Independent Play Centers
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Independant Play Centers
Independent play centers are an effective way for teachers to organize activities so that children can make many of their own choices. Centers provide prekindergarten children with stimulating activities, choice, and decision-making activities. Below are descriptions of different kinds of centers that would be appropriate in a prekindergarten classroom. Of course, we have described many more than you would implement at any one time. Teachers should select the number and types of centers based on their own teaching styles and the learning goals they have set for their students.
Art Center
The art center is an ideal place for children to creatively express themselves and explore various art materials. This center should be full of open-ended art activities. For example, give children large sheets of plain paper, cups of paint, and long-handled brushes and challenge them to freely create. Avoid closed art activities that have a "right" or "wrong" way of doing them. Examples of closed activities include coloring books, worksheets, and teacher-directed craft activities. Remember, the art center should be a place for self-statement and creativity. It is a good idea for the art center to be located near a sink, if possible.
Block Center
The block center is a very important part of a prekindergarten classroom. In fact, if you had to choose one center as the most important of all, the block center would be a prime candidate for the title. When children build with blocks, they learn about math concepts, such as size, shape, number, and quantity. They become aware of scientific principles such as force of gravity and the fun of simple machines, such as levers and inclined planes. They learn to think, plan, and problem solve as their structures take form. Block play allows children an opportunity to think, create, cooperate, and communicate. Social learning takes place in the block center as children work together to share materials, space, and ideas. Literacy skills develop through block play when children read rebus task cards for various block experiences. Virtually everything you might want to teach a young child can be taught through block play.
Cooking Center
Through cooking, children can learn about measurement, textures, tastes, and changes. They can learn about different types of foods, noting similarities and differences. Healthy eating habits can be formed by providing frequent nutritious cooking activities. Children develop self-confidence when they have the opportunity to prepare foods that will be enjoyed by their classmates and teachers. Simple, easy to follow, rebus charts are an easy management tool to use in this center. These will assist you in making this area more independent and less teacher directed. Choose easy to prepare foods and snacks that do not require heating utensils, sharp knives, etc. Prepare as much as you can in advance. For, example, if you were making the snack "ants on a log", have the celery washed, cut into four inch pieces, cleaned and placed in a baggy before the activity begins. With just a little planning and forethought, cooking activities can be the highlight of the curriculum for both you and the children.
Dramatic Play Center
This center is a vital part of a well-rounded curriculum in the prekindergarten classroom. Social skills develop as children learn to negotiate roles, share materials, and work cooperatively in order to play together. Oral language develops when children share ideas and communicate with each other during their play. Vocabularies are increased when children play with new materials and learn the meanings of new words. Literacy emerges when children write grocery lists, telephone messages, and notes to put on the bulletin board in the play kitchen. Fine motor development is encouraged when children use their fingers to fasten buttons and snaps on dress-up clothes. This center is most fun and meaningful when students are engaged in play related to a particular theme of study, e.g., post office, pet shop, restaurant, dentist's office. Allowing the students to creatively explore the materials and form their own role play situations is ideal. As play sessions end, this center allows students the opportunity to learn important organizational skills as well.
Environmental Print Center
Many children come to preschool having memorized words and picture cues found in their homes, neighborhoods, and communities. They are performing an important pre-reading skill by recalling names such as McDonald's, Burger King, Crest, or Frosted Flakes as a result of the constant use of these products in their daily lives. Establishing an area within the classroom where students are allowed to sort and read environmental print is a delightful way to foster a beginning interest in reading. Ask parents to bring in recyclables such as milk cartons and cereal boxes.
Letters Center
An all time favorite of preschoolers is having the opportunity to explore a wide variety of letter manipulatives. This center might include sand letters, goo bags, magnetic letters, playdough snakes, letter cubes, or word cards. It is also interesting to place a vast array of books about letters. Such titles as The Z Was Zapped, Albert's Alphabet, or Chicka Chicka Boom Boom are classic favorites.
