Preschools in India

Preschool Outdoor Activities

Outdoor activities for preschoolers play a major role in the development of the children. These activities provide wonderful learning opportunities to the kids. Kids studying in preschools are in the age range of two to five years. This is stage of mental development of the toddlers. In this age range, children absorb information very fast. The learning speed of child is also quite fast. Small children are interested in almost each and everything. They like indoor as well as outdoor activities. These activities allow kids to explore different interesting things. Most of the preschool syllabus today arrange for interesting outdoor activities for preschoolers that are so very essential for their growth and development.

One of the common but important outdoor activities for kids is nature walk. Teachers ask kids to hold each other’s hand and give them a walk around trees, fruits, and leaves etc. kids are accompanied by teachers and other adults for safety purpose. Children are encouraged to carry color pencil and drawing book and draw whatever fascinates them. This gives kids a feel of nature and other elements. They also get a chance to know about different names and colors etc.

Sack races are quite popular amongst toddlers. In this race kids are asked to put their feet in a bag and start the race. Children are asked to hop and not run. Whoever finishes the race first is declared the winner. It is a complete fun game and a perfect entertainment for kids. Freeze at the Spot is also an interesting game in which kids are taken to a tree in the garden or school campus. On the beats of music, kids are asked to jump or dance around the tree and when the music stops, every kid has to stop in the exact position as they were. Kids make lots of funny poses and they all laugh on each other’s poses. These outdoor activities are surely entertaining for the kids.


How to Improve Preschool Education System

A child’s future is very much determined by his education. In that context, it is important to create a perfect preschool education because that’s where kids start the journey of their life. Preschools or nursery schools are an important cog in the wheel of society. The quality of preschool education directly affects the children which in turn has a major effect on the country. Most of the child care centers or preschools have quality staff. These staffs and teachers join preschools less due to any major financial incentive and more because of their love for kids. The success of a preschool is very much dependent on the ability and intentions of its teachers. If teachers have best of child’s interests in their mind that will automatically reflect in the way kid shapes up. However, it is estimated that preschool education will suffer from lack of quality teachers in coming times.

To improve the quality of preschool education, it is important to groom teachers and offer them appropriate remunerations. Preschool teachers should have equal standing to that of primary or senior school teachers. There should be constant focus on improving the levels of nursery school teachers. This can be done through providing more respect and incentive. Teachers should be encouraged to go for their university degrees.

Worldwide, there is more emphasis on secondary education. Most of the governments and organizations talk about improving secondary education. The primary education is yet to receive its due share in education sector. We should not forget that a preschool or nursery school is the place where child takes his/her first step to the real world. His experience at preschool can change his approach towards education forever.

Preschool system should have more participation from the parents for the proper development of the children. There should be consistent focus on structured parental programmes in which parents would be given advice and the skills to develop their children at home. Finally, preschools should always give priority to developing curriculum that has right mix of fun and learning. The ultimate aim is proper growth and development of the children and this can only be achieved by equal contribution from all the concerned parties.


Importance of Preschool Playground Equipment

All-round development of preschool kids is very much dependent on games they play. If you see closely, the preschools are designed in a fascinating way. You will find colorful walls designer by interior designers and interesting playing equipments. This is the place where children are first introduced to the real world. It is not easy for a kid to part ways with his parents even for a few hours and that’s where interesting games and play equipments come into the picture. These games help in distracting kids, encouraging them to explore new environment and learn new things. Having plenty of play equipments in preschool brings elements of joy and pleasure in the learning environment. Children remain engrossed with these equipments.

Playground equipment are designed in an attractive way which proves crucial in stimulating all the senses of the kids. Some of the common preschool playground equipments are; spinners, swings, play-structures, slides, climbers, mazes and play panels. Presence of play-structure helps in promoting continuous play. They also prove crucial in reducing space thus enabling children to have more space and time to themselves. Play-structure has managed to replace earlier prevalent free-standing playground that had all the components located away from each other.

