The Importance of Learning Activities for Children
In the early years of a child’s development, it is important to implement activities conducive to learning. Such learning should be individual-oriented and cater to the specific needs, tendencies, and characteristics of each child. Within the process of planning activities for children, the first step is observing the interests of each child, especially since they may change every so often. Overall, knowing the interests and propensities of each child will create more meaningful, mindful, and effective experiences with learning.
Areas in Which I Feel Comfortable When Planning Child Activities
Thus, the first area in which I feel comfortable when it comes to planning activities with children is implementing a person-focused approach in which the interests and characteristics of every kid are considered. For instance, if it has been determined that a child is having issues with managing a specific set of skills, such as reading, I find an activity that is themed to their interests. This means that instead of giving a generic text to train reading skills, but a child is interested in dinosaurs, for example, I will find a simple text themed around this topic. Such an approach allows for acting as an incentive to help kids engage in activities that will nurture their skills.
The second area with which I feel comfortable is skills nurturing, which entails valuing the process over the result. This ties in with the mindful approach to learning, which suggests that every child will develop their skills at different paces, and it is crucial to never impose unrealistic expectations on young children to be successful in different areas. The skills can be nurtured in different ways, which means that only exciting and fun activities should be utilized. Within the holistic approach to learning, the fluidity of the activities and plans is necessary to implement.
Areas in Which I Feel Less Comfortable and Need Support
In contrast, two areas with which I need more support include the structuring of activities and embedding activity stations within the process of learning. It is sometimes challenging to establish a structure within the context of holistic teaching because of the need to cater to the unique needs and characteristics of each child. However, without a structure, the objectives of the learning may not be met. It is important to establish certain standards that will be applied to every child consistently in order to avoid misunderstandings or mixed approaches between kids. While it is advised that structure is created through a set of rules and routines, it is unclear to me how such rules and routines can be implemented within the child-oriented approach.
Activity stations within the preschool space could be very useful for catering to kids’ needs and interests. I find it challenging to recommend the most suitable activities to children’s parents or other educators. There may be limitations in the use of resources; while some schools or households may have abundant resources to create great corners for expanding opportunities for learning, others may not.
To grow in the problem areas, I plan on educating myself on how to embed structure into everyday activities with kids while also holistically approaching their learning. When making recommendations for learning, it is necessary to consider the sociocultural and socioeconomic characteristics of children, which is something that not many educators acknowledge.