The preschool years are a valuable period where children start understanding the world around them. They begin to learn how things work as they develop preferences for specific activities and experiences. To help your child develop their skills and talent, you should be prepared to work with teachers to give your child more options while at preschool and at home.
Giving choices doesn't mean that your child should be allowed to do anything they want. Rather, providing choices means giving more freedom within a controlled environment for your child. You can work with teachers to help your child have a choice as to where they will sit, which games they will play or where they would like to do their homework. You can use these choices to embrace your child's creativity in the following ways.
Classroom choices
Classroom choices can be as simple as involving the children in deciding where they will sit or which games they will play. As a parent, you can also give your child choices when purchasing classroom supplies such as pens, paper, crayons and books.
Involving your child in decision-making fosters creativity, social skills and emotional skills. Furthermore, your child will have a greater understanding of how decisions can influence results. These essential lessons are the foundation of creative potential in preschoolers.
Schedule choices
Another easy way of giving children choices is scheduling. Scheduling applies both at home and at school, as you can give controlled options to your child as to when they would like to do their homework, play specific games or relax.
A good way of doing this is having different options within a specific schedule. Present those options to your child and ask them to choose what works best. This allows your child to critically analyse all available options, compare them to their interests, and make a decision with the appropriate guidance. These are critical elements that will nurture the creativity of your child.
Educational choices
There are many ways of involving children in decision-making as they learn at school. For example, teachers often seek the input of children when designing lessons by asking them what they like and don't like. Children could also have the freedom to choose which type of crayons to colour with, which book to use and much more. Incorporating fun and interactive games into classroom learning can make it easier for teachers to give children choices on a daily basis.
If you're choosing a nursery for the first time, then you won't have much experience of choosing a child care centre yet. You know that you need to look around nurseries before you choose one. As you see centres, you'll get a feel for places and how they might suit your child.
However, savvy parents take this a step further. While a site visit is always a good idea, it won't tell you everything. Problem is, you probably don't know what you need to know just yet! We can help. Our blog articles explain the ins and outs of nurseries and how they work. We can help you understand the important stuff that might not be obvious so that you can ask the right questions as you look around. Hope this helps!