Similarly, play panels have replaced old box cardboard games. These panels are the larger plastic-board version that helps in minimizing the risk of children swallowing tiny play parts of the cardboard games. Presence of climbers is instrumental in providing good physical exercises to children. Playground should be such that children are able to move effortlessly.

Playground equipment must be chosen with care. Child safety should be given topmost priority while selecting proper playground equipment. Children will enjoy more if the playroom is spacious and airy. It should also have adequate sunlight and fresh air. No equipment should have sharp or cutting edges.


Teaching Science to Preschoolers

Preschool curriculum is well defined and well made keeping in mind diverse needs and requirements of innocent kids. Children are quick learner and if the mode and method of education is right, child education can be very beneficial for the future growth of the kid. Curriculum for preschool kids has undergone significant changes in last few years. Now an ideal preschool curriculum includes different science subjects like physics, biology and chemistry. You must be wondering such seemingly complicated subjects for children? The answer is a resounding yes. The thing is age of the preschoolers (two to five years) is considered as the best age group, when they are the most inquisitive and curious about almost everything in their surroundings. They are curious about different colors, tastes, smells and creatures. All these things have a bit of science in them. That explains why most of the preschool curriculum has science as an essential component that helps in testing and stimulating intelligence of the kids.

Starting with biology, preschool teachers educate kids about plants and animals. The focus is on how to recognize a plant or an animal. It could be through appearance, food, habits and colors. Kids are taught to draw and make crafts of different plants and animals like frog, flowers, lion, tress, fruits, birds, and rabbit etc. kids find it very exciting to make different plants and animals of various shapes, sizes and colors.

Chemistry topics can be fun for preschool kids. It involves chemical experiments that help the kids in understanding what is happening around them. Some of the popular chemical experiments could be explaining water forms, popcorn making, introducing five senses and other such things.

The subject of physics helps in making kids understand all the shapes and sizes present in nature. Some of fun and educative physics stuffs for kids are showing magnet, explaining reflection of light, different types of rocks and space drawings. All these activities take place in simplest way possible so that kids can grasp the essence.


Best Preschool Curriculum

Choosing the best preschool curriculum is a hotly debated topic. Different experts have different opinions about ideal preschool curriculum. However, all the experts agree on one thing and that is curriculum should reflect the age and cognitive/emotional development of the child. But here again, differences occur. Different children has different emotional development pattern so a curriculum becomes more of an individualised thing keeping in mind needs and development of a particular child. The educational bar for kids is continually being raised. What was earlier taught in kindergarten is now taught in preschool. For example, kids used to learn numbers, alphabets and social skills in kindergarten but all these things are now being taught in preschools and that’s a remarkable change in our educational pattern.

One idea for best preschool curriculum is to incorporate pre-design lessons in the course which will be applicable to all the kids. The second idea is to use customised lessons in the best interests of a child. Parents are in ideal situation to tell where the child stands in terms of emotional growth and cognitive abilities. The focus of a preschool curriculum should be on natural learning tendencies of the child and not on teaching him rigidly. It is important to find what interest a particular child. If a kid is interested in fruits then naturally it will be easier for him to learn counting skills with the help of fruits or find an alphabet that is covered in fruit. A child’s natural interest should be given utmost priority in a preschool curriculum.

Best preschool curriculum must have subjects on art or music. These subjects are always fascinating and most of the kids will learn better if music or art is included in the curriculum. Social skills should be an integral part of the curriculum. Socialization skills play a major role in child’s future growth and development and preschool teachers must focus on that aspect. Finally, a preschool curriculum must promote independence and development of individual strengths.


