INDOOR PLAY

ART EASEL

When children are free to use a variety of art materials, they learn to make choices, practice thinking skills and be creative.  The process of working with the materials is more important than what is actually made.  Children make choices as they select paper, particular colors of paint and experiment with the way the paints are applied.  Children get a different perspective with an easel rather than on a table.

SCIENCE AND MATH

Children’s interest grows as they think about every day items in new ways.  Counting shells, sorting leaves by size or shape and classifying rocks by type are examples of ways young children can do here.  We can help them explore by providing names of items and asking questions such as, “How are these alike?” “Different?”  ”Which is bigger?”  ”Smaller?”

BOOK CORNER

As children explore books on their own or with an interested adult, they begin to notice that print goes from left to right and top to bottom, that pictures often tell a story and that the story stays the same as it is read over and over.  Listening, paying attention, sequencing and thinking skills are all being used as children enjoy a story.  Children become acquainted with new vocabulary words and the style of formal written English as they listen to stories.