creative learning activities for young children

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CREATIVE LEARNING ACTIVITIES FOR YOUNG

CHILDREN Presented by:

Ronald M. Quileste, MAEd School of Education

Xavier university – Ateneo de Cagayan Corrales Ave., Cagayan de Oro City

Topic Outline

•Definition of Terms

•Kinds of Preschool Curriculums

•Learning Areas/Standards in Preschool

•Developmentally Appropriate Activities in

Preschool

•Workshop

Definition of terms:

• Learning Activities – are activities that enable the student(s),

through observation or participation, to achieve the learning

objectives. Examples include lecture, discussion, films, skills

demonstrations and practices, role-plays, small group activities,

reading and writing assignments.

• Learning Areas – are the subject areas present in the preschool

curriculum.

• Play – a learning activity that is characterized as fun and

enjoyable without the recipient being forced to do so.

Question #1

What are the Early

Childhood Curricula

Used Worldwide?

Kinds of Preschool Curriculum

• Montessori

• Parents as Teachers

• Project Approach

• High Scope

• Leap Frog Curriculum

• Bank Street

• HOSO Math/Science

• HIPPY Program

Kinds of Preschool Curriculum

•Reggio Emilia

•Anti-Bias Curriculum

•Waldorf

•Open Court Reading Program

•Constructivist Teaching

• Sesame Street Curriculum

Kinds of Preschool Curriculum

•Protect Zer0 (Multiple Intelligences)

•Arts-Based Curriculum

•Path-Social Emotional Curriculum

•High-Reach Learning Program

•Creative Curriculum

•Kindergarten Curriculum (Philippines)

Question #2

What are the Learning

Areas (Domains) in

Preschool?

FILIPINO

CHILD

LEARNING AREAS

•Language includes acquisition-learning of skills in listening, writing, speaking, and reading. Visual skills

will not be exclusively developed in this learning area;

hence, it is integrated to all learning areas.

•Science takes care of the development of the skills in body and the senses, animals, plants, and earth –

environment and weather.

•Mathematics or early numeracy develops skills in

number and numeration, operations on whole

number, space and measurement, and

probability and statistics.

•Physical Education, Health and Aesthetics helps

in the learners’ gross and fine motor

development, daily living skills, safety skills, music

and art production and appreciation.

Values Education and Social Studies hones the following values and attitudes.

• Self-respect

•Honesty and truthfulness

• Love and respect for family

• Love and respect for others

•Responsibility and accountability

•Care for the environment

• Love and respect for God

• Social responsibility

•Nationalism and patriotism

THEMES •Myself – concepts and ideas that help the learners

understand himself/herself better so that he/she will develop as an individual.

•My Family – concepts, ideas, practices that guides the child to be responsible and proud of himself and his family.

•My School – concepts, ideas, practices, and situations that help the child understand how to be an individual and socialize with other learners, teachers, school personnel and other members of the school.

•My Community – concepts, ideas, practices, situations, and responsibilities that the learner should

acquire and understand so that he/she will become

functional and responsive member of the community.

•More Things Around Us – all other concepts, ideas, practices, situations, and responsibilities not covered

by themes 1 to 4 but which may be relevant to the

community, culture, and interest of the leaner.

What are the Developmental Tasks

of Preschoolers?

Question #3

What are the Learning

Centers in a Preschool

Classroom?

Preschool Learning Centers

•Activities inside a preschool classroom should be situated around Learning Centers to organize the environment and curriculum.

•These planned areas (small sections) provide a physical structure that helps children see all the possible play and learning activities available to them.

•Centers can be set up in a variety of ways to

best accommodate the space. This individual

(or small group) time allows children to explore

new concepts through hands-on activities

rather than guided instruction.

Different Learning Centers

•Discovery, including sand and water play, large-muscle activity, movement

•Art and Music

•Socio-dramatic make-believe and role-playing

• Language (listening, speaking, reading, writing

•Viewing (Film, environmental symbols, etc.)

•Manipulatives, including small puzzles and finger toys, block building

•Science, including nature study

•Math

Question #4

What is Preschool

Play?

Preschool Play

•Play is the foundation for all

learning for young children, and

giving them time and a few

basic toys provide a variety of

valuable learning opportunities

“Play is how children begin to understand and process their world. Children's play unlocks their creativity and imagination,

and develops reading, thinking, and problem solving skills as well as further

develops motor skills. It provides the base foundation for learning.”

