Needs of pre-school children

By the time children commence attendance at a preschool setting, they have already had a variety of experiences and have developed in a number of ways.

In order to utilise and build upon the learning that has taken place in the home and its immediate environment, adults should provide children with a rich variety of play activities and other experiences in a stimulating and challenging environment. The focus should be to allow children to learn without experiencing a sense of failure.

Young children require:

• a safe, secure, healthy and stimulating environment where there is adequate supervision;
  
• opportunities to investigate, satisfy their curiosity, explore the environment inside and outside the playroom, extend their sense of wonder, experience success and develop a positive attitude towards learning;
  
• appropriate periods of time for learning through sustained involvement in play;
  
• interaction with sensitive and understanding adults.  It is important that children feel secure in their relationships with adults and that they know that the adults are there to support them;
  
• adults who will treat them as individuals and sensitively participate in their play.  

Given these needs it follows that young children require a curriculum which:

• meets their physical, social, emotional and cognitive needs at their particular stage of development;
  
• motivates, challenges and stimulates them;
  
• is broad and balanced, allowing children to make choices and providing them with opportunities, through play and other experiences, to develop the learning associated with:
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development;
• Physical Development;
• Creative/Aesthetic Development;
• Language Development;
• Early Mathematical Experiences;
• Early Experiences in Science and Technology;
• Knowledge and Appreciation of the Environment.