Insights Into Early Childhood Education

How to Pack a sustainable lunch box- There are many things to consider when packing your child’s lunch for preschool and school. Firstly, you want to pack something they will eat happily. Then, you also want to make sure that it’s nutritious and healthy. Plus it’s always nice if it is presented in a way that is appealing for your child. To add to this list there is also another very important issue. That is the importance of reducing plastic wrapping and packaging. Unfortunately over the many years of working at a preschool, I have seen some lunchboxes containing more plastic packaging than actual food! Recently the Government Of Western Australia conducted some research with astonishing results. They found that a child’s lunch box containing ordinary food items, pre-packaged food and snacks creates approximately 3 Kg of waste per child every year. That is an incredible amount of waste that is going to landfill!! However, there are many practical eco-friendly things we can do to reduce waste. And we need to remember that small changes can mean a big difference when it comes to looking after our precious earth. How To Pack A Sustainable Lunch Box So What Can We Do? The Lunch Box Lunch boxes are usually made from plastics. For the sake of the environment consider using sustainable products instead. There has been a huge explosion in the variety of lunch boxes available on the market. These days it’s quite easy to find lunch boxes made from stainless steel or bamboo. Both of these materials are a much better and healthier alternative to plastic. Bento Boxes Many children come to preschool with large, fancy, and super expensive bento boxes. While these can be a good idea, children don’t need to have these overwhelmingly big bento boxes. They really aren’t necessary and parents shouldn’t feel the need to fork out so much money for these. It seems that parents try and fill every one of the compartments with a different type of food. In our experience at preschool what ends up happening is this. The children feel so overwhelmed by the quantity and variety that it actually ends up turning them off their lunch and they don’t want to eat. We’ve had children in tears sitting there in front of these huge bento boxes. Please consider the size when you are purchasing your child’s box. Bento boxes can be easily and affordably found in department stores and supermarkets like Kmart, Big W, and Aldi Alternatives to Bento Boxes Of course, it’s not necessary to have a Bento box at all to pack a sustainable lunch box. You can easily use any lunch box and divide it up yourself. I have seen this done very effectively by using things like silicone patty pan cases. In order to reduce food waste, it’s also a really good idea to separate your child’s lunch from their morning tea or recess. So instead of having everything in one huge overwhelmingly scary lunch box, provide two smaller ones. This makes it so much easier for your child to manage and know what to eat. You can also use beeswax wraps and silicon or fabric snack bags. These are not only environmentally friendly but they are really a whole lot easier for little fingers to unwrap than the sticky plastic wrap. They don’t call it cling wrap for nothing!! Thermoses are also great to use and you can go to town with the delicious things you can give your child in a thermos. Think about those yummy leftovers that they can have for lunch the next day. Lunch Bags Remember to choose lunchboxes that can fit into an insulated lunch bag. By adding an icepack you will also ensure that your child’s food is maintained at a safe temperature. How To Save Money And Reduce Waste With The Foods You Purchase For Lunches When we go to the supermarket we are constantly bombarded with a huge variety of pre-packaged snacks. These snacks are usually covered in unnecessary plastic packaging that will ultimately end up in landfills. Have you taken the time to actually consider the cost of these convenient pre-packaged foods? Trust me, if you do you will be horrified. Take for example the cost of cheddar cheese. A 250-gram block of cheddar cheese costs around $4.00- that’s $1.50 per 100 grams. A pre-packaged cheese and crackers pack costs $1.60 that’s $3.20 per 100 grams. Interestingly, I have noticed that many children don’t even like the cheese in these pre-packaged snack packs. They will happily eat the crackers and yes you guessed it. THEY THROW THE CHEESE OUT! An individual yoghurt pouch costs $1.20 per 100 grams or a 900-gram tub costs 64 cents per 100 grams. Now if you are buying the occasional yoghurt that may not seem very significant. But if you are purchasing a pouch every single day per child for school lunches, this ends up costing you a significant amount over the course of the whole year. Now, this is just the cost to your pocket but think about the environmental cost when you add up all those millions of yoghurt pouches and lids being thrown out every day. I buy my snack foods in bulk sizes and package them myself into eco-friendly lunch boxes and containers. I save a lot of money doing it this way and I am also doing my part in reducing waste to help the environment. What To Pack It is incredibly important for children to develop healthy eating habits from a young age. There are so many negative health consequences from eating foods that are high in fat, sugar, salt, and additives. Children also need good healthy natural food that will fuel their bodies ensuring that they are ready to focus and learn. While children are at school or preschool, they are spending long periods of time away from home. It is so important that they are consuming nutritional foods. Foods such as fruit, vegetables,

