The number one advantage of a preschool is that certain activities and chores are repeated daily. The regularity of these events helps children acquire an internal clock.
Preschoolers also participate in planning for future events. Such planning will teach two related time concepts:
- The past, present, and future are separated by time.
- There is a need sometimes to delay gratification of one's expectations and desires.
Some children have difficulty organizing events in time. Activities to promote good time organization at the preschool level can be incorporated into daily events such as dressing, using songs and rhymes, or helping with a daily chore.
Routine activities of daily living, such as dressing or bathing, involve the sequencing of events in time. Children who dress themselves may occasionally put shoes on before socks. Or they omit underpants because they have not followed the correct sequential order. Discovery of an omission or error is a learning experience.
Equally valuable is the planning, in advance, of what clothes to put on and in what order. For example, you tell your child to select what she would like to wear tomorrow. Then she places these items in a row on the bed: what comes first, what comes next, what follows this, and so on.
READ MORE: The power of story time
Songs that have a theme that is repeated have always been popular with young children. "The Farmer in the Dell" is an example. The story unfolds in a sequence, while there is a constant, the farmer, who makes decisions about whom to take.
Looking for a great preschool right here in the Hudson Valley? We’ve found hundreds of schools that will help your child grow and flourish! Check out our Education Guide and start your search for the perfect preschool today!