The pre school years are a time of remarkable development. Pre school may look like just  fun and games which include music, story time, dancing and art but these activities all stimulate the brain and your child’s development. Children learn through play in safe and nurturing environments. Building blocks for example are not just amusing but also teach problem solving and physics.  A love of learning should also develop in the pre school years. Good learning habits begin to form and the child’s self esteem should  build. Resilience also develops at this time. Children should be allowed to make mistakes and feel okay about this. Children move on and learn from the experience the next time.

Pre school children will develop an understanding that print represents objects as the children practice their pre writing and pre reading skills. Books are an important resource in the pre school classroom. Signs in print and pictorial form around the classroom also promote these skills. Pre schoolers will  learn many colours, basic shapes and body parts. Children will also build their awareness of numbers and counting.

As children develop better hand-eye co-ordination and fine motor skills their drawings will begin to move away from just scribbling. Children should have access to a wide range of mark making materials, glue and play doh to build these. Children will also begin to cut with scissors.

An emphasis is placed on learning important social skills whilst in pre school. Children learn to share, cooperate with others, work together, take turns, participate in group activities, follow simple directions and how to communicate their wants/ needs. Taking responsibility and showing respect to others are also important skills to learn.

At Crawford Childcare we follow Aistear, the National Currriculum Framework for children aged from birth to six. Learning links across the 4 themes of Well-being, Identity and belonging, Communicating and; Exploring and thinking. The framework can be accessed at http://www.ncca.ie/en/  Check it out for more detail on what your child should be learning in pre school.