Making friends is one of the most rewarding experiences that can happen for children when they go to preschool. Having that one special friend or a group of friends makes the preschool years so much fun. I have to say that one of the nicest things about working with children is seeing them make friends over the course of the preschool year. I remember one particular sweet little girl who was yet to make a special friend. She had been coming to preschool for well over a year and her mum was a bit worried that she was yet to find a friend. Sure enough, she ended up being good friends with another little boy after playing a fun game of chasing. They played chasing for weeks and weeks until they were finally firm friends. These two had known each other for a long time. But it took that one game of chasing to form a connection. Interestingly, one of the most common questions I get asked by a parent after their child’s very first day at preschool is “Have they made any friends”. I get it, as a parent myself we all want our kids to form good fun friendships and be happy. What Do Children Need To Make Friends? However, forming friendships takes a whole lot longer than one day at preschool. To form friendships kids need Time Social Skills Good Role Models Children Need Time To Form Friendships Young children need time to learn what friendship is. They have to work out what it means to be and have a friend. Once they have an idea of the complexities of friendships, they then need time to cultivate and nurture these friendships. Just like we do. Even though we are adults, we still need time when it comes to making friends. Maybe it’s helpful to try and put ourselves in our preschoolers’ shoes. When we go to a social function where we may have never met one single person there before. Do we leave that function after one night with a best friend? Not usually. We may have clicked with some people more than others. We might have even made plans to catch up with these new potential friends. But we probably couldn’t really say “Hey I made a friend today” after just a few short hours. So why do we expect our children to? Children Need Social Skills To Make Friends As children play with others they will learn and build skills that will help them make friends now and in the future. They need to learn super important skills like sharing, turn-taking, listening to others, cooperating, and how to resolve conflict. That’s a lot of skills!! Not long ago PJ Masks was the big ‘thing’ at preschool. A lot of children were right into pretending to be the PJ Masks characters, running around fighting crime in the playground. But every day there were arguments because everyone wanted to be Catboy. I had no idea who this Catboy was because my own kids are much much older and I’m still stuck back in the late ’90s and early 2000’s when it comes to kids’ popular culture. Ask me anything Pokemon and I’m all over it. But Catboy ??? not at all. All I knew about him was that he was causing a big fuss in the playground for us. I had to google who this Catboy was. Anyway, my point is that not everyone could be Catboy. The kids had to learn to take turns being Catboy and they had to work it out with help and encouragement from the teachers. The kids had to be willing to negotiate and listen to the cries of unfairness from their peers at not being given a turn to be Catboy. They had to understand, show empathy and finally agree to take turns.  It’s hard to be friends with a bossyboots or children who don’t take turns, so learning skills such as these are so important. Good Role Models Parents are their children’s greatest role models. Children will learn and copy everything you say and do. It is so important to show children through your words and actions how to interact appropriately and how to treat others with kindness and respect. Parents and educators need to teach children the skills they need to make friends. This could be done by using puppets or toys to do role plays explaining and demonstrating skills such as listening, cooperating, and sharing. Have discussions with children about how to make friends. Suggest to them the language they can use if they want to play with someone. Teach them to say “Do you want to play?” sounds simple enough but often kids need to learn important phrases like these so they can initiate play with other children and eventually make friends. If kids don’t have the language necessary to get along with others and make friends they might sometimes do inappropriate things. I’ve seen kids shove other children as a way to get attention and hopefully get them to play with them. