A successful experience in school is not only about report cards.

- Jessica Lahey

Very young children are naturally interested in learning and exploring the world around them. They are at the very beginning of their learning journey, so everything is new and exciting! If they reach out and fall, they get up again stronger and wiser - children learn by trying, testing, and making mistakes.

According to Jessica Lahey at New York Times, when children enter kindergarten some parents and teachers begin to unbalance this learning process by devaluing and replacing it by focusing on the results of learning. This means that the children's inner motivators such as natural curiosity, competence, and self-efficacy are valued less than external motivators such as stickers, points, and grades. Unfortunately, external motivators lower children’s desire to learn over a longer period of time.

Are you spending too much time and money on non-teaching activities, manual documentation, and inefficient communication? Don't you have enough time to consider each child's needs?

Early childhood education should offer an inspiring and fun start to lifelong learning.  Your educators want to be successful and be the champions they deserve to be. Your children's families are eager to know what is going on at the childcare center. Your preschool wants to provide the best education and care in the area.

A change is required to meet the challenges. In this blog, we want to share our views from Kindiedays. And provide some advice on how to make the improvements in a pragmatic way.

So what is the secret behind a successful childcare center?

A successful early childhood education and care center has 3 guiding principles:

• Support children's learning
• Engage families
• Secure success for the preschool

The change concerns all the daily activities between teachers, children, and parents. We should reimagine how the goals can be achieved by working smarter - not harder - and with the help of new technology. 

Sounds challenging - but it is actually straightforward

Whatever your starting point is, you should take these 4 steps:

1. Set the pedagogical objectives for children's learning.

2. Plan the lessons to match the objectives, taking children's interests into account.

3. Observe and document the learning moments and engage families.

4. Assess and reflect on the learning and plan future learning.

How to set the goals and plan the lessons?

Sensory play in early childhood is important for overall health and well-being. It forms the foundation of a child’s learning and perception - a base for later learning.

Babies start discovering the world around them primarily with their senses (touching, tasting, hearing, seeing, and smelling). Babies look at bright colors or lights, grasp their carer's fingers or hair, and put everything in their mouths. Learning through the five senses is beneficial even during the preschool and elementary school years.

“Sensory play is the foundation for all higher-level learning. Every time you engage the sensory system, you’re creating neural connections, which is good for complex development.”                 - Stephanie Swinburne Occupational Therapist

Children learn about the different forms of expression by using multiple senses.

“For a small child, discussion and verbal learning have little educative power without actual experience. Learning rather happens through all the sensory channels. Children must live through, explore, and try things out to attach meaning to them”    - H. Hendrick

How to support sensory development?

The best way to support children's sensory development is through sensory play! Sensory play is anything that involves the use of one or several senses: touching, tasting, hearing, seeing, or smelling. Engaging the senses in play helps to develop motor skills, self-regulation, and sensory integration—and it is also fun!

Here are some concrete tips for sensory play activities that you can do with young children. The activities will help children to develop and fine-tune their sensory and motor skills, as well as to promote their creativity and emotional well-being.

How Kindiedays works?

Sensory play ideas!

1. DIY SNOW FOR SENSORY PLAY

Baking soda and shaving cream. Mix together 1 pound of baking soda and slowly add shaving cream until you reach the perfect snowy consistency. Let children knead the DIY snow with their hands until it is all combined.

or

Baking soda and hair conditioner. For this recipe, use white conditioner so your DIY snow looks similar to real snow. Start with 1/2 cup of conditioner, and use a fork to stir in about 3 cups of baking soda. This snow packs very well and is great for making mini snowmen!

What are Kindiedays Lesson Plans?

Psst. Bonus tips for DIY snow!

+ Add essential oils (eg. peppermint oil) to stimulate the sense of smelling.

+ Put the snow in the freezer to make it cold and stimulate the sense of touching a bit more.

+ Play with animals that live in cold conditions (polar bears, penguins...) and stimulate the sense of hearing by imitating the animal sounds.

