensory engagement underpins their experience learning. They
can utilize basic instruments to carefully explore field trip features, stimulating their senses of
touch and sight.

Mixing paints lets kids see how the colors change, fostering sensory comprehension and
creativity. Outdoors, youngsters may measure their shadows at different times of day to learn
about heights and spatial ideas. Children may actively describe what they see, feel, and hear
during a neighborhood stroll, learning about structures, amenities, environmental print, and
geography. Visits to parks, gardens, and zoos help kids to learn about flora and animals in a
multimodal way that enhances their worldview.

2. Comparing & Classifying:

Observing their environment helps youngsters identify and classify actual items by size, color, and
function. This observational talent improves perceptual acuity and prepares them for higher cognitive
processes.

Children can differentiate gravel, grass, sand, and concrete by smoothness or roughness during a
neighborhood stroll. They may compare a newborn and a toddler and arrange their clothing by size to
improve their physical awareness. Children may also sort fresh and dry leaves by color, size, and texture.
These hands-on exercises promote cognitive growth, critical thinking, and observation in many
circumstances.

3. Predicting:
Children show cognitive capability by recalling past information during observation and data collection
while generating predictions. They adeptly link what they see, experience, and focus on. They make
educated predictions and give clear explanations in this cognitive synthesis. Children can anticipate and
grasp natural processes like the number of days it takes a tadpole to become a frog. Another example is
using buoyancy and material attributes to forecast which things would float or sink in water.

By seeing clouds, youngsters can forecast weather conditions like rain, showing they grasp atmospheric
physics. Teachers may promote predictive thinking by asking thought-provoking questions such as "What
do you think will happen if...?" "What do you think will happen next?" These questions help kids express
their expectations and use causal reasoning, improving their analytical and critical thinking.
4. Experimenting:
Children test ideas via experimentation in this hands-on learning method. It entails pondering why, asking
questions, making predictions, proposing a hypothesis, and testing it. Children explore to obtain answers
and confirm information, developing new ideas and concepts. Children may learn about the transforming
impacts of different substances by adding water, soapy water, or oil to sand.

Another investigation might determine plant growth parameters to improve biology and ecological
knowledge. Children may also study whether materials, such paper, wood, or fabric, dry faster in the sun
while wet, learning about material qualities and environmental conditions. Teachers can guide these
projects with thought-provoking questions like: Why do you think...?, Your thoughts on…?, What and why
is...?, How else can we...? These inquiries promote critical thinking, investigation, and holistic learning.

Recording and Communicating Discoveries

Encouraging children to record and communicate their discoveries is a crucial aspect of the
learning process. When children document what they observe and gather, they are prompted to
form opinions and conclusions based on their findings, fostering precision in their observations
and heightened sensitivity to environmental details.

Creating opportunities for children to share their discoveries, whether verbally or through various
mediums like drawings, artworks, construction models, or playdough creations, plays a vital role
in their cognitive and social development.

For instance, children can take photographs during a neighborhood walk and use them to craft a
map, showcasing their understanding of spatial relationships. Marking off days on a calendar to
record the growth of a plant and illustrating its life cycle through drawings is another effective way
for children to visually communicate their observations.

Additionally, creating a model of a bridge using materials like clay or ice cream sticks after
studying photographs or books allows them to express their understanding through a tangible
representation. Through these recording and communication activities, children not only deepen
their comprehension but also contribute to a collaborative learning environment by sharing their
insights with others.

Fostering a Sense of Wonder and Curiosity

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut
labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco
laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

What to do?
In the pursuit of supporting children's learning about the world, the development of positive
attitudes or dispositions towards the learning area or activity proves to be equally significant
as the acquisition of knowledge and skills. Fostering a sense of wonder and curiosity is a
crucial aspect of this developmental journey.

Children, by nature, possess an innate curiosity about the world they inhabit, and it becomes
imperative to nurture and sustain this disposition as they progress through their educational
experiences. Cultivating a sense of wonder and curiosity empowers children with the
confidence to ask questions, delve into the unknown, explore new objects, and discover new
things.

Why to do it?
This approach encourages active learning and fosters a lifetime love of learning. Children that
are curious about the world are more resilient, fearless, and excited to learn. Encourage and
preserve this feeling of amazement to shape what youngsters learn and how they see and
interact with the world's vast and complicated fabric.

Teachers must model inquiry via questions and provide children opportunity to acquire and
organize information to build their own knowledge and comprehend why and how things function
to foster this feeling of wonder and curiosity. This makes learning fun and stimulates curiosity.
Teachers should encourage youngsters to ask questions and wonder about their surroundings in
addition to asking inquiries to spark interest.

Strategies to Foster Wonder and Curiosity

In nurturing a sense of wonder and curiosity, teachers play a pivotal role by not only posing
questions to arouse children's inquisitiveness but also by actively encouraging children to ask
questions and wonder about their surroundings.

