The importance of pretend play

I saw this article and thought of all the wonderful pretend play that takes place with our children. There are so many important aspects of pretend play, besides that it is great fun for our children and something that they could do all day long!

The wonderful thing about encouraging preschoolers to participate in pretend play is that it can become whatever they want it to be. Children who are interested in cars can create a pretend garage or race track. Children who want to be like their parents can set up a kitchen that mirrors the one at home, or they can imitate behavior they see in their home.

Emotional and Social Development for Preschoolers
Preschoolers learn a great deal about the world through their pretend play. Emotional and social development is just as important in a quality preschool education as academic education. Preschoolers who develop good social skills early on will be better prepared to be successful during their school years and to become an emotionally healthy adult.

Dolls are a wonderful tool to encourage preschoolers to develop empathy and compassion for other people. Even though preschoolers are working hard to develop their independence, they still spend most of their time being cared for by other people. Having the opportunity to care for someone else helps preschoolers to understand that other people have needs and feelings too.

Preschoolers are just beginning to participate in group play, but they still have not mastered difficult concepts such as sharing and patience. Pretend play offers preschoolers the chance to merge parallel play with cooperative play. Preschoolers can play on their own while other kids enjoy the pretend play center at the same time or they can participate in pretend play activities together. Pretend play allows preschoolers to play together by acting out situations that they see in their daily lives. This takes some of the pressure out of cooperative play for preschoolers.

Pretend Play as a Stress Reliever
Preschoolers feel stress just as the rest of us do. Stress can come from many sources. Preschoolers may become stressed if their daily routine has changed or if they are bored. The addition of a new sibling in the family or the divorce of their parents can drastically change their behavior and the way they interact with other children. Pretend play can help preschoolers deal with difficult emotions. It can be hard for preschoolers to verbalize their feelings when they are stressed out, but during pretend play they can act out the situation or emotions that are bothering them. Preschool age children who are struggling and acting out at home or in the preschool classroom, may be better served by spending 10 minutes on their own in the pretend play center to deal with their feelings than by sitting in time out!

Pretend play can also be an important tool for parents and preschool teachers to determine how a preschooler is coping with the various stresses that are present in their life. Preschoolers can let their parents and preschool teachers understand things that are bothering them and things that are important to them in a way that they may not be able to verbalize on their own.

Morning Routine Songs

WELCOME SONG (the same tune as the Welcome song in the Primary Songbook)
We sing this as we sit in a circle. We sing it twice, the first time going one direction and the other time going the other direction. We also have a ball that we use to toss to each other when we say that person's name (a bean bag or other object can be used as well). We clap during the first 2 lines of the song and the final line as well. On the last word today, we do a big and loud staccato clap!

Here we are together, together, together
Oh, here we are together at preschool today!
There's _________________ (throw the object)
HI _______________ (everyone says hello, waving their hands to the person)
And ____________________ (repeat as above - the person that
And ____________________ (repeat as above)
(*Sing through as many times as you have people in the circle)
Here we are together at preschool today!

DAYS OF THE WEEK (tune of: Oh my Darlin' Clemintine)
*Hold up 7 fingers while you sing the first 2 lines of the song

There are 7 days, there are 7 days
There are 7 days in the week
(*Now count up on your fingers 1 - 7)
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
**REPEAT (we usually sing the 2nd time through faster)

TODAY IS.... (change the day to whatever day it is, and then do the subsequent changes)
*I don't know what tune this is, it's kind of just like a sing a chant...if I remember a tune, I'll update later!

Today is Monday, today is Monday
Clap your hands! Clap your hands! (clap while singing those lines)
Yesterday was Sunday!
Tomorrow will be Tuesday!
Clap your hands!
Clap your hands! (clap while singing those lines)

WEATHER BEAR (to the tune of: 'Oh my Darlin')
**we do sign language for 'bear' and each of the weather options, such as 'sunny' and so on.
Your children knows the signs, so ask them to teach and share them with you!

What's the weather? What's the weather?
What's the weather, Weather Bear?
What's the weather? What's the weather?
What's the weather, Weather Bear?
Is it sunny? Is it cloudy?
Is it windy, Weather Bear?
Is it rainy? Is it snowy?
What's the weather, Weather Bear?

