Games during early years
Young children are full of enthusiasm and energy. They have the eagerness to learn and like to explore new things. They are curious to touch, feel, and taste everything new to them. Toddlers are always on the move and it is important to keep them occupied and channel their energies. Getting them to play outdoor and indoor games and engaging them in different activities keeps them occupied and subtly helps them learn a few life skills.
Playing various indoor games like board and card games with a child can help him understand about aspiration, success, and disappointment. They can gain experience with both winning and losing. And learn that no matter what the result, next time they would try and begin again with a clean slate. Games also give us the opportunity to teach our preschoolers about rules, integrity and honesty, and luck. Games can help increase a child's ability to focus their attention. Playing games help children develop their creative skills as well. When children play puzzles, board games, etc. they learn to think creatively to win the game or complete the puzzle. When playing games, children also collaborate with other children. This teaches them to work in teams and how the team is more important than the individual. Indoor games and activities help children use the analytical side of the brain to progress in the activity they are participating in. Children also have to make many decisions while playing a game. Which pawn to move or this puzzle will fit here or should I pass the ball to the left or right? These simple things slowly but surely help children in enhancing their decision-making skills. Few games allow children to practice their new vocabulary as well.
When playing any game you win some and lose some. This helps build sportsmanship spirit in children which is an essential life skill. Game playing enables and encourages a preschooler to practice important social skills that they would need to play fair with all the participants. Nearly all games, for example, involve taking turns, sharing dice or a spinner, waiting for your turn, patience, and learning how to be a good sport. Though when we play games with children, we can try to emphasize the fun of the game as much as possible, rather than focusing on "who's winning."
Besides helping to acquaint children with "life lessons" and to practice valuable social skills, many games can be tweaked to offer the opportunity to sharpen certain academic skills. Board and card games can be introduced to children early. Many board games for preschoolers involving either counting or color matching, matching suits or numbers, for instance, can be used to sharpen math skills for young learners. Similarly many games can be altered to create fun games that support academic learning along with the various beneficial elements of playing games.
Above mentioned are a few of the benefits of encouraging children to play games or engage them in fun activities while enhancing their academic skills. These help engage young children to maintain focus and not get bored doing the same activity, also helping in their all-round development and shaping their personality.
Thank you,
Purva Deosugur
Coordinator- Early Years
Kanakia Kids Global
Learning Engagements@ Nursery
English - Show and Tell
Show and tell sets the stage for children to become comfortable when speaking in public. When presenting during show and tell, learners are expected to talk about a variety of topics, organize their thoughts and convey main ideas.
Learners were very exited for showing the things that they brought. Learners brought objects and they talk about their likes, dislikes, name of object, color and benefits of it.
Show and Tell turn leading to improved communication skills which are important throughout their lives. They also develop the ability to answer questions well.
Art - Lots of Dots
Painting is a way for children to do many important things: convey ideas, express emotion, use their senses, explore color, explore process and outcomes, and create aesthetically pleasing works and experiences.
Nursery Learners painted dots with different coloring techniques like finger painting, using paintbrush, printmaking, scribbling, and blowing bubbles to explore poster colors and create a beautiful masterpiece.
Math -
Can Count!
We use numeracy every day in all areas of our lives. Our confidence and ability with numbers impact us financially, socially, and professionally. It even affects our health and well-being.
Our young learners did a counting activity. Teacher gave them number, learners counted and collected same number of fruits in the basket. She said give count of only red color fruits.
The purpose of counting is to assign a numeric value to a group of objects. Learners enjoyed counting activity.
Sports - Free Play!
Sport is quite beneficial for children. By playing sports children develop physical skills, exercise, make new friends, have fun, learn to be a team member, learn about playing fair, improve self-esteem, etc.
Playing make-believe and dress-up. Playing on playground equipment, climbing, swinging, and running around teaches kids to work in groups so they learn to share and resolve conflicts.
Learning Engagements@K1
Circle Time is Fun Time
Children learn through play, especially when they are young, and develop cognitive and motor skills.
Learners of K 1 enjoyed playing a game in their circle time. The teacher made them revise the body parts and gave them the command to do various actions where they developed their eye-hand coordination and listening skills.
Math: Interesting Number Sequencing
Understanding the meaning of numbers takes experience with counting lots of things, and you can help by giving your child this experience regularly. The more experience children have with counting, the more they will learn the meaning of numbers.
Sequencing of numbers is an important skill for preschoolers to learn because it helps them to develop their numeracy skills, organization skills and problem-solving skills. Learners of K1 engaged themselves in performing the activity of sequencing the numbers. They experienced sequencing with rote counting by arranging the numbers in a correct sequence. Finally it helps learners to become more confident in their ability to solve problems and understand complex concepts.
English: Owl Bowl, It's a Vowel
Vowels are a crucial part of our language. Without them, we wouldn't be able to speak or sing. They're also important for learning how to read and write English.
Learners of K 1 explored vowels through a story and practiced the same by performing an activity in the scrapbook. They learned about why vowels play an important role in the English language. They built up their knowledge, creativity, thinker, and reflective qualities by beautifying the umbrella by their own choice and writing of vowels in the same.
Sports
Playing sports helps children develop physical as well as social skills, exercise, make new friends, have fun, learn to be a team member, learn about play fair, improve self-esteem, etc.
Chakrasana can provide many health benefits to an individual practicing it on regular basis. Strengthens the muscles of the hands and feet. Gives good exercise to the lungs and chest. Increases elasticity of the spinal cord.
Learning engagements@ K2
Art- Madhubani Painting
India as a country is vast, diverse and home to many ethnic tribes which results in many different folk art forms. Madhubani painting is one of the type of folk-art form. It is also called as Mithila Art. The painting of Madhubani is represented by line drawings filled with bright colors and contrasts or patterns.
K2 learners created beautiful Madhubani Art. They draw Madhubani patterns inside a bird, an elephant and, fish using their creativity and coloured it with poster colors whichever they liked. Learning folk art at this age helps to express a cultural identity by conveying shared community values.
Math- Can you show me the Biggest Character?
Size is a concept abstracted from the process of measuring by comparing longer to shorter. Size is determined by the process of comparing or measuring objects, through which the young learners determine the magnitude of the quantity.
K2 learners were introduced to the concept of big/ bigger/ biggest by showing them different objects of different sizes. Learners were explained to compare the objects and distinguish them. Learners were also explained to identify the biggest number among the few numbers given. Further, to make the concept understandable they were engaged in an activity where they had to find the biggest number from the given numbers. They had to search and picked up the flash card of the biggest number. All the learners got the chance to think and perform the activity.
English- Describe Me
Describing words are words that are used to describe or provide additional information about a thing. Such words are used to describe any person, place, event or situation.
K2 learners were introduced to Describing Words in detailed explanation through videos, pictures and live examples. To make the learners engrossed in the topic, they were given few objects to explore and match it with the cutouts of describing words. Learners were excited to search the describing word of the given objects so that they could relate. This activity also helped them to frame sentences on their own.
Theme- Swag Swing Play!
Leisure refers to that time when people can do any activity which is not related to their everyday responsibilities. Recreation refers to activities people choose to do to refresh their bodies and minds and make their leisure time more interesting and enjoyable.
K2 Learners were introduced to the topic of Recreational Activity and shown videos related to that. The importance of engaging in such activities was also explained to them. In this context, learners got an opportunity to create their favorite recreational activity using clay, pipe cleaners, and ice cream sticks. All the learners participated with great enthusiasm. They enjoyed the activity.