What are they?

Outdoor activities serve as a dynamic platform for promoting this sense of wonder, providing
an environment where children can express their amazement and share their interests and
discoveries with their peers.

Creating a culture where questioning is not only accepted but celebrated fosters a rich
learning environment.

What can teachers do?

Teachers can employ various interactive strategies to stimulate curiosity. For instance, a simple
game involving questions and a ball can be implemented, where a child answers a question,
poses a related question, and then throws the ball to another child, creating a continuous chain
of inquiry.

Pairing children and having them take turns sharing a favorite toy or activity, while the other child
asks questions, not only encourages questioning but also promotes communication and
understanding between peers.
What is a engaging strategy?
Another engaging strategy involves dividing children into groups named after 'Wh' words
(Who, Where, When, what, Why), assigning each group a number, and having them ask
questions related to the topic. This activity not only reinforces questioning but also introduces
collaborative learning.

Incorporating a project element, where children seek answers to the questions raised during
these activities, enhances their research and investigative skills. By writing down and
collectively reviewing the questions, teachers can guide children towards a more structured
exploration of their curiosities.

What to expect?
In the next 2 lessons you are able to see how children can build their observation skills by
actively engaging their five senses and employ simple tools and technology like magnifying
glasses to explore the world around them.

Through simple investigations, they inquire into why things happen and how they work, Children
express their understanding through recordings, discussions, and communicate their
observations and experiences. Importantly, they exhibit a sense of wonder, curiosity, and
enjoyment in their exploration, fostering a positive attitude towards learning and a readiness to
ask.

Science and Discovery Lesson: Observing Snails

The Lesson Plan
In this lesson, 5-year-old children observe and learn about snail behavior through interactive
activities.

The focus includes questioning, identification of snail parts, exploration of colors and
patterns, and fostering a sense of wonder. In groups, children used magnifying glasses to
closely examine snails with questions provided to stimulate discussions before they are asked
to create a drawing or playdough model of their observation. This lesson encourages curiosity
and develop observational skills in a fun and educational setting.

Learning Objectives
Children will:
● observe and learn about the behavior of snails.
● ask questions and discuss their observations.
● identify and name different parts of a snail.
● explore colors, patterns, and shapes on the snail.
● develop close observation skills using a magnifying glass.
● cultivate a sense of wonder about the movement of snails.
● engage in creative expression by drawing or making a play dough model of a snail.
Activity
Introduction: Begin by gathering the children and sparking their curiosity with a series of questions:
○ "Have you ever seen a snail before?"
○ "What do you notice about them?"

Introducing key features like the shell, head, eyes, and feelers. Show a live snail found during a
neighborhood walk. Encourage children to gently touch the shell and body, describing the textures to make
learning more tangible.

Observation Stations
● Divide the children into small groups and assign each group a specific observation focus (colors,
patterns, shapes, movement).
● Provide magnifying glasses for a more detailed examination.
● Guide each group as they share and discuss their observations.
● Engage the children's curiosity by posing questions like "I wonder how the snail moves without any
legs?" and "Can you think of other animals that have no legs? How do these animals move?"
● Encourage group discussions about their thoughts and ideas.

Discussion and documentation

● Open the floor for children to ask questions about the snail. Discuss and explore answers
together.
● Invite children to draw or create a play dough model of the snail based on their
observations.
● Emphasize creativity and expression while they recreate the snail in their own way.

Conclusion
● Gather the children for a closing discussion, allowing them to share their drawings or models.
● Summarize key observations and lessons learned during the activity.
● - Revisit wonder questions to encourage continued curiosity.

Assessment
● Assess each child's ability to observe and discuss different aspects of the snail.
● Evaluate participation in group discussions and the quality of questions asked.
● Review drawings or play dough models for creativity and accuracy in representing snail features.
● Monitor adherence to safety guidelines, ensuring children wash their hands thoroughly after handling the
snails.
 Science and Discovery Lesson: Investigating How Snails
Move
The Lesson Plan
This lesson aims to enhance 5-year-old children's observation skills by exploring how snails
move on different surfaces. The activities involve predicting, experimenting, and recording
findings.

Children will predict snail movement on different surfaces, conduct hands-on experiments
using different materials. The lesson will build observation and critical thinking in an
interactive and enjoyable manner.

Learning Objectives
● Observe the movement of snails on different surfaces.
● Predict and experiment to find out whether snails move faster or slower on wet, dry, rough, and smooth
surfaces.
● Record and discuss their findings.
● Develop critical thinking and observation skills.

Introduction
● Begin by discussing with the children the concept of different surfaces and how they might affect the
movement of a snail.

● Pose questions like "What do you think will happen if you pour water onto the tray for the snail?" and
"How do you think the snail will move on sand?"