The making of a heart...

I think one of my favorite things to discuss with children any time - but particularly around Valentine's Day are HEARTS. We talked a bit about the heart in our body and how it is important to carry blood and oxygen to our body...and put our hand into a fist and practiced having it "pulse" and used funny noises to pretend we were hearts beating. Children are insistent that the hearts in our body - must be heart shaped...otherwise why are they named hearts?

We did learn another verse to our shape song - this is about the shape of a HEART:

I'm a HEART (2 syllables) action: put your hands together cupping them like the letter 'C'

I'm a HEART - action: repeat

I have two parts - action: pull your hands apart

I have two parts - action: repeat

One is like the letter 'C' - action: bring your right hand in shaped like the letter 'C'

The other is like a backwards 'C' - action: bring your left hand in shaped like the letter 'C'

I'm a HEART - action: repeat as above

I have two parts! - action: repeat as above

The children laced their heart-shaped "mailboxes" in preparation for receiving valentines from their preschool friends (and are still awaiting to do so!!). It was fun to hear what colors the boys wanted for their ribbons...they were definitely into picking orange or greeen! The girls on the other hand - of course wanted pink! I was very impressed to continue watching how the children have worked on hand-eye coordination and how doing this small gross-motor activity has become second-hand to them - I'm sure the fathers or our preschool boys will be happy to hear that their sons are really becoming handy with their sewing skills! Think little missionaries in training and your heart might not beat so fast! :)

Our fabulous finger-puppet shows!

Monday, February 11th
The children put on impromptu puppet show for the preschool part of our lesson/activity today as we discussed imagination and pretending!
They each chose 1 or 2 finger puppets and created their own dialogue and interchanged who was in each mini-play.







Their interactions with one another were darling! They truly wanted to include every friend and puppet in each of their stories!


Some of the stories carried a familiar story line or theme that had been heard during the morning...yet, so much of the clever little parts in the dialogues and story came just from the brilliant minds of 3 year olds!










Everybody earned huge applause at the end of their performances and they practiced their bows and curtsies. What a darling group of performers...they are ready for little Broadway!

Imagination - let's pretend!

We are talking about our imagination and creativity in preschool for the next 2 weeks. On Monday when I introduced the word I had the children talk about what it is when you use your imagination. We ended up acting out a few ways that we can use our imagination, by pretending to be different things, such as a cat, dog, flower, butterfly, tree, etc. One of the first things that I had all of us pretend to be was a cat...and I did it with them! It was so fun to see how creative the children let their minds be as they decided to act out the various objects that we called out. We still have whomever is Line Leader for the day give us a "special way" that we walk up the stairs when it is time for snack and craft/activity time. On this day we walked up like soldiers and came down as robots! These children know how to keep things fun and use their imagination!

We learned sign language for both words imagination and pretend. Here is how to do them:
Imagination - put both hands up on either side of your head. Keep hands open with fingers spread apart, and move your hands in circular motions on the side of your head, like there are a lot of ideas flowing around inside...because there are - it's your imagination!

Pretend - With either hand, cross to opposite side of your face and put your thumb down first and then tap your face with your 4 fingers put together.

We did not do a craft project to bring home today. The children did their mixing, measuring and pouring activity with beans and pasta. I paid special attention to what they were talking about doing, and commended them on using their imagination in this activity as well! We had children pretending to make a cake, make dinner, pouring "sand" at the beach, and many other fun stories.

What can you do at home to make things a bit more creative and a way that your child(ren) can use their imaginations to take something that might be ordinary, and change it up a bit to really make it new and exciting?

February 1st - Snow is falling all around

There are quite a few photos to show the activities for preschool on Friday, Feb. 1st....however, the subjects are darling and fun and it hopefully makes it more interesting to see their smiling faces besides just reading my account of what we did for the day. Besides I figured the audience wouldn't complain! :)

In a previous post I highlighted some of the children and their activities - one them being Zack and his favorite puzzle 'Thomas the Train' that he has mastered. Today, he took an extra step in working with the puzzle and worked to explain to Mary - who was working on the puzzle for her first time - how he has put it together. It was a great experience for the two of them - it stretched Zack to explain and put into words his thought process of what he has been working on, and it helped Mary to work with another preschool friend, but to be in a teacher/learner situation with a peer. That was actually valuable for both of them!

