Does this sound familiar? You pick up Gracie from her child care center and while you are on your way home you ask, “What did you do today at school?” and her answer is simply, “I played.” It can be frustrating, sometimes exasperating. You start to think things like, “I’m paying $200 a week for her to PLAY?!” Before you start shopping for another child care center, you need to consider all the learning that takes place during that “play.”
Let’s take a look at some of the centers your child may be playing at during the course of the day and what they are learning as they play there. You may be pleasantly surprised at the amount of learning that happens.
BLOCK CENTER
In the block center I am learning to:
- Respect the work of others
- Make choices and decisions
- Negotiate ideas
- Use creative and divergent thinking
- Problem solve
- Experiment with gravity, weight, stability and balance
- Determine how real objects fit together
HOME LIVING OR HOUSEKEEPING CENTER
In the housekeeping center I am learning to:
- To cooperate with others
- Use language skills
- Verbalize ideas
- Understand emotions
- Observe others
- Act out realistic situations
SCIENCE CENTER
In the science center I am learning to:
- Develop observation skills
- Discover and explore
- Make predictions
- Draw conclusions from observations
ART CENTER
In the art center I am learning:
- Color concepts
- Cause and effect
- To develop fine motor skills
- Engage in creative expression
- To improve hand eye coordination
- Communicate ideas
- To develop print awareness
- To recognize letters and sound
- To improve comprehension
- To reinforce sight words
TOYS AND GAMES CENTER
In the toys and games center I am learning:
- To share and take turns
- Self confidence
- Risk taking
- Negotiating
- Problem solving
- Counting
- One-to-one correspondence
- Vocabulary
- Basic skills concepts
- Strategizing