Play based preschool curriculum

[green_momma2007]

Does anyone know of any play based preschool/kindergarten curriculums, apart from the usual Waldorf fare?

[skueppers]

I'm not sure I know why one would need a play-based curriculum. Around here, we read books, go to the playground, visit museums, go swimming, get together with other kids, go to library storytime, go to the zoo, notice things about the natural world, plant a garden, paint, do puzzles, etc. You know, just normal stuff.

What benefit would a curriculum provide over whatever you already do?

[green_momma2007]

Originally Posted by skueppers

I'm not sure I know why one would need a play-based curriculum. Around here, we read books, go to the playground, visit museums, go swimming, get together with other kids, go to library storytime, go to the zoo, notice things about the natural world, plant a garden, paint, do puzzles, etc. You know, just normal stuff.

What benefit would a curriculum provide over whatever you already do?

I'm very disorganized and I know I'll do better if I have a curriculum with activities and whatnot laid out for me.

[lach]

At play based preschools, they play. There isn't really much curriculum involved.

Waldorf has a lot of structured playtime, but it also has a pretty specific curriculum. I wouldn't consider it a play-based preschool, as while play is an important part of the curriculum, the curriculum is not "based" on play but on specific developmental theories. Same with Montessori and Reggio preschools.

If you're looking for ideas of activities to do with a preschooler, some of the books that I really like are:

• A Survival Guide for the Preschool Teacher
• Anything I've ever seen published by Gryphon House. Can't vouch for ALL their books, but I have Count on Math, Everyday Discoveries, Science is Simple, and The Complete Resource Book for Preschoolers and they're all great. I've seen a few others and they all look equally great.
• Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready
• Any of the Mary-Ann Kohl books.

All of the above are available in the teaching resource section of Barnes and Noble and Borders. Both of those bookstores have a few bays of books for teachers, many of which are for preschool. I've found some really neat looking curriculum and activity guides for preschools.

[SundayCrepes]

I spent a lot of time trying to find activities to do with my son. Then I had the great opportunity to be able to care for a little girl 3 times a week. They have tons of fun playing and I don't worry about guiding what they're doing too much. I sometimes will give them cans of shaving cream or ask if they want to set up the kiddie pool, but that's about it. I think he gets so more just from playing with her than if I tried to give them activities to do. And a couple times they've pulled out the art bin and done artwork. (Once they found a permanent magic marker and did art work. OMG!!!)

When she (or one of his other friends) aren't here, he mainly plays by himself or with his little sister. I've been finding lots of science experiments that we randomly do. Reading the prehomeschool group has given me lots of ideas. www.thehappyscientist.com emailed an experiment to make crystals with epsom salt that we'll likely do tomorrow. (They email a science experiment a week.)

I've sort of stopped worrying so much about activities and just keep my eyes open. Like I said, I find a lot here. I checked this out from the library http://www.amazon.com/Mudpies-Magnet...5283539&sr=8-1 and need to look through it to see what I can find for us to do. I don't get into much theory with this stuff. We mainly just do it to see what happens. Sometimes we'll then look up on the internet for more info. I'm trying to show him science is fun without making it a drag. Same with the social sciences. I've been getting a lot of books for him to expose him to the world in a fun way.

[pigpokey]

Originally Posted by green_momma2007

I'm very disorganized and I know I'll do better if I have a curriculum with activities and whatnot laid out for me.

You can go with a weekly schedule then. A typical weekly schedule when mine were little would be something like swimming 2x a week, park 2x a week, indoor freeplay at the gymnastics center on these two days, library story time Monday morning 10am, etc.

[LuxPerpetua]

One thing that has helped me was organizing around holidays. I search online for activities or get ideas through Seasons of Joy or Little Acorn Learning. We order seasonal and holiday books through the library. We really focus on seasonal activities and foods. We learn seasonal poetry (a lot of which I make up myself) and sing seasonal songs.