Preparing Child for Preschool Education

Preschool has become a necessary part of a child’s education. It is not exactly an easy task for parents to prepare their child for preschool education. But, for a child to be successful in preschool and formal education, he must be prepared for preschool. The preparation process starts with making your child as independent as possible. It should begin with basic hygiene, toilet training and ability to dress himself. Parents should take steps to make child comfortable in company of others. Preschool teachers know the importance of love and care but they are not really able to provide each and every child same level of attention as that of their parents. A child takes time to get adjusted to a new environment. Some children feel extremely uncomfortable in company of strangers like preschool teachers and other kids. However, it is the combined duty of parents and teachers to get rid of any such fears harboured by the kid.

A child will do much better in preschool education if he has been taught some basic concepts by his parents. Prior knowledge of colours and shapes will help the kid in grasping his lessons better at preschool. This is a delicate and slow process that parents should practice on a regular basis. Just a casual introduction to different colours while he is wearing dresses or eating fruits of different shapes will give him elementary knowledge of colours and shapes.

Parents can also introduce alphabet and letter sounds to the toddlers. These lessons should be fun and casual. These steps are necessary because of education bars in preschools and kindergartens are being raised. Now kids get to learn a lot many stuff in these classes and if they are not prepared, they will face difficulty in preschools. The early learning is to provide kids the head start to become more successful in preschool and then later in formal education.


Educational Games for Preschool Kids

It is an established fact that a kid learns better when learning becomes fun. Repetitive assignments and boring homework tend to take the fun out of learning. That explains why preschools focus more on educational games which not only allows kids to have fun but also makes them learn. Teachers at preschools plan interesting games for kids to add excitement and enjoyment in their learning phase. Preschool educational games for kids are increasingly becoming popular. These games help in fostering team spirit, confidence and social skills among the kids. Educational games also help in enhancing memory, intelligence and creativity.

Many educational games for kids are based on memory, health, word structure, art and music, alphabets, logics, numbers, geography, animal and nature, mathematics, identifying colours and objects, and spellings etc. Talking about some of the interesting games for preschoolers, ‘As You Like’ is quite a popular game. Every kid loves cartoon characters and this game is all about sketching a picture of any favourite character. Children are also made to colour these sketches using sketch pens or crayons. This game helps in enhancing creativity of the kids.

‘Place Me’ involves objects of different shapes and sizes. In this game, child is asked to draw the outline of an object and then place the object into the correct outline. What this game does is to help kids in identifying objects in accordance with their shapes and sizes. ‘Fill the Gap’ is a fascinating educational game for kids. It is basically a spelling game with the help of which kids learn to improve their spellings. In this game, picture of an object is put in front of the kids and they are asked to fill the incomplete spellings against the items.

Some of the other popular kids educational games are ‘black or blue’ and ‘letters and number connection’. Apart from that online computer games, educational toys, number songs etc are some of the other options for kids.


Allied activities in a preschool

Bonding comes easy to children especially when they enroll themselves in a preschool. It is natural for parents to be anxious initially and ask the teachers how their ward is faring. But as time goes, kids learn to adjust to the wake-up times as well as teachers and they adore the preschool. There are several activities that interest the child in a preschool. This is the early education plan that is so well coordinated by zealous teachers.

 The traditional days in preschool are full of fun. The enthusiasm is seen in the parents too, as they deck their children with the finest traditional outfits during a dandiya or a Diwali day held in preschool. The best moments are captured via camera and photo shoots which can be shared with relatives and friends. Preschool science activities are also fun especially growing a plant or planting a sapling.

Competitions are more of an opportunity that allows a child to overcome being self-conscious. It also helps build confidence and allows the child to independently perform. Saying small dialogues, enactment and get-up is interesting. The array of fancy dress ideas opens up novel innovative dresses for children. The instructions given by the preschool for participating in a fancy dress must be followed at all times.

Other activities in routine days include wooden puzzles, stacking and also recognizing alphabets or common birds and animals. While saying poems, the rhyme method helps them to modulate their voice and opens up their sound so that they are able to speak clearly. Gently and with lot of care, teachers help the child pronounce difficult words and also sing along with the same. Water play or Sand play is a favorite among children.

