Education is the most valuable experience a child can have in life, as it allows them to grow strong adults ready for the challenges of life. This learning process can start very early in life in Preschool.
Preschool, also known as Pre-Kindergarten – and even Pre-K – is an amenity designed for early childhood education, a period that comes before children start their regular school years in kindergarten, that helps them develop skills that will boost their abilities so they are ready for when kindergarten comes.
Why is preschool important, though? To help you understand the impact of early education on your children, we listed the most important aspects of learning and development of a child in this period of time. Continue reading the post!
Life learning stimulation
Children are curious beings by nature and pretty much anything you present to them will be analyzed by their sensory system. Yet, stimulating this curiosity can increase even more their desire to explore, discover and interact with the world around them.
Preschools enhance this ability by playing, showing and creating experiences that, along with learning methodologies, build a stronger bond between the child and the desire to learn.
Life learning stimulation is one of the biggest reasons why preschool is important, as curiosity and the inclination to comprehend the world follow us even in adulthood.
Creativity
We know that children’s curious minds have no limits and are very active. As we grow, we learn to appreciate this strong ability to easily imagine, link and create things. Creativity is the skill that helps people think outside the box, and in childhood it should be highly stimulated.
With learning programs in preschool, the child is exposed to an environment with educational toys and is encouraged to experiment, express and put their ideas into action. Besides that, qualified educators give them safe space and confidence to push forward and accomplish what they have in mind.
Motor skills
When we think about children’s learning, we tend to go straight to mental capacity. However, the ability to move is also important for a child’s development as physical coordination, equilibrium and fine motor skills are needed throughout life.
In a preschool environment, the practice of tasks such as moving, fitting, holding and releasing toys and objects, using scissors to dance, jumping and even climbing, are excellent to help motor skills improve.
Language skills
When we talk about language skills in preschool, it goes beyond teaching the alphabet and vocabulary. Pre-literacy includes also the teaching of listening skills on how to differentiate sounds, speech tones, recognize patterns in rhymes and connect learning with music.
Especially at early age, it’s important to associate pre-literacy skills with pleasure and fun as later in school children will be more prone to activities such as writing and reading and it can improve their communication.
Social skills
Another important aspect of why preschool is important to enhance children’s education is to stimulate social skills. What place would be better to interact with other children and adults other than family?
Being exposed to other people and kids help them build connections and face conflicts, as the child has a high chance of dealing with opposing ideas and desires. Interacting with other kids also teaches them how to listen, to respond, be flexible and cooperative.
Emotional Intelligence
As mentioned above, a social environment will push children to deal with conflicts and differences. These opportunities are the best chance to teach a child how to cope with their emotions.
Feelings of frustration, sadness and anger can pop up in any conflict, but it doesn’t need to be a completely negative experience. Slowly learning how to manage these emotions, how to self regulate and go back to a neutral state of mind, can go a long way to help them be ready to connect with their peers in school.
Also, children in preschool environments have to follow rules and routines, which help them learn about compromising, discipline and reliability: skills they will take for life.
Self confidence
Self confidence is the ability to trust one’s own skills and abilities to make the right choices. We know by experience that self confidence is key to achieve success in life, as it has the power of presenting ourselves giving room to show all the other skills we have.
While developing other capabilities in preschool, children will build self confidence as they experience their achievements and also learn how to deal with failure. Also, through problem-solving, they can strengthen their power to make choices and learn to evaluate options.
Their ability to believe they can do something and the confidence that if they are not successful they can try again, is the most important skill that will help them navigate challenges in life.
Independence
Along with self confidence, independence is very important for children to become reliable and self-sufficient. The first challenge a child faces when going to preschool is the anxiety and insecurity they feel being apart from their family. Learning how to be alone is essential to help the kid learn how to figure out life on their own.
Also, through the preschool routines of daily activities and repetitions, children learn how to take care of themselves and become proactive in making choices without the interference of an adult.
Empathy
Another skill highly required nowadays is empathy. The capacity to connect and imagine other people’s feelings is crucial for building strong relationships in adulthood. Preschool gives plenty of opportunities to share, listen to others, observe, wait for your turn and give in as children will be interacting with other adults and kids most of the time.
The exposure to conflict will surface the child’s emotional side and they will start feeling every kind of emotion possible. As they learn how to identify and deal with them, they can also learn how others can feel and hold space for empathy.
As you can see, the possibilities of learning important skills are limitless and the earlier you start the educational process, the better. This is exactly why preschool is important for children’s development.
Investing in an educational program in the early ages is possible as there are high quality preschools offering exceptional service. When choosing a preschool for your child, consider researching the approach and the infrastructure they offer. Schedule a visit to talk about the program, the staff and to see how the facilities work.
Want to know more about early education programs for your child? Visit our website and learn about the Amazing Explorers Academy programs and our STEAM curriculum!