2. ZIPLOG BAG SENSORY ACTIVITY

Make a sensory ziplog bag activity by filling a ziplog bag with liquid (water or juice) and other little but safe items of your choice. Ziplog bags are suitable for children over 12 months of age.

Once ready, you can tape the ziplog bag on the table, on the floor on the window. Make sure that the bag is fully sealed and use safe materials to fill it, as water and food coloring. Children can explore the bag by touching it and looking at it how the liquid moves inside.

More Ziplog bag sensory ideas from 'Hands on as we grow' blog here.

3. SOUND WALK

Take the children out for a walk and ask them to listen to all the sounds around them. Everyone can have their own printable and mark which sounds they have heard. The printable has pictures that help children to identify the corresponding sound. Download the free Buggy&Buddy 'What do you hear outside?' printable here. 

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Sensory development in early childhood is important for overall health and well-being. It forms the foundation of a child’s learning and perception.

Children learn about the different forms of expression by using multiple senses.
It is important that the children's learning environments are aesthetic and inspiring.

What is Finnish Early Childhood Education?

According to Helsinki City's Curriculum for ECEC the purpose of early childhood education and care is to support the development of children’s expression in a goal-oriented way. Children express themselves in a holistic manner and can creatively combine different ways of expression (musical, visual, verbal bodily). These forms of expression are also included in children's play in various ways.

“For a small child, discussion and verbal learning have little educative power without actual experience. Learning rather happens through all the sensory channels. Children must live through, explore, and try things out to attach meaning to them” - H. Hendrick

How to support sensory development?

The best way to support children's sensory development is through sensory play! Now as Christmas time is approaching, children all around the world might be interested in playing with snow! If you don't happen to have snow outside, do not worry. It is possible to create a winter wonderland indoors and enjoy the sensory experiences with mini snowmen and other snowy creatures!

5 ways to make DIY Snow for sensory play

• Baking soda and shaving cream. Mix together 1 pound of baking soda and slowly add shaving cream until you reach the perfect snowy consistency. Let children knead the DIY snow with their hands until it is all combined.

• Baking soda and water. Pour 1 cup of baking soda into a bowl and add water little by little, one tablespoon at a time. Use a fork or a whisk to stir the two ingredients together, add more water as you go. When DIY snow is light and powdery, it’s ready to play with!

• Baking soda and hair conditioner. For this recipe, use white conditioner so your DIY snow looks similar to real snow. Start with 1/2 cup of conditioner, and use a fork to stir in about 3 cups of baking soda. This snow packs very well and is great for making mini snowmen!

• Shaving cream and cornstarch. Mix equal parts shaving cream (foam) and cornstarch. This recipe makes dense, foamy snow that is very easy to mold.

• Cornstarch and lotion. Mix together equal parts cornstarch and lotion for this crumbly snow recipe. If you’re looking for more powdery snow, add slightly less lotion than cornstarch.

How Kindiedays works?

Bonus tips!

+ Add glitter

+ Add essential oils (eg. peppermint oil)

+ Put the snow in the freezer to make it cold

+ Add snowman decorating supplies

+ Play with Frozen-themed toys

+ Play with animals that live in cold conditions (polar bears, penguins...)

Happy sensory playtime!

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References

Save time and money in your daily work and collaboration

The end of the year is a good time to stop and think about the current practices:

• How can we free up the teachers’ time to get more time with the children?
• How can we help parents remain involved in their children's care and learning - even while on the go?
• How can we save money - but give more value?

Watch our video on how to do it with Kindiedays

Kindiedays Starter is your first step to support children's learning and engage families with a digital tool.

As a manager, you want to provide the best early education service you can, within the budget. A big impact can be gained by digitalizing communications and reporting in your center.

Sign up now for a Free Trial and get 15% off for 2022!

With Kindiedays daily reports, teachers save time from writing manual reports. Teachers can share reports in one go about many children. Parents only read about their own child. Also, you no longer need communication booklets, saving money, and paper.