Prediction and Experiment

● Have children predict whether a snail will move faster or slower on wet, dry, rough, and smooth
surfaces.
● Provide materials such as water, droppers, sand, cotton cloth, and aluminum foil.
● Guide children in conducting a simple experiment to observe and record the snail's movement on each
surface.
● Encourage children to talk about their findings after each trial.
● Record their observations on a chart or other suitable graphic organizers, involving the children in the
documentation process.

Conclusion
● Gather the children for a concluding discussion, allowing each group to share their observations and
findings.
● Summarize the overall class discoveries and emphasize the importance of observation in scientific
exploration.
● Conclude with a reflection on how different surfaces can impact the movement of a snail.
Assessment
● Evaluate each child's ability to make predictions and conduct simple experiments.
● Assess the accuracy of their observations and the understanding of the impact of different surfaces on
snail movement.
● Review the recorded charts or graphic organizers for completeness and clarity.
● Encourage children to verbalize their thoughts during the discussion, assessing their communication and
critical thinking skills.

Asking Children Questions during Science and Discovery

lessons
Good questions can excite and motivate children, acting as catalysts for engagement and
sparking new interests along with a cascade of further inquiries. The effectiveness of a question
in supporting discovery and critical thinking lies in its focus, clarity, appropriate intonation, and
the potential to achieve various educational objectives.

A well-crafted question serves multiple purposes. It not only arouses and sustains children's
interest but also provides teachers with valuable insights into their prior knowledge. It is essential
for teachers to provide children with ample time to respond to the questions posed. Waiting
patiently for several seconds encourages thoughtful responses and prevents the undermining of
children's thinking by prematurely providing answers. Teachers can employ various types of
questions to cater to different educational needs. Open-ended questions, designed to encourage
curiosity and critical thinking, form a significant part of effective questioning strategies.

For instance, questions like "What do you think will happen if you pour water onto the tray for the
snail?" or "Why do snails have shells?" stimulate thoughtful discussions and prompt children to
explore possibilities, solve problems, and form opinions. Close-ended questions serve a distinct
purpose, helping with the recall of information and focusing attention. These questions, such as
"What is the color of the snail?" or "What is the texture of the snail’s shell?" require concise and
specific answers, aiding in reinforcing learned knowledge.

Providing Opportunities for Simple Experiments

Children are engaged and captivated by things they can touch, manipulate and change as well
as by situations that allow them to find out how things work and what happens. Experimentation
allows children to employ a variety of process skills and nurture positive dispositions as they
make observations, test out ideas, collect information and make new discoveries through simple
experiments designed by themselves to answer the questions they have.

During experimentation, difficult concepts which are beyond the ability of a child to grasp may
arise. However, developmentally, pre-school children are not expected to understand scientific
 concepts. Instead, they could be encouraged to explain them according to their own
understanding and in their own words. Examples of Simple Experiments:

 Predict and determine objects that float and sink.

 Predict and determine materials that dissolve in water.

 Predict the water-holding capacity of containers with different shapes and sizes.

 Observe how water changes shape based on the container.

 Determine the number of marbles needed to make a plastic container sink.

 Predict drying times for materials (cloth or paper) in the sun

 Observe the effects of adding colored food dye to water.

Providing Opportunities for Activities in the Outdoors

The outdoor environment offers children first-hand contact with the natural world. It also allows
children to be physically active and encourages them to explore freely through their senses and
direct personal experiences. Children can smell flowers and plants, listen to the sounds of
passing vehicles and birds chirping, feel the soft grass on their feet and experience the wind
blowing on their face.

As children explore the outdoor environment such as digging in the soil and picking up pebbles
and rocks of different shapes and sizes, they learn about the nature of the surfaces of the earth,
concepts of heavy and light, rough and smooth, and large and small. Such sensory experiences
also help to foster children’s sense of wonder and reinforce a positive attitude towards the
environment and learning.
 Early Movement and Discovery - Lesson Summary
Below you will find key information covered in this module:

 Play significantly influences children's learning and development as it is associated with cognitive and
social-emotional development, preparing children for academic success and lifelong achievements.

 Play as an educationally powerful process where learning occurs spontaneously, while others argue this
oversimplifies the complexity of play and its connections with learning.

 Through play, children observe, regulate, and restrain themselves, gaining mastery over various skills and
developing an awareness of limits.

 It is important to engage children to reflect on learning in their playful activities to avoid creating a
dichotomy between play and learning.

 Some parents and early years teachers may harbor doubts about the role of play in child development in
which questions arise about the effectiveness of play-based learning in preparing children for the transition
from preschool to primary school.

 Play is shaped by culture, and there are variations in how children play across cultures.

 Understanding cultural factors is crucial for a deep understanding of cultural values and the benefits of
play in childhood.

 Exploring and learning about culture begins in early childhood, contributing to the development of self-
esteem, cultural identities, and awareness