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work, kids need to learn what to say to other children if they want to play with them. But Why Does My Child Have No Friends? One of the reasons why you’re preschooler may not be forming friendships is simply because they may be too young. As adults, we have so many years of experience when it comes to the art of making friends. Yet a little preschooler is at the very beginning of their lifelong journey of forming friendships. They have yet to learn so many skills that will equip them to make friends. Sometimes kids might have all the necessary skills to make friends but still, you find that they struggle with forming friendships.  This is sometimes the case and a source of worry for parents. But we need to remember that all children are unique and different just as we adults are too. Different Personalities Some

Children need plenty of opportunities to develop their fine motor skills before going to big school. One reason for this is so that they will not struggle when it comes time for them to learn to write. If the muscles in their little hands are weak they will find tasks such as holding scissors and pencils difficult. Another reason why children should have good fine motor skills is that it is important for their independence. They need to be able to do things like tie their shoelaces, button up their clothes, and open tricky lunchbox lids. So What Are Fine Motor Skills? Fine Motor skills are the ability to use the smaller muscles of the hands, fingers, and wrists in coordination with their eyes to manipulate objects and tools. Children need precision and coordination in order to master their fine motor skills. Therefore it is really important that they are exposed to many activities designed to develop fine motor skills. 7 Activities For Children There are many simple fun activities that kids can do either at home or preschool which will help them develop their fine motor skills. Here are a few~ 1. Playdough Manipulating, rolling, squeezing, and pinching playdough will give little hands a fantastic workout! I’ve got a fantastic recipe for super soft and long-lasting playdough here. 2. Threading Threading activities are incredibly useful for developing fine motor skills in toddlers and preschoolers. It’s a good idea to start with larger chunkier beads and then work towards threading smaller beads. Threading beads onto pipe cleaners are also an excellent fine motor activity, especially for younger children. Items like straws and pasta are also great to use for threading. We have these ‘Pop Beads’ at preschool. The children have to push hard to join them together, they are quite challenging. I know this because many times I end up having to pull them apart when its pack away time and they are not easy!! 3. Painting Painting activities are fantastic for building fine motor skills. There’s good old finger painting where children give their fingers and hands a good workout. Painting with a paintbrush will help children to develop their pincer grip. 4. Stickers Stickers are a great fine motor activity because they can help strengthen hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity. Peeling stickers off a sheet can be a pretty tricky business. Placing the sticker onto a piece of paper also requires hand control. 5. Clothes Pegs These are great for building up strength in children’s fingers. At preschool, we have quite a variety of activities with pegs such as peg dominos and counting peg games. We also encourage the children to hang up their own paintings onto the drying racks using pegs. 6. Tongs and Tweezers Moving items from one place to another requires a lot of hand-eye coordination. The kids at preschool really like a simple water trough activity that we do. We fill a big water trough with some water and add some colorful plastic fish. The kids then need to use the tongs to take the fish out of the water. It’s like fishing using tongs. We also use pompoms and large tweezers for the children to move between containers. This is another engaging activity that gives their hand muscles a good workout. 7. Pipettes Using pipettes is a great and fun way for children to work on their pincer grip. We do a fun color mixing activity where the kids are given cups with primary-colored water paint. They then have to use the pipettes to transfer the paint onto paper towels. An Important Thing to Remember First of all, children need to get really involved in whole-body movements and use their gross motor skills so that they build up their big muscles. Then this will assist them to build up their small muscles for fine motor activities.

