Prescolare

Our 3, 4 and 5 year olds thrive from collaborative learning. They are small, but they matter.

When children feel safe, they are comfortable to explore their emotions. They still get cross, and upset, but they are more comfortable independently talk to adults and friends to tell them how they feel and what they want to do. They are getting better at managing their emotions, resolving conflict, taking turns and sharing independently. If they find it difficult, they are learning to ask for help to understand the best thing to do. They are getting better at listening and to follow 4-word instructions.

They need to help to organise their play space and to decide what they would like to play with. They love lots of variation in their activities, they want to be active and happy learners. Adults need to support these children to try new things and to work things out, and working together on projects on things that are interesting to the child helps. They love exploring science, so cooking, experiments and messy play are some of their favourite things to do. Through play they are building the strength in their little muscles that they will need for writing, already they can use a pencil in the pincer grip to make small, controlled marks and common shapes. It’s not all about the small fine motor control, they need to build the big muscles too, they need these to sit at school, carry their lunch tray and to run around the playground. They need lots of active play, both from walks into the neighbourhood and with exploration and play in a garden area. They know what to wear to be safe outside, and can get ready independently, putting on their shoes and coats and even do the buttons and zips. They know when they need to rest, and they will relax in comfortable, quiet places if they need to. They confidently wash their hands, wipe their nose and face and serve their food and water at mealtimes. They are supported to eat with a knife and fork, and they can tell an adult if they need the toilet. They typically can use the bathroom independently, including wiping their own bottoms – mostly!

Literacy and numeracy is challenged is so many different ways. Because of all the different ways children learn, they can confidently recognise their own name when it is written down and are able to find the first letter of their name. Children see words in many different forms around them, including their play spaces. They have fun with rhyme and can say which words have the same beginning and end sounds. They can point and count by name for 1 to 3 objects and can tell the number of objects up to three without having to count them individually. They can say numbers to 5 and are learning to go beyond this. They still enjoy sorting different shapes into containers – in many creative ways, with the help of loose parts. They are independent, mature, and mostly sensible! They are learning all the things that they need to learn before going to school – the important things, like wanting to learn, being able to try again if things go wrong and being able to listen and follow what a teacher says and having the confidence to speak up if they want to know something.

Of course, they need guiding, and reminding to do everything the right way – but that’s what adults are there for.