Our programs comprise of many learning areas, each very valuable towards your child’s development. The equipment and materials used are there for many different reasons and they provide for a range of experiences, some for incidental learning, some to develop learning through experimenting and discovery and others have a specific function.
The following is a general summary of the function and use of some of the equipment in our Centre and what they can help to develop.
Book Corner
(fiction & non-fiction) |
Appreciation & enjoyment of literature;
Language development;
Child’s awareness & interest in their environment;
Visual discrimination; and
Learning through memory & understanding.
|
| Manipulating Equipment |
Small muscle skills needed for finger control & eye/hand coordination;
Counting, matching & sequencing (needed for thinking & learning processes); and
Concepts of mathematics, shape/colour and visual discrimination.
|
| Collage |
Creative expression;
Fine motor skills – cutting, drawing & gluing;
Tactile experiences with different materials; and
Eye/hand coordination (needed for writing & reading).
|
| Puzzles/Games |
Visual discrimination (needed for reading);
Fine motor (needed for writing);
Cognitive ability (needed for reasoning); and
Problem solving.
|
| Block Corner |
Wooden & plastic blocks;
Mathematical concepts, classification;
Reasoning;
Socialising – cooperation; and
Construction and imagination.
|
| Home Corner |
Kitchen/bedroom furniture, dress ups & props;
Understanding of family roles;
Playing out problems & new experiences;
Gives a sense of security when first separated from home environment;
Social development; and
Imagination.
|
| Water & Sand |
Creative experiences & understanding properties of environment;
Relieves tension, no pressure of making mistakes; and
Basic understanding of mathematical concepts (eg. full/empty etc).
|
| Outdoor Activities |
Climbing equipment, swings etc;
Control over small & large muscles eg trikes;
Balance & coordination;
Social skills; and
Eye/hand coordination.
|
| Finger Painting/Play Dough |
Helps to strengthen fingers & wrists;
Creative imagination;
Tactile experiences & discovery; and
Freedom from fear of mistakes.
|
| Painting/Printing |
Expression & creativity;
Artistic skills;
In the development stages of painting:
- manipulative, experimenting with no aim;
- symbolic, child knows what they are doing but work is unrecognizable; and
- recognizable, child paints specific things recognizable to others.
|
| Musical Activities |
Musical instruments, tape & tape recorder;
Appreciation of music;
Listening skills – rhythm & beat;
Interests in singing & instruments; and
Movement to music.
|
| Finger play/Rhymes |
Appreciation of rhyme, language development;
Enrichment of vocabulary;
Understanding spoken language;
Finger control; and
Enjoyment.
|
