Children need to play! It's how they discover, learn, and make connections with others. COVID-19 has both directly and indirectly affected early childhood development. Their routines were disrupted to avoid being exposed to the virus and to slow its spread. Not being in preschools, daycares or on regular playdates have indirectly affected their social-emotional development. It is my belief as an early childhood educator that academics can be caught up easier than a child's social emotional learning. Children learn these important skills through play and working with their peers. Academics will come if we first teach the foundation of perseverance, solving problems and being kind to others. The lack of opportunities to play with others their age just means we need to give them more opportunities to do that in the classroom.
My project will give students authentic ways to play with their friends while I teach important social-emotional skills and help them build relationships with their peers.
Children "pretend play" with what they know. They have been home cooking meals with their families more and a play kitchen is the best place to start with dramatic play. I also have several building sets and cooperative games as part of my project, this is to teach working as team and have children move past their ego-centric thinking.
Thank you for helping me incorporate even more play in our classroom!
About my class
Children need to play! It's how they discover, learn, and make connections with others. COVID-19 has both directly and indirectly affected early childhood development. Their routines were disrupted to avoid being exposed to the virus and to slow its spread. Not being in preschools, daycares or on regular playdates have indirectly affected their social-emotional development. It is my belief as an early childhood educator that academics can be caught up easier than a child's social emotional learning. Children learn these important skills through play and working with their peers. Academics will come if we first teach the foundation of perseverance, solving problems and being kind to others. The lack of opportunities to play with others their age just means we need to give them more opportunities to do that in the classroom.
My project will give students authentic ways to play with their friends while I teach important social-emotional skills and help them build relationships with their peers.
Children "pretend play" with what they know. They have been home cooking meals with their families more and a play kitchen is the best place to start with dramatic play. I also have several building sets and cooperative games as part of my project, this is to teach working as team and have children move past their ego-centric thinking.
Thank you for helping me incorporate even more play in our classroom!