What Do Kids Learn at Preschool and Why Is it Key to Their Growth?

Many milestones will occur in your child’s life – all unique opportunities for them to learn and grow as people. One of their firsts will be starting to attend our Christian preschool in Royal Palm Beach, FL.

Your children’s development starts at a very early age, and offering fulfilling stimuli can be crucial in helping them foster their abilities to their maximum. In this article, we’ll explain what kids learn in preschool and how important this is for their future development. We will also give you some tips on how to find the right institution for your family.

What Do Kids Learn in Preschool?

Ages three to five are crucial for learning and have long-term effects on your kid’s growth.

Between their 3rd and 6th birthdays, your child changes much more than in height or weight: the bones of the skull and face grow, and your child’s face loses some of its roundness, which marks a key growth of their mental development.

As your kid’s ability to concentrate increases and they start exploring their motor skills and small muscle control, they’ll start exploring the world around them. To accompany this development, preschool is all about discovery.

The goal of preschool is to provide children with a solid foundation for elementary school by helping them learn about everything around them. This covers academic literacy and math concepts like coloring, counting, and letter recognition, as well as the development of gross and fine motor skills.

Making friends, sharing, and taking turns are just a few of the social and academic readiness skills it covers.

Valuable Motor Skills

Preschool children are developing both their fine motor skills (such as hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity) and gross motor skills (which involve large physical movements).

As a result, a lot of preschools dedicate time to practicing these developmental skills by doing tasks like:

• Drawing, cutting, coloring, and gluing are examples of fine motor exercises that are crucial for writing, grasping, and coordinating small movements.
• Running, skipping, jumping, and kicking or tossing a ball to a partner are some of the gross motor skills they practice, typically during recess.

Social and School-Readiness Skills

Another goal of preschool is teaching children social-emotional and school-readiness skills.

Children are taught how to operate in a group environment in these classes, with a focus on social skills like sharing, taking turns, cooperative play, moving from one activity to the next, and adhering to rules in the classroom.

Additionally, preschool teaches children self-care skills that they will need in kindergarten, like dressing themselves, feeding themselves, and using the restroom on their own.

Communication and Listening

Preschool can help improve general speech and listening comprehension, as well as the ability to follow instructions. This improves children’s communication and gives them a better understanding of what their parents expect of them.

In most cases, this helps parents at home by either preventing tantrums from happening or enabling them to resolve them more quickly when they do.

Problem-Solving

Preschool is a great opportunity for children to start learning problem-solving skills, which will benefit them for years to come.

By playing with certain toys, interacting with other kids, and engaging in activities guided by teachers, children can explore the limits of their cognitive abilities and learn new ways to face any issue that may arise.

Some activities teachers foster include story time questions or organizing a treasure hunt. These skills are important later on in their education, career, and personal life.

Play-Time and Forming Friendships

While it may look like a preschooler spends all their time playing, it’s much more than that. Play is much more than having fun for children, as it’s a valuable opportunity to interact with other children and learn how to:

• Form friendships
• Cooperate
• Take turns
• Think creatively
• Use their imagination

Through a variety of enrichment activities, including structured and unstructured play, children can learn more about themselves, develop greater self-esteem, and become more prepared for the outside world.

Not only that, but it helps kids learn how to be self-reliant and make decisions.

Importance of Teamwork

Preschoolers are taught the value of collaboration and how to get along with others. This is their first exposure to the concept of teamwork.

In preschools, children learn to share and take turns using toys or facilities, acquiring fundamental social abilities for their future.

In addition to participating in team-building exercises that teachers design, students pick up this knowledge by watching others around them and how they interact. This teaches them the importance of collaboration and patience, too.

First Screening and Independence

For many children, preschool is their first opportunity to experience the world without their parents. They will have to ask their teachers for help to identify and meet their every need without relying on their parents, gaining more confidence in themselves.

This will also be the first time that their teachers observe how they act without parents and how they respond to tasks like writing and reading, which can be important information about mental acuity.

Adults may also find it useful in identifying early indicators of learning or processing issues and start providing them support right from the start.

Why Is It Important to Pick the Right Preschool?

Because preschools are not subject to the same regulations as K–12 schools, the curriculum offered at one institution may differ significantly from that of other schools. Of course, all schools offer the same basic knowledge, but they may highlight different aspects.

The majority of preschools have a curriculum, philosophy, and a set of objectives that all teachers must follow. For instance, we follow the ABEKA and WEE Learn curriculum. The ABEKA Curriculum is a Christian faith-based curriculum that has been used internationally for more than 50 years and is nationally recognized.

However, preschools’ flexible regulations also allow our teachers to adjust their educational approaches to adapt to the needs of each specific child.

At Neighborhood Kids, we firmly think that each child has a distinct life purpose and that it is our responsibility as educators to enable them to lead fulfilling lives that positively influence the world.

Find a Reliable Christian Preschool in Royal Palm Beach, FL

Preschool marks a turning point in a child’s learning and development, one where the lessons they acquire can be applied to their future academic endeavors and beyond. Preschoolers will be able to use a pair of scissors, follow directions, kick a ball, speak in longer words and sentences, and engage with others with success.

Still, it’s important to choose the right preschool for these critical years of your child’s life. Reach out to Neighborhood Kids and learn more about our curriculum, our teachers, and what we do during our classes.