Preschoolers need to paint! They are drawn to this activity, they love it and the wonderful thing is that painting actually helps their brains to develop. Yes, it’s messy and requires time and effort but the benefits are just astounding. Who would have thought that such a simple fun activity could hold the key to so many benefits for young children? Here Are 6 Reasons Why Preschoolers Need To Paint 1. Exercises Children’s Creativity Indeed painting encourages young children to freely explore and this builds confidence. So when children are given a  variety of paints and a blank piece of paper, they have the wonderful opportunity to freely make choices of how they want to interact with these materials. In addition, they can choose to mix colors, create patterns, be original, discover, and create. 2. Painting Helps Fine Motor Skills When children are engaged in painting and art activities, the muscles in their fingers, hands, and wrists are being exercised and strengthened. Children learn to control their finger grip and movement. All this will help them learn to hold a pencil and write later on when they go to big school. 3. Great For Cognitive Development Art and painting can help children with skills such as learning about cause and effect. Children can mix colors together to find new combinations. They can create patterns and develop implied memory with the repetition of movement such as loading a paintbrush and making brushstrokes. 4. Builds Self-esteem When children paint they can freely explore without any fear of being right or wrong. It’s all about the process and not the product. Therefore all children will feel successful regardless of age, skill, or ability. 5. Learn About Color Painting gives children the opportunity to learn about color in a fun practical way. Plus they can also experiment with messy color mixing. 6. It’s Relaxing Painting is a stress-relieving and soothing activity! The whole process of putting paint onto paper is a very therapeutic experience. Painting Activities for Preschoolers Printing At preschool, we have a variety of stampers that children can use for printing. We have animals, vehicles, insects, dinosaurs, etc. You name it we are sure to have it. To make things interesting sometimes we also use things you might find around the house, such as forks, spatulas, cotton reels, bottle tops. There are endless things that can be used for printing activities. And then of course there is good old hand and foot printing!   Stencil Painting Painting with stencils helps children create fun and interesting patterns and designs. You can use a brush for this activity or even a sponge. Marble painting I think that this activity is a real favorite. You need a tray or box, some paint in small cups or bowls and marbles. Simply plop the marble into the paint and then scoop it out with a spoon and place it on the paper you have placed in the box or tray. Children then have to use side to side motion to make the marble run forming interesting lines or patterns across their paper. The challenge is to keep that marble contained! Painting Using Permanent Black Markers And Watercolors I think this activity is my favorite. The children first use a black marker to draw and then they paint what they have drawn. You will get the best results if you use vibrant watercolors. Using Cotton Buds At preschool, we sometimes use cotton buds instead of regular paintbrushes. This is a great activity because the children practice their pencil grip by using the small cotton buds. You can use tempera paint or watercolors for this painting activity. String Painting This is a fun way to develop kids’ fine motor skills, strengthen grip and control. All you need is a string, a peg, and tempera paint. You clip the string into the peg then dip it into the paint. Next, you drag the string around the paper to make patterns. It sounds simple enough but it can be tricky to control that string. It will give kids a good hand muscle workout! Bubble Printing For this activity, you need a straw plus a container of water mixed with detergent and food coloring. The children need to blow bubbles then take a print of their bubbles using a piece of paper.   Painting has so many benefits for children and their development but I think the best thing about painting is that it is just so much fun!! Looking for reasons why playdough is so beneficial for children plus a great recipe for playdough. Click here        

