When you went to school, the odds are good that playtime stopped fairly rapidly after a certain point. You were there to learn, and to complete exercises designed to turn you into a functional member of society. That’s all well and good, but what did it do for your desire to learn? Modern child psychologists have discovered that playtime mixed productively with learning can have an enormous lifelong impact on children. Fun preschool activities for children in Phoenix, AZ can turn reluctant kids into enthusiastic learners.
An introduction to meaningful play
The approach to crafting fun, impactful activities for children varies from child to child and teacher to teacher. That said, some general guidelines can be followed to ensure your child is making the most of their playtime:
- Provide a choice for the child, so they feel more compelled to participate in the chosen activity.
- Make sure the game is dynamic and that the child has a chance to guide the play.
- Allow the child to experiment with new thoughts and actions without fear of reprisal.
- Above all else, make sure children are enjoying themselves.
Those are just the basic instructions on building preschool activities to enhance children’s learning in Phoenix, AZ. Here are the reasons why incorporating playtime into these activities is so critical.
Develop skills
At such a young age, learning is about more than flexing the brain. For preschool-aged children, playtime means running and jumping, speaking and laughing. Meaningful play helps children learn, sure, but it also improves their hand-eye coordination, reflexes, linguistic skills, socialization methods and physical acumen. Perhaps even more importantly, meaningful play teaches children that learning is a full-body activity. That’s a beneficial lesson to carry through life.
Prep for life situations
A key component of meaningful play involves encouraging the child to use their imagination to guide the activity. This unbridled ability to make up the rules (and then abide by them) allows the child to imagine and prepare for the various settings and scenarios they will encounter as they grow up.
Applied knowledge
Playtime can serve as a helpful stepping stone for young children to use the knowledge they’ve acquired in study and apply it to real-world situations. Properly constructed games can teach your kids that learning isn’t some humdrum time filler—it’s a fun and engaging way to spend your time.
A solid first step
At Magical Star Preschool, we place immense importance on developing beneficial preschool activities for children in Phoenix, AZ. Our highly-skilled team of learning professionals is proud to care for children from six weeks to 12 years of age. At our core, Magical Star Preschool has built our curriculum to ensure that our children will develop a love of learning even as they build the skills required to enter primary school.
Because we believe that nutrition and growth go hand in hand, we’re happy to provide meals and snacks as the case may be. When you want your child to get a leg up on their education, bring them to Magical Star Preschool. Call today and schedule a tour. We can’t wait to meet you!