Library Center
Children's experiences with books will vary, but most children come to school with a sense of the importance of printed words. The purpose of the library center is to increase that awareness and to instill in children a love of literature. The books provided for children to enjoy should include a broad range in content and format. Children will delight in books with colorful illustrations and will be able to follow a simple story line if it is direct and clear. (See Reading Book List in the Resources section of this portfolio).
Listening Center
One of the most important tasks in the prekindergarten classroom is teaching children to listen. The ability to listen carefully is an important prerequisite to success later in school. The listening center might include read-along materials, tapes, and headphones. These tapes may be commercially prepared or teacher made with more specific detail added to suit individual student's needs. The listening center is one way to assist children in developing preschool readiness.
Manipulative Center
At the manipulative center, children work with puzzles, string beads, make patterns with geoboards, play matching and sorting games, stack cylinders and much more. The puzzles, matching games, and other materials are all designed to teach specific skills such as recognizing shapes, sizes, and developing eye/hand coordination. This center also allows children to practice using the small muscles in their hands and fingers when they work with manipulative materials.
Math Center
The math center is a wonderful place for exploring concepts of sorting, classifying, ordering, counting, and problem solving. This center might include such items as tactile numbers, pattern blocks, Unifix cubes, and junk boxes filled with a variety of manipulatives such as beads, keys, lids, jewels, screws, or buttons. Students will enjoy exploring the different attributes of each object as well as sorting items by size, shape, color or texture. The math center is an active place, filled with many opportunities for learning.
Music Center
This is a place where children experiment with sounds, rhythms, music, and movement. Even if you are in a school which is fortunate enough to have a special music teacher, your students would still enjoy manipulating and exploring rhythm instruments independently. It would be great to include records, tapes, or a color coded keyboard or xylophone. Students will have a blast in this "all-time favorite" center.
Playdough Center
An area in the classroom should be set aside for clay and playdough activities. This area can be a separate center or combined with activities at the art center. Working with clay and playdough is important for the development of the small muscles in a child's hands and fingers. Soft, pliable playdough is great for pounding out frustrations and angry feelings, so it provides a soothing activity for a child who is upset. This area also promotes creativity and self-statement.
Puppet Center
This center is extremely fun, imaginative, and a great place to foster oral language and statement of ideas and feelings. Puppets are especially helpful for children who feel unsure of themselves. Talking through a puppet can help children say things that are hard to say face to face. Children can act out favorite stories, make up puppet plays of their own, and work through all kinds of problems and concerns.
Science Center
The science center is a wonderful, exciting place for mixing, manipulating, experimenting, and exploring the world. This center could also be called the "discovery center" because discovery is what science is all about. In the science center, children have opportunities to use all their senses as they explore nature and basic scientific principles. They learn geology as they examine, compare, and experiment with different types of rocks. Chemistry is taught through mixing different substances together and watching the results. Botany is taught through sprouting seeds, watering plants, and watching how they grow and change. The science center is an active, lively place that is full of change and opportunities for wonder. It is a good idea to locate the science center near a sink, if possible.
Sensory Center
This center is most often called the "sand and water" area. Be creative with come other great textures such as oatmeal, beans, or shaving cream. Using these mediums, children explore textures, consistencies, shapes, volume, concepts of empty and full, quantities and conservation. By adding various shaped cups, sand tools, and containers for pouring, and measuring children will be engaged in creative learning and enjoying themselves as well.
Writing Center
As its name implies, the writing center is a place where children have opportunities to develop writing skills. Writing is an important part of literacy development and should be available to children each day as one of the free-choice center activities. Activities in this center may be teacher directed or open ended. While most children in preschool are not ready to enter a formal writing program, they can benefit from a variety of experiences that emphasize the importance of letters, signs, and symbols. This center could have lots of paper, crayons, magic slates, chalk boards, chalk, markers, and pencils for drawing, scribbling, and other early writing experiences.
*Submitted by Sherry
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