There are so many benefits of playdough in early childhood apart from the fact that it is just so much fun! Playdough is and always will be a favorite activity for kids. All the rolling, pinching and smooshing offers countless hours of entertainment. But apart from all this, playdough offers a wide variety of valuable learning benefits and opportunities for children. This is why you will find playdough in most early childhood education settings. Benefits of Playdough for Kids 1.Fine Motor Development By squishing, rolling, cutting, and poking the playdough, kids are actually giving their muscles a great workout. Their little hands build up strength, and this will help them get ready for using scissors and learning to hold a pencil to write. 2. Maths and Literacy Development We make playdough with the children at preschool and this is a fantastic way of teaching the children early maths concepts such as measurement. Children can also roll out different shapes using cookie cutters as well as form two and three-dimensional shapes. Playing with playdough is also a perfect opportunity to discuss size, length, and weight. Kids love to roll out long snakes and compete with their friends to see who can make the longest! 3.Vocabulary Development Through playdough, children have opportunities to listen and have conversations with their parents, friends, and teachers. Furthermore, they can talk about and describe what they have made using the playdough. 4. Concentration Playdough is a nice quiet activity where kids can spend a long period of time involved in what they are making. Therefore the more absorbed they are in their creations the more they will stretch their concentration spans. 5. Creativity There is an endless possibility of creations children can make out of playdough. Indeed they can mold and shape whatever takes their fancy. In addition, they can add detail and embellishments as far as their imagination takes them. 6. Science Concepts Actually following a recipe and making playdough with children is a perfect opportunity for them to observe, predict and discuss what happens when all the ingredients are mixed together. 7. Therapeutic Benefits Undoubtedly playdough is a very calm and soothing activity. The act of squishing the playdough acts almost like squeezing a stress ball. Moreover, manipulating the dough can ease tension and stress. We often encourage children at preschool to spend time playing with the dough if they are feeling anxious or overwhelmed. As you can see there are just so many benefits of playdough in early childhood. So it’s really worth it even if it can be a bit messy! No-Cook Playdough Recipe Ingredients 3 Cups Plain Flour 1 Cup Cornflour 1 cup Salt 4  Tablespoons Cream of Tartar 5 Tablespoons Oil 3  cups Boiling Water Food Colouring of your choice Method Simply mix all the ingredients together in a big bowl until the playdough comes together. knead and let cool. Playdough can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 months. Make sure it is in a sealed bag or container. This is the recipe we use at preschool and it is hands down the best recipe. Over the years we have tried many different recipes and for this reason, I can confidently say this one will give you the softest, most malleable playdough ever! Finally~ If you are interested in reading about the benefits of lightboxes in early childhood. You can find it here.          

There are many benefits of puzzles in early childhood development. So I am lucky to work in a preschool that is well resourced with a large variety of puzzles catering to many different levels of interest and abilities. The teachers regularly change and rotate them. By doing this, the children are constantly exposed to a wide selection of puzzles and there’s little chance they will grow bored with the same ones. If a child is particularly keen on puzzles and they love the challenge of a harder one, we are always more than happy to oblige. This year we have one little boy who just loves doing puzzles. He cannot seem to get enough of them! He has amazing persistence and loves a challenge. Once he has mastered all the ones available in the classroom, he will ask for another harder one. He smiles from ear to ear and his face just lights up whenever he receives an increasingly more difficult puzzle!! Some children struggle with completing puzzles and may generally not be interested in them. We try and motivate these children by providing puzzles that have popular culture pictures on them. We have puzzles with PJ masks, Bluey, The wiggles, etc. You name it we’ve got it, anything to motivate the children’s interest in doing puzzles! Puzzles provide children with so many learning opportunities. They are an excellent learning tool that helps children’s development. Puzzles are great for improving children’s cognitive skills, hand-eye coordination as well as patience, perseverance, and language. Benefits of Puzzles In Early Childhood Development Cognitive Skills Puzzles give children the opportunity to develop important strategies which help them understand how pieces go together to form a whole. Children can observe and manipulate the puzzle pieces to see how they fit together to make a complete picture. Puzzles help children’s brains to develop, improve problem-solving skills and attention spans. The reason for this is because children who are engaged in doing a puzzle are using their brains’ logical and creative sides. They are exercising their brains! Children also develop skills such as shape recognition, persistence, and concentration. All of these skills are so important for school readiness. Fine Motor Skills Children give their fingers a great workout when they do puzzles. Children will grasp and manipulate the puzzle pieces or use a pinching motion to pick up puzzle