Experiences


If I could only tell you one thing about homeschooling preschoolers, I would tell you this:

Create a rich learning environment for preschoolers by providing daily experiences.

Daily experiences, along with language development, help little ones understand the world around them.
"Children learn best from discoveries they make when they playfully explore and interact with their world. When block towers tumble, children learn about stability and gravity. They begin to understand volume as they pour sand from cup to cup. They learn about properties of liquid through water play." ~Jill Frankel Hauser in Growing Up Reading.
I learned that if given opportunities to explore, children will make discoveries.

And what a wondrous age to be exploring and making discoveries! Children naturally learn through play and should be given ample opportunity to just PLAY! Through play, they will make discoveries that will have a lasting impression on them.

About 5 years ago, I stumbled upon Tumbling Over the Edge - a rant for children's play. This book had a profound effect on me! The title says it all. I found myself dreaming over this book about all the ways that I could help my children PLAY! Purposeful, meaningful play! I still dream. Then I came across the book Growing Up Reading: Learning to Read Through Creative Play. It became my hope that I would teach my preschoolers through creative, hands-on play. This is how I got the idea for Delightful Learning! In fact, I started my blog to share about our preschool journey.

How can I teach them through play?

Children can play and make discoveries on their own, but you can help this process by giving them language to describe their discoveries. If they build a tower of blocks, you can give them words to express how tall.  You can then help them to develop critical thinking skills by helping them to organize, make sense of, and use information they collect

In summary,
  • Let your preschooler make discoveries through play.
  • Give them language to describe their discoveries.
  • Help them make sense of the information they collect!
Tomorrow, I will share two very simple ways you can apply this principle using sand and water play! 
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Be sure to visit these brilliant women in this 10 days adventure between February 7th-18th! We love these ladies and we know you do too.

10 days of socialization for mom | The Homeschool Chick
10 days of classical education | Milk & Cookies
10 days of large families | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of special needs | Special Needs Homeschooling
10 days of struggling learners | Homeschooling the Chaotic Family
10 days of homeschooling girls | Homegrown Mom
10 days of homeschool enrichment | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of building a spiritual legacy | Mommy Missions
10 days of frugal homeschooling |The Happy Housewife
10 days of Charlotte Mason | Our Journey Westward
10 days of unschooling | Homeschooling Belle
10 days of organization | Confessions of an Organized Homeschool Mom
10 days of getting started | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of homeschooling boys | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of homeschooling Montessori | Fruit in Season
10 days of preschool | Delightful Learning

3 comments

  1. Oh I miss the preschool days! This is a great post, I used to be a preschool teacher in a very academic preschool, and this was something I was always stressing to stressed out parents :-)

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  2. So true! I'm really looking forward to your series with this blog hop. Being intentional about giving the little ones exciting and real experiences and exploration is what it's all about!

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  3. I can't wait for the rest of your posts!

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