Education & Spirituality
When you see the word preschool what comes to mind? Many will agree it’s a center for young children to attend and to learn, a place for early childhood education. Preschool should be exactly as it is written – BEFORE school, prior to school – but it seems as though many have lost the meaning of it.
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It’s Friday morning, I’m walking around the playground and from the other side I hear screams and squeals of delight. Half of the children are playing on the climber and slides. I get a little closer, stand back, and just observe from the side. I’ve observed children over the years do this many times. None of them are hurting each other, they’re just having a good time. Climbing up, sliding down, on their belly’s, backs, and upside down. They’re sitting forwards and backwards, getting up and running around to go up the steps to do it all over again. Occasionally, one will sit at the slides end and wait for their friends to make a “pile up” along the length of the slide. I get immersed in the joy they’re feeling as they continue to do this for a good portion of outside time. They’re learning so much at this moment, while participating in a little bit of “risky play.” They’re learning social-emotional skills, how to get along, cooperation, using their proprioceptive and vestibular senses, gross-motor skills and even resilience as they step over each other as one slides down and another climbs up. I’ve read enough articles proving this. The question is, why do I still hear so many teachers over the years constantly saying and even singing “Up the steps and down the slide?” or “Use the slide the right way?” What is the right way? The way we’ve been trained and conditioned to use something correctly. If there’s other ways to use something and they’re doing it safely, learning more skills, why not just let them? If there’s no harm in doing so, just let them have fun and go.
The Owl’s Nest 