pieces with knobs. All these precise movements will benefit their fine motor development which is so important for their ability to learn to use a pencil properly and write. Hand-eye coordination Puzzles help improve children’s hand-eye coordination. The reason for this is because their eyes are seeing the puzzle piece and their brains are working out where this piece should fit. Children are having their eyes, hands, and brains all working together to fit that puzzle piece into the correct position. Self Esteem When children persist and complete a puzzle this demonstrates to them that they are able to overcome challenges and deal with their frustrations. The joy that comes with finishing a task will give them a sense of accomplishment. This important achievement will help their self-esteem to flourish Opportunity To Discover New Things About The World Puzzles come with many pictures that cover a wide variety of subjects. You can find puzzles that have world maps, animals, food, body parts, plants, people from diverse backgrounds. All of these pictures provide opportunities to learn about the world they live in. Language Development When children finish a puzzle there is a perfect opportunity to talk about what they can see in the image they have just put together. You can talk to them about things like colours, quantities, and they can also describe what they see. All of these conversations will build their vocabulary and general knowledge. We have some Unicorn loving children at preschool and this puzzle is a huge favourite! It has attracted and motivated many children to gravitate towards the puzzle table. These knob puzzles are great for children who are first beginning to do puzzles as they are simpler. They are also perfect for fine motor development. Learning shape recognition with this maths puzzle. Not as easy as it might first look! This multi-layer puzzle is NOT for the faint-hearted. It requires a lot of persistence and good concentration both for the children and us preschool educators Ha! See the different pictures on the puzzles. Perfect opportunity to talk about face parts and emotions. We also have a big variety of dinosaur puzzles and they are always very popular. Puzzles also give children the perfect opportunity to work together and learn the value of working as a team. At preschool, we have puzzles with letters. Fantastic for learning letter recognition and words! Puzzles come with many different edges, not just corners. Again, another great way to challenge thinking and strategy. Puzzles are not only fun they are also a key learning tool for children and provide many benefits in Early Childhood Development. Some Further Reading Queensland Government Early Childhood Education and Care Here is a link if you would like to see other great learning happening at preschool.  

Reading to children is so important as their little minds are absorbing all the language they hear and they are developing their listening and concentration skills. My favourite part about reading to children whether it was my own when they were little or the children from preschool is the opportunity for bonding. Reading is such a wonderful way to connect with children and many times I have been able to settle a very sad and distressed new child at preschool with a story book. Some of my fondest memories are reading to my own boys, especially when they were all bathed and cozy tucked up in bed ahhhhh bring back those days. I miss them! Over the years I have found that some books have become my favourites. I know that there are many more I could add to this list, but these are the ones that I pull out of the cupboard the most and I love reading them to my little preschool friends. I get so much joy watching their little faces full of anticipation as I turn each page. The best part is their reactions, sometimes they are wide-eyed and totally immersed in what is coming next, other times there are peals of laughter. This list is in no particular order but I guarantee that each one of these is a firm favourite at preschool. 1. The Tiger Who Came To Tea, by Judith Kerr   I just love this story and its illustrations. It’s an oldy but a goody! This beautiful classic was published in 1968 and it is about a little girl who has a tiger visit her and her mother at their home. The tiger proceeds to eat and drink everything in the house! The illustrations are lovely and capture the era when it was written. I find myself feeling very nostalgic when I read this book. The children always react so positively to the story and are always amused at the tiger and his antics. 2. Piranhas Don’t Eat Bananas, by Aaron Blabey   This book is just funny!! It rhymes which is always a bonus as the children can usually guess what word is coming next. The story is of course about a piranha whose name is Brian, this alone already has me in giggling fits. The piranha in this story actually loves fruit and his piranha friends just don’t understand this at all! 3. Harriet You’ll Drive Me Wild, by Mem Fox   If you are a mum this book will be very relatable. It is a sweet story about a lovely but pesky child called Harriet. Poor Harriet is always doing things to test her poor Mothers patience. Until the Mother finally reaches boiling point. It has a lovely ending and a reminder to us grown-ups that we’ve all probably experienced reaching the end of our patience at some point in our lives. 