Play Centres
A while back, when I was in day care, we didn’t have play centres. In some countries, kindergarten teachers don’t use centres, because they believe that they don’t really help. But I’m an advocate of this idea, and I’ll tell you why:
Centres promote children’s independence – because they get to choose what to do, whom they play with and most of the time they manage to do those activities by themselves, without having to ask for the teacher’s help;
Children can choose different types of activities throughout the day, not just the same one over and over again; If the teacher gives them a couple of options (for example the Art centre and the Construction centre), they will find something to do, even though their favourite game might be in another centre. Kids need variety, so they can see what they are talented at and discover new things;
They also become responsible and independent – when a child chooses an activity, she has to stick with it for at least 5-10 mins (depending on the age), be perseverant and try to finish what they started. Furthermore, the kids learn to clean up after themselves and take care of the toys they play with;
Children are actively engaged in the learning process, which will make them remember things that they learn; The learning experience is more meaningful.
Whether they are fun, exciting, new centres (such as a Hot Cocoa stand, the Bakery, etc.) or permanent ones, they make our job much easier; we have time to observe the kids’ play, see what if their social skills need to improve in certain ways.
Here are a few permanent centres that you can have in your classroom and ideas of toys, supplies, and activities to include:
Book corner
Books with images
Photo albums
Images for story telling activities
Story dice
Mirror
The Storyteller’s chair
newspapers, magaziner
foam or wooden letters
hand and finger puppets
Construction centre
wooden building blocks
Lego (photos letters/numbers/different objects made out of legos)
Plastic blocks
Mozaic games
Cardboard boxes, scissors, tape
Role playing centre
Cooking set (with cuttlery, dishes, food)
Doctor set
Soft toys
Puppets
Theatre stand
Cars
Parking lot
Plastic animals
Trains and tracks
Props (costumes, mustaches, glasses, apron, paper money, vet checklist, restaurant menu, ice-cream menu, etc.)
Art centre
Paint
Paint brushes
Pads for modelling clay
modelling clay
clay
cookie shapes
playdough mats
pompom mats
pencils
crepe paper
coloured paper
pom poms
sequins
wrapping paper
scissors
notebooks for drawing (Busy Book)
glue
salt dough
yarn
pipe cleaners
foam shapes
hole punch (different shapes)
sponges (for painting)
CDs with kids’ music
Musical instruments
Science centre
Images of fruit, vegetables, wild animals, domestic animals, habitats, people, life cycles of animals/plants
Geographic atlases
Scale
Boxes with different seeds and legumes
Magnifying glass
Beans
slider bags
soil
seeds
nuts, branches, leaves, pine cones, tree bark
maps
board games and maths games
Domino
Puzzles
Plastic/wooden numbers
worksheets
Multimedia centre
computer
DVDs and CDs for kids
Water and Sand Centre (Sensory table)
Sensory table
Salt tray
Rice tray
Soil
Rice, coloured sand, pasta, corn, maize
Shaving foam
Bowls of different sizes
Corn maize
Sand toys
Bubble maker
Straws
Pipe cleaners
Twigs, tree bark, leaves, acorns, objects collected from nature
Sponges
Measuring cups
Tweezers for kids
Handy scoopers
Of course, the list can go on for pages! These are just a couple of suggestions. You can also use investigation drawers/boxes (for science), math boxes, literacy boxes, etc.