• Angie Rupan, Program Coordinator for Child Development Center in South San Francisco, CA and

early childhood educator for over 20 years.

Play

•Cognitive Levels:

a.Functional play

b.Constructive play

c.Dramatic play

d.Games with rules

Play

•Social Levels:

a. Solitary play

b. Parallel play

c. Group play

Question #5

How does a teacher

supervise and plan

play activities?

Observing Children’s Play

Sample Play Activities

Functional Play: Bead Stringing

Learning Areas: Motor development,

social skills, representational

development Instructions:

1. Provide children with beads and

lengths of string which are knotted at

one end.

2. Beads may be types of colored

macaroni.

Sample Play Activities

Functional Play: Bead Stringing

Cognitive Level

Functional Constructive Dramatic Games w/

Rules

Social Level

Solitary

Parallel

Group

Sample Play Activities

Constructive Play: Spider Webbing

Learning Areas: Mathematics, motor

development and social skills

Instructions:

1. Provide long lengths of yarn or

string for the children to make

spider webs on chairs and

objects in the classroom

2. Children wrap and unwrap the

yarn around objects, creating

“spider webs.”

Sample Play Activities

Constructive Play: Spider Webbing

Cognitive Level

Functional Constructive Dramatic Games w/

Rules

Social Level

Solitary

Parallel

Group

Sample Play Activities Dramatic Play: House Cleaning

Learning Areas: Social skills, motor

development, scientific processes

and language/ literacy development

Instructions:

1. Provide the children with brooms,

mops, sponges, water sprayers,

dust cloths, etc.

2. These items may be added to the

housekeeping center or to the

entire classroom.

3. The children may pretend they

are cleaning house.

Sample Play Activities

Dramatic Play: House Cleaning

Cognitive Level

Functional Constructive Dramatic Games w/

Rules

Social Level

Solitary

Parallel

Group

Sample Play Activities

Games with Rules: The Wheels on the

Bus

Learning Areas: Social skills,

Language/Literacy, Motor

development, Problem Solving

Lyrics:

The wheels on the bus go round and

round,

Round and round, round and round.

The wheels on the bus go round and

round all through the town.

Sample Play Activities

Games with Rules: The Wheels on the

Bus

Additional verses:

…Baby goes wah, wah, wah

…Lights go blink, blink, blink

…Driver says move on back, move

on back, move on back

…Money goes clink, clink, clink

…People go up and down, up and

down, up and down

Sample Play Activities

Games with Rules: The Wheels on the

Bus

Cognitive Level

Functional Constructive Dramatic Games w/

Rules

Social Level

Solitary

Parallel

Group

Workshop

•Directions: Given your play

materials, design a play activity

for your children and complete

the table below.

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WHAT ARE DEVELOPMENTALLY

APPROPRIATE MATERIALS?

•Books and Records

•Board Games

•Active Play Materials (Indoor and

Outdoor)

•Puzzles and Form Boards

•Building Sets

•Carpentry

•Dolls and Soft Toys of Animals

•Dramatic Play Materials

•Sensory Materials

•Music and Art Materials

•Sand and Water

Books for Infants and Toddlers Should have . . .

•things to touch

•language that repeats over and over

again

•pictures of objects and words to match

Books for 2 –to –4 – year – olds should have . . .

•objects to identify

•language that builds or accumulates

•language that repeats and has

rhythm, like a song

•simple stories

•ideas that center around the child

REQUIREMENTS OF A GOOD IM

1. Meets student’s needs

2. Within student’s experience

3. Fits in well with the general program

4. Covers course adequately

5. Interests and stimulates students to learn

6. Appropriate to student’s educational and cultural background

7. Suitable to the situation in which they will

be used.

8. Suitable for use it is intended

9. Makes use of most appropriate methods

and techniques

10.Easy to use

11.Meaningful and natural

CRITERIA FOR SELECTING BOOKS

1. Theme

2. Plot

3. Content

4. Characterization

5. Style

6. Format

7. Illustration

8. Other considerations

Other External Factors to be considered:

•Is the layout and presentation clear or

cluttered?

•Is the material too culturally biased or specific?