4. It’s the Bear!, by Jez Alborough   Another fun rhyming story, this book is about a boy called Eddy who is reluctant to go on a picnic with his mum. He is afraid of running into a huge bear! This is a very funny picture book and a follow-up to Jez Alborough’s previous book ‘Where’s My Teddy’, another one of my favourites. This story has a cute twist at the end when the poor bear is really not that scary at all!! 5. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle   Well, this is certainly a classic and probably one of the most well-known children’s picture books. No matter how many times we read this at preschool, nobody ever gets tired of it. The illustrations are so unique and colourful!! 6. A Dark Dark Tale, by Ruth Brown   This ‘spooky’ book has the children truly captivated! When the last page is turned and the ending is revealed, the children inevitably roll around in fits of later and call out “Again, again!! Read it again!!” 7. Spot Goes To School, by Eric Hill   There are many books about Spot the delightful little dog and his many adventures. This is a lift the flap story and it is about Spot and his friends going to school for the first time. We read this story to the pre-school children as part of our transition to Big school programme. It is a great book to prepare them for the concept of school and all the fun activities they will enjoy there. 8. The Gruffalo, by Julia Donaldson   I love this story and I never get tired of reading it! It is witty and so so funny. Another great rhyming story about a very clever mouse and a poor old, not-so-scary Gruffalo. 9. Mutt Dog, by Stephen Michael King   This book is very heartwarming. It is about a scruffy, brave, smart but lonely little dog who finds a home. It captures important themes like resilience and belonging. Just beautiful!! 10. Tiddalick The Frog Who Caused A Flood, by Robert Roennfeldt   This is a creation story from the Australian Indigenous Dreamtime. It is about a very greedy and thirsty frog who drinks up all the water in the land. The other animals in the story have to work together to solve the problem of having the water depleted by Tiddalick. This book covers important issues like caring for our environment, water conservation, sharing, and teamwork. I really hope that you find this list of books helpful. Reading to children is so rewarding and these stories are guaranteed fun, memorable, and most definitely need to be read on repeat!   Click here if you would like to see some other preschool activities

What Is A Lightbox? A lightbox or light table is an illuminated surface. They are commonly used in drafting, and for viewing x-rays or artwork. Lightboxes come in many shapes and sizes and they are very popular in early childhood classrooms. Using them in preschool settings will provide a wonderful teaching and learning tool. They are a calming influence in the playroom and will spark the children’s interest to explore colour mixing, shape and pattern. Providing a lightbox with inviting resources will encourage children to think critically and creatively in many areas of learning. What Do Children Learn with A Light Box Lightboxes provide the perfect opportunity to develop problem-solving skills, pattern and colour recognition, as well as language development. Lightbox activities are also great for hand-eye coordination and even pre-writing skills.  The lovely soft and captivating glow means that children spend longer amounts of time engaged with the activity that is provided. This is a fantastic opportunity to stretch their developing attention spans. Using a lightbox encourages children to be better observers. This is because the subtle details of the presented materials are clearly visible on a lightbox than on a non-lit surface. The lightbox improves children’s learning experience as they learn through visual images. The colours of the materials used on the lightbox are enhanced. This will provoke the child’s imagination. Lightboxes are a very adaptable teaching tool and you can use them for many open-ended play experiences. They also create a very inviting learning space. They are interesting and will captivate and hold children’s attention. The warm glow from the lightbox creates an aesthetic appeal for the whole playroom too. What Things Can You Use On A lightbox? I have found that there is just a huge variety of equipment designed especially for lightboxes. You can see these in almost any preschool toy catalogue or good toy shop. When I look around my own preschool environment I have found that you can use almost anything. The possibilities really are endless. At our preschool, we have a perspex cover over the lightbox. This means we can add messy things like shaving cream. The children love using their little fingers to smoosh and swirl the shaving cream around. They form patterns, write