Children Learn Through Playing

When I paint at the easel, I am Learning…

• To develop my imagination and creativity
• Eye-hand coordination, helpful for learning to write
• The names of colors, and how to make new colors
• To distinguish shapes, and purposely create shapes
• To notice patterns from the background, necessary for leaning to read
• To express my feelings and ideas, and that they have value
• Relationships of space and size, necessary for mathematics
• Concepts of symmetry, balance and design

When I play with playdough, I am learning…

• To see the shape against the background of the table, a reading skill
• Concepts of shapes, relative sizes, big and small, length, height, etc.
• To see negative space when cookie cutter shapes are taken away
• To express feelings, pounding and squeezing
• To exercise my imagination and creativity
• That the amount of substance remains the same, even when the shape changes

When I play with water, I am learning…

• That some things sink and some things float
• To observe changes as water takes a different form in different containers
• About different temperatures
• About wet, dry and evaporation
• What happens when you add soap
• Eye-hand coordination as I learn to pour
• Concepts of empty and full, volume and weight, relevant to mathematics

When I sort things, I am learning…

• To notice details and similarities and differences in objects
• To form categories, essential concepts for reading and mathematics
• Concepts of color, size and shape
• Numerical concepts of more and less
• Logical reasoning

When I am dancing, I am learning…

• How to balance my body, useful for sports and science
• Honing large muscle coordination
• Awareness of placement of my body in space
• How to keep rhythm, concepts for mathematics
• To express myself with gestures and movement, useful for communication
• To exercise my imagination and creativity

When I play with blocks, cars and trucks, I am learning…

• Mathematical equations of geometry
• Concepts and relationships of sizes and shapes
• Problem solving of building concepts
• How something large can be made from small parts
• To develop eye-hand coordination and balance
• Concepts of shape, size, length and location, all relative to learning to read and do mathematics
• To create and repeat patterns, a math skill
• To exercise my imagination, to express my ideas, to cooperate with others, to solve problems
• About the properties of wood, metal and plastic
• To see myself from a different perspective, that of a giant

When I play house, I am learning…

• To develop social skills through negotiation
• To practice verbal communication
• To develop adult behavior
• To understand the world I live in and how I fit in
• To be flexible in my thinking
• To sort and organize playthings
• To make decisions
• To improvise and use things in a symbolic way to represent something else…a form of abstract thinking
• To carry out my ideas, with the cooperation of others
• To exercise my imagination and creativity

When I play on the climber, I am learning…

• Self confidence as I develop new skills
• Physical strength, coordination and balance.
• To use my imagination to cooperate with others when involved in some dramatic play.
• To solve problems.

When I participate in circle time, I am learning…

• To listen, sit still and understand spoken language.
• To add my ideas to the discussion. My ideas have value.
• To wait when others are talking.
• New vocabulary connected with the topic of discussion.
• To remember the words of songs and poems.
• The names of others in the group.
• To cooperate and be considerate of the needs of others.
• To help plan what we will do and what items we will need to do it.