The Boogie Woogie song or the Old Mc Donald enactments are still afresh in our minds. Most schools also do a parent-child interaction program which helps in the early days. The participation ensures that children get to like school and slowly they partake in the activities independently. Scribbling, crayon work and thumb painting are also taught in schools which help them develop their motor skills.

Sports become a part of Pre School games be it a bat-ball game or lemon-spoon race. Running, hide and seek and other word games causes ripples of fun-laughter which are the highlights of a preschool. Annual days, stage shows, X Mas party are other delights which are common in preschools.


Preschool Games for Toddlers

To enhance the learning experience of toddlers, teachers at preschool try to look for new ideas. For toddlers or young kids, games can play a major role in making learning an enjoyable process. Games are not just for entertainment or fun. They have a crucial role to play in the growth and development of the children. It helps in instilling important attributes like social skills, team play, intelligence and creativity etc. Toddlerhood is a developmental stage when child learns to explore things and his surroundings. Child also starts walking, talking in this phase. He learns to recognise people.

To further his learning, parents are sending their toddlers to preschools so that he can be better prepared for kindergartens or elementary schools. Child comes in contact with other kids at preschools and that’s his first introduction to social skills. He learns to establish relationship, work in a group and slowly starts feeling comfortable away from his parents. Preschools have become very popular in recent times and more and more parents are sending their kids there. Preschools focus on games that are educational as well as fun. This way, child is able to learn more.

‘Bunny Race’ is one such game. It can be played inside as well as outside. In this game a group of 4-5 kids are assembled together and made to jump like bunnies. Children just love this game. ‘Hide and Seek’ is another entertaining game where children are gathered around. When the teacher closes her eyes, children hide in different places and one who is caught hiding has to find the ones hiding. This is a very popular game all across the world.

Toddlers love to run around and that’s why ‘chase’ is such a popular game. This game helps child in remaining active and subsequently helps in motor development of the children. Other popular games are ‘Tagging game’, ‘Cat and Mouse’ game and Fishing game etc. These games assist in hand-eye coordination, motor development and alertness.


Preschools in India

Preschools in India

Preschool has become a crucial concept for both child as well as the parents. According to one study, the number of preschools in India is growing at the rate of 40% annually. That really shows how important preschools are turning out to be in the context of Indian education system. Parents, especially in urban areas look forward to enroll their children in preschool because of its obvious benefits. Enrolling kids to preschools helps in preparing them for kindergarten and elementary school. From parents’ point of view, some of them do not have adequate time for the kids because of work and other pressing commitments and for them, preschools come very handy.

Preschools are very important in the initial development of a child’s life. For one, kids get their first taste of education. It is also the first time that they venture out of their comfort zone, i.e., home. They start learning things through play. At this stage of life, kids are not really expected to study. But the actual learning is imparted with the help of interaction with other kids, games, songs and other activities. Children also get to taste independence factor. Preschools contribute significantly in the preliminary education of the child.

Preschools have teachers who also don the mantle of parents. They try to understand each and every child individually. This helps them in figuring out right way of teaching individual child. A preschool has small number of kids so that helps the teachers in focusing on each child individually. Rhymes, games, songs, alphabets and numbers etc are methods through which kids get to lean their first lessons of lives. A child is made to identify different objects. Children are also made to develop different self-help qualities along with basic etiquette’s.

At this age, most of the children suffer from separation anxiety. Preschools aims at making children feel comfortable even while being away from their parents for few hours. From Indian perspective, quality preschools are opening up in different parts of the country. Most of the preschools are private in nature. Franchise model is also evolving rapidly in the preschools. The fact that there is low entry barriers in this segment and number of preschools are relatively low has further helped in attracting quality domestic as well as foreign education players to this emerging segment. The way things are moving in the field of preschools education, sooner than later, preschools are going to have ubiquitous presence in India.


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