their names or draw faces. It’s such a fantastic sensory experience for them. In addition, we have also placed leaves, insects in resin and x-rays on the lightbox with magnifying glasses. The children love exploring detail and their eyes light up at new discoveries. Another popular way we use our lightbox is for general construction activities. This is where those colourful magnetic tiles and coloured blocks have come in so handy. I love these coloured splats and look at the colourful cubes. They are a recent addition to our lightbox resources. The magnetic tiles are also great and the children love building with them and looking at the light shine through their creations. These wooden blocks with colourful windows are always available on our block shelf. Here the children can use them to create objects and patterns. These colour paddles are just the best! A fantastic colour mixing activity without the mess!! Colourful stones can be used to place on the lines and make patterns. Look at the variety of colours and shapes. The children have such a wonderful time creating beautiful things like flowers, houses, and people. They can let their imaginations run wild!! Adding mirrors is also another fun idea. Look how pretty it looks. Such an inviting play area. I just love the lightbox in our preschool room as it makes the room so warm and inviting. Over the years it’s been so great to watch how the children have learnt and benefited from such a fantastic teaching tool.

Earlier in Term two of preschool, we looked at World Earth Day and World Ocean Day. So I thought it would be fun to show you a few of the creative classroom setups we had going. Fun Playdough Activity~ First, up for our playdough table, our lovely classroom teacher provided two playdough colours instead of the usual one. We had blue and green dough, this inspired the children to copy the little world globe that was also part of the setup. If you look closely you can see how they are using the green playdough to add pieces of green land to their blue playdough. Watching the children use their own initiative and imaginations without being prompted was such a huge bonus. Aren’t they smart little friends using the dough to make their own world globes! We supplied some Earth coloured stones too for the kids to press into the dough and make patterns. There were some lovely different shades of blues and greens as well as natural stones. Classroom setups just look so visually pleasing when you use things like baskets and wooden trays for the tools and materials. Looks so much nicer than plastic trays, don’t you agree? I printed some sky images and laminated them to be used as placemats. The children really enjoyed this activity and my colleague and I were really pleased with how well the children played. Sensory and Sorting Activity~ We usually have a sensory table for the children every week with either rice or shaving cream. For Earth Day my colleague had the brilliant idea of adding little bits of pretend rubbish into the rice tubs. The children then had to sort the ‘rubbish’ into two mini bins. One was a recycling bin and the other a rubbish bin. This was not only a great sensory activity, but it was also a fantastic sorting activity too. And to top it off it gave the children a chance to really think about what household waste should actually be recycled and not just put into the general rubbish bin! How good was that? World Ocean Day~ For world Ocean Day we set up a cool book display complete with plastic sea animals and magnifying glasses. It was great to see the children browsing through the books and talking about all the different sea creatures. There are a couple of cute but very active little kids in our class. I just love them and it was so great to see them looking at all the pages of the books quite engrossed in what they were discovering. They revisited these books over and over too. Another part of the book display was this ‘Ocean’ display. Again I went through our preschool cupboards trying to find interesting things to use and came up with this. We recently bought a few of these round mirrors and they have really come in so handy. We use them for heaps of different displays and craft activities. I scrunched some cellophane and arranged it around the tray and mirror to represent the ocean, added more stones, and of course small sea creatures! Even though it was a big rush to get it all set up, I was happy with the end result. We are always short of one thing at preschool and that is time! Craft Table~ Finally, for our craft table, we added some images representing the environment. The children cut these out and used them for their collages adding other materials available to them too. I hope you enjoyed a little peek into our classroom for Earth Day and World Ocean Day. I think it’s great to cover topics such as these. It’s so important that our next generation know how amazing our planet is. And it is vital that they not only appreciate our planet but that they also grow up being active participants in protecting and looking after our world so it is a happier and healthier place to live!