We had more reading time...the children each chose one favorite book and looked at it, and then told the rest of the class why it was their favorite book and we did a "quick" read - more like glance through the book guessing what it was about and choosing one that we read for today.
It is delightful to hear the children express their views about the books! Sometimes they laugh over the pictures, think something is scary and want to point it out to someone else, or tell the story to someone else in their own words. This particular reading/literacty activity is a wonderful part of our day - but changes from time to time based on the moods of the children and what lessons we are working on...however, they do spend time with books each day!

Snow is falling around - art/craft activity! I apologize about the crystal beads that we used for the snow falling from the cotton ball clouds. They looked great and stayed on while the glue was drying, but I noticed a few hours after preschool had ended as we were moving Bryson's picture the beads started to pop off because the glue had dried and it wasn't holding the beads down anymore. I'm sure those beads are chocking hazards for young children --- I'm so sorry that the activity wasn't better at being childproofed!
If all the snowflakes are candy bars and milk shakes - oh what a snow it would be!

After the children finished their snow projects they were able to work on their "beaded" necklaces. They are beyond excited that we were using the yummy cereal, and agreed that as they were working on their necklaces just using the cereal out of one container, I would allow another small container of cereal to be place them...with just the purpose that they could snack on this. Don't worry mom and dad - this was after their healthy snack and it was a really small amount I put in, but they were thrilled with this arrangement!

Books fall open - you fall in

It is wonderful to see the children sitting close together - either silently looking at and "reading" their chosen book - or sharing a book with a preschool friend. The love of books and reading begins at such an early age, and I can tell that we have a class full of children who LOVE books and are well accustomed to spending time with a good book. It is said that we should spent at least 15-20 minutes a day reading to our children. I consider that just time spent in actually sitting down and reading books together - it doesn't take into account all the time that is spent on literacy activities that help a child recognize letters and sounds, become familiar with print (try going to the grocery store and NOT reading!), and many of the other ways that we help our children to identify the many blessings and ways that we use reading and literacy at every moment in our lives. "Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life." ~ Mortimer J. Adler

This crazy pop-up book is a favorite with ALL the preschool friends! When we have reading time, the children really work on waiting patiently for their turn to look at this book. It's a silly, delightful book - and SO fun to watch the faces of children when each silly animal face pops up!

There is no substitute for books in the life of a child.

~Mary Ellen Chase ~

Happy is he who has laid up in his youth, and held fast in all fortune, a genuine and passionate love of reading. ~ Rufus Choate ~

You only have to read on the days you eat! ~unknown~

A room without books is like a body without a soul. ~ Marcus T. Cicero ~

Children are made readers on the laps of their parents. ~ Emilie Buchwald ~

...what are tonsils?

I had to share a few funny stories that have taken place since Garrett has had his tonsils out and hasn't been at preschool. The first day he was gone, we were sitting in Circle Time and doing our hello song. I told the children that Garrett was not here today, and before I could say anything else someone else said, "I wonder where he is?"...and then Bryson responded in a very serious and concerned tone, "He had to go get his PENCILS out!" All of the children were quite impressed with this news...and were probably a bit disappointed when I said that he had actually had his tonsils out - I know it doesn't sound quite as exciting or dramatic!

A few days later we were in Circle Time again, and after singing our 'Hello Song', we counted our preschool friends, and reminded everyone that instead of 6 friends we had one less because Garrett was still home recovering from his tonsils. Brooklyn instantly had tears that welled up in her eyes, and started to sniffle. When I asked her what had happened, her sweet response was, "But I STILL have MY TONSILS IN!"

These children have been quite concerned for Garrett during his absence from preschool. It has provided for some interesting conversation and trying to help them understand that sometimes our tonsils can stay inside of us, and at other times for some people it is best for the tonsils to come out. I hope that we aren't causing them undue concern over their own medical records! I just had to share some of these stories because of how sweet and funny they both were!