The kindergarten of yesterday essay

The kindergarten of yesterday was meant to be a child’s first formal experience of school.  Children were sent to kindergarten to gain maturity, confidence and emotional stability through guided and unguided play rather than formal instruction.  This kindergarten was meant to cater to the needs of children between the ages of four to six.  However, these activities are carried out in today’s preschool, which is meant for children of ages three to four years, thus the preschooler of today is comparable to the kindergartener of yesteryear.

This is a huge difference. 1There are five developmental domains and they are all interlinked with each other. They are social (forming of attachments), physical (motor skill development), intellectual (understanding of surroundings), creative (writing, singing, drawing etc.), and emotional (expression of feelings and confidence), collectively known as SPICE2 of life.  No one activity can possibly cover all the areas of a child’s development in the early years, and since children at that get bored quickly, I would plan several activities to cover all the domains.  Some of the activities may cover multiple domains others only one.

SocialPhysicalIntellectualCreativeEmotionalActivity 1Two children can take turns lacing and fastening buttons. By doing the two activities together they will develop bonds and learn to share. Both of these activities will help develop motor skills, and hand and eye coordination. Activity 2Read a story then encourage each child to discuss. When story is discussed, it will allow them to think, and develop a sense of reasoning.

Will allow the children to express their own feelings about the story. Activity 3Play time with play dough and blocks. Molding the play dough will also develop motor skills. Will allow children to create freely.

1.   http://mommymythbuster. wordpress. com/opinions/universal-preschool/2.

Leisure and recreation management, George Torkildsen, 1999 (page 27).