The early year’s experiences for children forms the basis for the foundation skills. It is important that children do not miss out on developing the foundation skills as they are critical and will impact hugely on the child’s future learning.
The 6 areas of learning that both parents and pre-school teachers should focus on are:
- Social and Emotional Development:
This includes a child gaining independence, learning to make friends, develop a caring attitude. Most important of all building confidence and self-esteem. - Physical Development
This includes building fine and gross motor skills before the child learns to hold a pencil the right way. Learning the importance of hygiene and healthy eating habits. - Communication and Language Development
This is about how children become communicators. Learning to listen and speak emerges out of non-verbal communication like eye contact, hand gestures, body language. This develops as children learn to imitate, interact with adults and peers, listen to use of language, extend vocabulary through songs, rhymes and roleplay. - Mathematical Development
Children’s mathematical development happens as they seek patterns & make connections. They recognize relationships through finding out about counting and numbers, doing activities with sorting and matching, playing with shapes, space and measurement. - Knowledge and Understanding of the World
This includes children understanding their family and the immediate environment they live in like- communities, places in the neighborhood, gatherings and celebrations. - Creative Development
Here children build the ability to express and communicate their own ideas in imaginative ways through role play, music, songs, art and craft etc.
Health and nutrition influence all 6 areas of learning. All this contributes towards the holistic development of the child.
