The type of early childhood program I would develop for children ages 2-6 would be a preschool. Preschools are explicitly designed to provide intellectual and social experiences for children (Feldman, 2015). The curriculum would be tailored to Lev Vygotsky’s view on cognitive development. The program would provide adequate nutrition to promote expected physical changes through preschool years. The program would, also, be concerned with the health and safety of those enrolled. Children go through numerous physical changes during the preschool years. Boys become heavier and taller than girls. Both become less round and more slender. Their arms and legs lengthen. Their head to body relationship becomes more adult like. Internally,
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I feel children need adults and peer mentors to present new ways of doing things and provide assistance, instruction, and motivation. I feel the person to person contact is a necessity for proper social development. I don’t feel watching the television or computers provides appropriate stimulation for cognitive development. Children can zone out while watching TV. Instead, I would provide activities that promote the development of gross and fine motor skills. For gross motor skills I would incorporate activities such as: running, jumping, hopping, throwing and catching things, and climbing. For fine motor skill development I would include the following activities: play dough or clay with plastic tools such as scissors or cookie cutters to form into various shapes, blocks of various sizes to stack and arrange, and puzzles with varying size handles. I would have stations set up with beads, macaroni, rigatoni or wheel-shaped cereal to string on yarn or shoelaces to help with fine motor development. In another station, I would include scissors, paints, brushes, markers, crayons, and large chalk that are all child-safe for the young artist. All of these activities are well designed to promote cognitive development through social interaction. Language development occurs very rapidly between 2 and 3 years old. At the preschool, the staff would focus on fostering this progression. Children would be placed into small groups to stimulate the use of language. Children would play group games and the I-spy game to use their language skills. Staff would, also, read books to the children to help with their listening skills and have comprehension questions at the end of story time. Songs would be sung to promote language
I feel children need adults and peer mentors to present new ways of doing things and provide assistance, instruction, and motivation. I feel the person to person contact is a necessity for proper social development. I don’t feel watching the television or computers provides appropriate stimulation for cognitive development. Children can zone out while watching TV. Instead, I would provide activities that promote the development of gross and fine motor skills. For gross motor skills I would incorporate activities such as: running, jumping, hopping, throwing and catching things, and climbing. For fine motor skill development I would include the following activities: play dough or clay with plastic tools such as scissors or cookie cutters to form into various shapes, blocks of various sizes to stack and arrange, and puzzles with varying size handles. I would have stations set up with beads, macaroni, rigatoni or wheel-shaped cereal to string on yarn or shoelaces to help with fine motor development. In another station, I would include scissors, paints, brushes, markers, crayons, and large chalk that are all child-safe for the young artist. All of these activities are well designed to promote cognitive development through social interaction. Language development occurs very rapidly between 2 and 3 years old. At the preschool, the staff would focus on fostering this progression. Children would be placed into small groups to stimulate the use of language. Children would play group games and the I-spy game to use their language skills. Staff would, also, read books to the children to help with their listening skills and have comprehension questions at the end of story time. Songs would be sung to promote language