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.
