Types of Developmental Activities

Free Play

Free play provides an opportunity for children to direct their own learning. The care giver supervises and helps the children, but the play is directed by the child. There are various centers that the children use for free play during the day. While doing this, they are developing:

• Cooperation - learning to play with others
• Social Skills - pretending helps children express their options and views
• Fine motor skills - using scissors, drawing with chalk or pencils help children strengthen their fine motor skills
• Math and Reading Readiness - playing independently with learning toys get children ready to learn math and reading.

Planned Activities

Children also learn through planned activities. These activities are usually short, but structured in order to introduce a new concept or reinforce concepts already learned by the children. Activities include:

• Stories that provide time for reading readiness skills of listening and retelling and moral reasoning.
• Exercise to strengthen overall health and muscles.
• Music with instruments and singing to develop both vocabulary and listening skills.
• Arts and craft activities, to build on a child's imagination.
• Backyard science experiments that help children begin to learn about the world around them and how they fit into it.