We all here about development and common core standards, sticking to the curriculum and getting children ‘school ready’. We very rarely hear about letting them be creative, enjoy themselves or simply have fun. Kindergarten has become so academically focused that young children are getting run down with stress and over-tiredness.
We think it’s time to bring some fun back into the classroom.
Here are our favourite teaching techniques to allow children to enjoy their kindergarten experience again:
Field trips
Children often associate the classroom with lessons and boredom, and getting them out of it could be one of the best ways to get them intrigued about what they are learning. Children love getting out and about, planning regular field trips is a great way to ensure that they have fun while learning.
If you are learning about dinosaurs, you can take them to a museum; if you’re learning about animals, you can take them to a zoo or aquarium; if you are teaching them about plants or soil, you could take them to a farm or simply to the park. There are tons of options when it comes to field trips. Just remember to keep them relevant to what the kids are learning and get them to do an exercise on the excursion when you get back into the classroom.
Teamwork
Teamwork encourages social skills development and this is much needed for children that are going to their first year of primary school in the next year or two. It’s a perfect way to get them to interact with each other and learn how to share and delegate with other children.
Put children into teams and get them to tackle tasks together, this is not just great for their social skills but they will also love being able to chat to their friends and will be much more engaged with the project. Remember that it could get a bit noisy and you should have your rules clearly stipulated to keep it at a manageable level.
Experiments
A great teaching technique to incorporate into the classroom that is bound to have your students intrigued, is conducting experiments. There are a number of different cool things that you can do in the classroom that your kids will love. From creating your very own exploding volcano with vinegar and baking soda, freezing bubbles outside with dishwashing liquid, or simply having an ant farm or worm farm in the classroom.
Arts and crafts
Children are so pressured with academics these days that they very rarely have any time to switch off and just enjoy themselves. It’s essential that you have either an hour of arts and crafts a day or simply dedicate one day a week to it.
Children love to paint and draw, build things, dance, and learn musical instruments, and it’s essential that they have this time as a form of self-expression and enjoyment that they just don’t get from other subjects.
Technology
There’s a lot of debate around the subject of technology in childhood development and it certainly has its pros and cons. However, the world is digitally-run now and if you don’t introduce your class to technology you stand to really set them back when it comes to moving into a higher grade.
The upside is that children love technology and it’s a good way to keep their attention. There are tons of educational games and activities that have been developed to ensure that children can learn while interacting with technology and have fun at the same time.
At Miniland, we understand that children learn best through having fun, and that’s why all our educational toys are created to be entertaining, as well as educational. Have a look at our speciality toys and games that will keep your students busy for hours at a time.