•Do the materials represent minority groups

and/or women in a negative way? Do they

present a ‘balanced’ picture of a particular

country/society?

Culture Sensitivity

Culture Sensitivity

Culture Sensitivity

Stereotypes

Gender

Equality

Stigmas

Other Creative Activities

•Storytelling -Big books

-Design

-Font size and style

-Pictures

-Characters

-Plot

Other Creative Activities

•Puppet Show

•Role Playing

•Exhibits

Things to remember…

The Activities…

• Activities should involve (if possible) the child’s whole body

• Activities should interest the child

• Activities should address the learning objectives

• Activities should nurture and develop the children’s creativity

• Activities should promote social interaction

• Activities should develop children’s critical thinking skills

• Activities should be (if possible) play-based

Things to remember…

The Materials…

• Materials should be colorful and attractive

• Materials (such as art) should be cleaned thoroughly after use

• Materials (scissors) should be of plastic material

• Materials (paint) should be of high quality and non-toxic

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FINALLY, REFLECT ON THIS…

The Animal School by Rev. Dr. Devorah Greenstein

•Many years ago, the animals in the Great

Forest decided that they wanted to start a

school for all their children. Until that time,

it had been the responsibility of parents to

teach their children the skills they needed

to know, but the animals in the Great Forest

wanted their children to learn from

professional teachers. So they organized a

school and hired staff.

•The teachers met and decided to provide a standardized educational curriculum to their animal students. So they adopted an activity curriculum consisting of swimming, running, flying, and climbing. All the animals took all the subjects – because it was very important to them that no child be left behind. To ensure that students were progressing satisfactorily, standardized achievement tests were administered to all students.

•Here's what happened. The ducks were excellent in

swimming. In fact, the ducks were better than their

teacher. But some of the ducks made only passing

grades in flying and all of them were very poor in

running. Since they were slow in running, they had to

stay after school for remedial running practice, and they

had to drop swimming in order to practice running

during their swimming class time. This was kept up until

all the ducks‘ webbed feet were very sore. And the ducks

were so tired, that soon they were only average in

swimming. But average was acceptable in school, so

nobody worried about that – except the ducks.

•In running, the rabbits started at the top of the class, but they did very poorly in swimming. Also, the rabbits insisted on hopping around, and the teachers were concerned about their hyperactivity – so they made the rabbits walk everywhere instead of allowing them to run or hop. And the rabbits had to come in early every day for special swimming class. Many of the younger rabbits developed severe fur problems because they were having to spend so much time in the swimming pool.

•The squirrels were excellent in climbing and

running. In fact, the squirrels were the best

students at climbing the standardized tree. But

they wanted to fly by first climbing the tree, then

spreading their paws, and gliding to the ground.

(That's the way squirrels fly.) But in flying class

their teacher made them start on the ground

instead of at the treetop, and the squirrels were

not mastering the course material.

•So every day, the squirrels had therapy – a flying

therapist took the squirrels into the gym and made

them do front-paw exercises to strengthen their

muscles so they could learn to fly the right way.

The squirrels' paws hurt so much from this

overexertion that some of them only got a C in

climbing. Some of the squirrels failed climbing

altogether.

•The eagles were definitely problem children – in climbing class, the eagles beat all the others to the top of the tree, but they insisted on using their own way to get there and were quite stubborn about it. The eagles said that clearly it was the goal that mattered, and that it was quite right for eagles to get to the treetop by flying. The school psychologist diagnosed them as having oppositional-defiant disorder. (That's a real diagnosis that some children are given in school.) A strict behaviour modification plan was developed for the eagles.

•We can end this story in

two ways:

1. A happy ending.

2. A sad ending.

Thank you and

Namaste!

References:

• Aguirre, Roderick Motril. (2014). Kindergarten Curriculum and Instruction.

Department of Reading and Literacy, College of Languages, Linguistics

and Literature, Philippine Normal University, Philippines

• Aguirre, Roderick Motril. (2014). Preschool Play and Developmentally

Appropriate Activities. Department of Education. Republic of the

Philippines.

• Stone, Sandra J. (2001). Playing: A Kid’s Curriculum. Harper Collins publishers.

• http://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org/power-of-play

• http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/why_play_is_important.html

• http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/why-children-need-play-0