Insights Into Early Childhood Education

Earlier in the last Term of Preschool, we were looking at native Australian animals. My clever colleague thought it would be fun to make an Australian animal small world for the children to play with. Putting together the small world- I set to work and started by looking around the preschool for materials to create this super cute small world. It’s amazing what you can find in a preschool, you open up cupboards and there is always a world of creative possibilities! I found some great Australian outback scenery which I printed and then pasted around a big box. Next, I scattered some small rocks and added the plastic animals. We had kangaroos, Bilbies, Koalas and platypus.  Finally, I collected some native Australian plants we have growing in the front garden of our preschool and placed these around the box. They not only looked fantastic but they also gave off a nice fresh scent. That was it! a small world ready for the children to enjoy. The Great thing about Small World Play- Small world play has many benefits for children’s development. It gives them a perfect opportunity to enjoy imaginative play, it supports their language development and builds their confidence and self-esteem. I just love hearing the little conversations and creative ideas the children have while playing together. Another positive thing about small world play is that it is nice and contained and the children can revisit it again and again. I just love putting together small worlds for the children. A while ago I made a Dinosaur world and you can read about that here. It’s so fun to see the children playing and enjoying the preschool activities. Definitely one of the highlights of being an early childhood educator!

Pizza Restaurant For Dramatic Play- The other day I blogged about our Bakery set up for preschool dramatic play. You can find that post here. Today I wanted to quickly share about our Pizza Restaurant for dramatic play. I work with the most amazing teacher who I am lucky enough to call my friend. She comes up with fantastic ideas and I am constantly inspired by her enthusiasm and dedication. A while ago motivated by the children’s interest in using the home corner as a restaurant. She thought it would be great to turn the home corner into a pizza restaurant. We both made a trip to Ikea to buy the cutest little pizza set made of fabric. To make the pizza oven we used a cardboard box, wrapping paper with a brick pattern, aluminium foil, and a realistic-looking fire image, oh yes, and a portable light switch. I had an idea in my head as to how I wanted it to look and I think it turned out amazingly well. The kids really loved playing with it and were in awe of how realistic it looked. This activity was so popular that it quickly turned into a turn-taking lesson too! Ha! don’t worry it’s not hot. All I did was stick a portable light switch to the top of the oven and the aluminum foil reflected the light around the inside of the oven. Then I just printed off a realistic-looking fire and glued it to the back. Look at all those toppings! See this pizza set from Ikea. Isn’t it cute? I totally love it. Ikea has such fun things for all ages. And there it is, another dramatic play setup idea for preschool. Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you have a truly wonderful day!

Preschool Dramatic Play-A Bakery Hi All! For this week’s Preschool dramatic play, we set up a cool Bakery. Welcome to our Bakery I love setting up interesting dramatic play for the children. The Teacher in the classroom and I will collaborate to plan activities and experiences for the children based on their interests. During Term Two some of the children were interested in having a Bakery set up in dramatic play. I got the fun job of setting it all up! To me, it’s a great challenge to find resources to make the play area as inviting as possible. Our preschool is not purpose-built at all. Originally the building was used as council chambers and over sixty years ago it became a preschool. Granted the building is full of beautiful heritage charm but unfortunately, the playrooms are still slightly awkward. As a team, we all try our very best to make it work. Cupcakes for the win! See those cupcakes. I made them by scrunching up crepe paper and dipping it in glue mixed with some water. Like paper mache. After placing them in patty pans I let them dry for several days! We are always pressed for time however, it was lucky that I was able to make them super fast with the help of some of my little friends. The children have played with these cupcakes over and over, yet they remained intact! It’s impressive how durable they have turned out to be. Don’t you think? Thanks for stopping by. It’s always great to see some new ideas for playroom setups. Hope you enjoyed a peek into my preschool. If you would like to see my small Dinosaur world for some ideas click here That’s it friends. Preschool dramatic play-A Bakery! Please comment and tell me what you think. You should see the Pizza Shop we did! I’ll show you that next time.

I’d like to show you a fun and simple Dinosaur small world play idea, but before I do let me tell you a little bit about my work as an educator in a small local preschool. I have been working with children as an educator for many years and I really enjoy it! It can be exhausting demanding, and stressful (Term one. I’m referring to you) BUT I do love it. The best part about working in a small preschool is that I have been fortunate enough to meet so many beautiful families over the years. The team I work with is fantastic and very dedicated. I am also lucky enough to call them my friends and a couple of them have even become my besties! oh yes, and did I mention I also live super close, like a three-minute drive away! My days are never dull as children say the funniest things. Over the years I have heard some hilarious stories! and a little word of warning. The kids tell us everything! I love decorating and making learning areas inviting and interesting. It’s very rewarding when the children are engaged in the activities that are set up for them. The best days at preschool are when the children are really enjoying themselves and playing well. After all, PLAY is what it’s all about isn’t it? It’s how they learn! Over time I’ll be sharing some photos of things I’ve set up for the kids. I really think it will be fun to take a peek into an everyday preschool setup.  Here is a Dinosaur Small World I set up a couple of weeks ago. The laminator has become one of my best friends. I printed off some Jurassic-looking background images and laminated them. I then stuck this background around the blue trough we use for water/sand play. I also used some leftover fake grass we had from when the playground got a makeover. I grabbed some rocks we have in the playground. And pulled off some small tree branches to stick around the edges of the trough. I found some plastic lilies and mossy rocks in the cupboard. And of course the dinosaurs! There you have it! A simple Dinosaur small world play idea. It was fun to look around the preschool, find resources and put this little world together.