One thing about learning: it’s a lifetime process. That being said, where does learning even begin?
Unbeknownst to you, children are constantly learning, right from a most tender age. It’s best if you expose them to a learning-friendly environment where they are supported and guided in all areas of their learning and development, in ways that take into account each child’s individual interests, experiences and needs.
Early childhood roughly refers to the period between birth and 8 years of age, when the brain of a child is highly sensitive to the world around them.
Early childhood education, then, is aimed at the critical developmental milestones and concepts that children harness at this stage of their lives. Daycare programs that provide high-quality education, help prepare your children for future academic success.
Importance of Early Childhood Education
The Importance of Early Childhood Education
There’s a whole host of benefits early childhood education can impart to a child.
#1. Holistic Development
It’s paramount to have every aspect of one’s personality developed: the emotional, social, mental and physical. A robust childhood education does just that – and more!
#2. Developing literacy and numeracy skills
Daycare programs that have children listening to stories, help them sharpen their literacy skills. When they do things like pour sand into containers of different sizes, it helps them hone their numeracy skills. All of these work towards their climbing higher up on the ‘school readiness’ scale.
#3. It improves their concentration
Daycare programs involve a lot of tasks and activities that require children to focus a great deal, and this helps them sharpen their concentration skills. Clearly, a win-win situation!
#4. They develop social skills
All that play-based learning that is proffered by Daycare programs cannot be done in isolation, right? When children play and interact with other children, they learn important things like how to share things with others, communicate with them and become independent people. Developing their social skills in this manner helps them form healthy relationships with others in the years to come.
#5. Knowing the value of education
Early childhood education is really great because it teaches children why education is even necessary in the first place. When children begin to get a sense of how education empowers them, they are all the more eager to learn more and more. This hunger for more knowledge helps them become more knowledgeable about the world around them.
#6. Developing good habits
Daycare programs help children develop good habits that help them feel safe and secure. Be it things like brushing their teeth or washing their hands, children come to know what is expected of them each day and that in turn helps settle them and get them into good sleeping habits, as well. Needless to say, when they begin to take charge of their daily activities, that ‘school readiness’ is upped several notches higher!
#7. Brain Development
This precious time is when children’s brains are developing more rapidly than you might think. The various activities daycare programs offer, like analyzing and logical reasoning, help children improve their skills, which in turn aids the development of their brains. There’s certainly more than meets the eye, when it comes to that play-based learning!
#8. Developing a lifelong love of learning
One of the greatest benefits that discerning daycare programs offer, is imparting in children a lifelong love of learning. That early childhood education will go a long way in helping them develop a positive love for learning, which will help them settle in primary school and develop their academic success.
#9. It helps them become Patient
Daycare programs teach children the importance of patience. No matter whether it comes to them having to wait while listening to what their teacher has to say, or waiting in turn until they get a chance to speak, children learn to cultivate that vital sense of patience, which will aid them greatly for the rest of their lives.
#10. An Exposure to Diversity
Early childhood education exposes children at a very young age to the diversity in the world around them. When they are taught to embrace diversity at this most precious age, they will develop a sense of respect and be molded into most loving and caring members of society. This is because it’s when they are at a very young age, that one can impress upon children things like the differences in society, most effectively.
What should an Early Childhood Education Program look like?
There is no set of guidelines for daycare programs, where it comes to imparting a stellar education to kids. In brief, though, they should touch upon the following aspects of kids’ learning and development.
- Physical skills
- Language and literacy skills
- Personal and Interpersonal skills
- Creative Skills
- Problem solving, Thinking and Mathematical skills
What can parents do?
How can you assist daycare programs in their goal of educating your children? Here are some pointers!
- Create a sense of structure. Like adults, children, too, need a sense of predictability in their day. It is consistency and routine that help them develop and play well.
- Check in with their teachers. Keep getting regular updates from teachers, and discuss suggestions for specific activities from them.
- Talk to your child. When it comes to activities like introducing new vocabulary or learning about shapes, sizes and numbers, the more you talk to your child, the faster they will learn.
- Let them play independently. Playing on their own is crucial where it comes to children fostering a sense of creativity, problem-solving and autonomy. Provide your child a vast array of art materials like crayons or finger paints, or building materials like Magna Tiles and Lego pieces, and let them ‘do their own thing’.
We at EuroKids truly understand the significance of early childhood education. Our core ethos encompasses setting children off on a lifetime curve of learning. We promise that we will endeavor to do our very best to impart only the finest education to your child, that will prepare them well for the future to come.
