Secrets Of Early Childhood Care And Education

Early childhood is a period during which a child goes through the most rapid phase of growth and development. During that period their brains develop faster than at any other point in their lives, so these years are really crucial. The foundations for their social skills, self-esteem, perception of the world and moral outlook are also established during these years, as well as the development of cognitive skills.

Early childhood care and education comprises a wide range of activities and provisions. This phase is really important because of its influence on development. According to many studies the human brain grows particularly rapidly during the first three years of life and if an individual does not receive adequate stimulation during this period, development will be delayed, sometimes permanently. Many aspects of childhood care are covered the early years and provide a “window of opportunity” to lay the foundations for the healthy development of language, social ability, thinking and physical skills. These are some of the major reasons why children at a very young age know technology earlier and can operate gadgets all by themselves. Toying around with real and actual things is a child’s form of play, which any parent should not be ignored or stopped rather it should be encouraged by parents and teachers. 

We all know that children learn in a play-way manner but what is this play way method? Does this mean all play and no education? Maybe not! Let’s dig deeper and trace out the meaning of real play when put in comparison to pretend play and know the secrets of early childhood and education:

Understanding Pretend Play

When you introduce a child with any fictional characters in their books or even real characters who are not physically present at that moment, such a practice is called as ‘pretend learning’ or ‘fictional learning’. A child don’t know the actual existence of superman or any other comic character or a postman or a doctor when they read or learn about them and they tend to forget every concept related to these people earlier. Thus, A child when is a toddler or is in his/her early years does not respond to rattles or other sound making toys instead they love a doorbell ring or a sound produced from kitchen utensils. 
Pretend play is less related to real life experience and is not a formal part of learning. But, through this you can invoke sensory powers of a child, which helps them to imagine an entire fairyland. Fictional characters and comic characters in movies are a part of pretend learning as it is an abstracted story and not always a real one. Pretend play or viewing content that is unreal and sometimes invite disruptive behavior among kids.

Understanding Real Play

We are not alien to the word internship and have heard and know about it. Internship is basically a practical training after a young graduate completes or is about to complete a theoretical degree. Just like that young children often prefer real play with the real things that really exist. The inclination towards learning real time is indeed a good sign of and is sure to bring results that just theoretical knowledge can never do. But an expensive remote control car for your boy and see them cling onto real car’s steering while father drives is how a child expresses love to touch real objects. Similarly, a young girl does not love a doll more than she loves to play in the kitchen with the utensils and the water tap while mother cooks food.

Which is the best to incorporate in your child’s early years: Pretend play versus Real play? 

You need to maintain a balance of both pretend play and real play- this polishes a child and gets him ready to face the world outside and develop cognitive capacities. Integrated with Fun based learning methodologies TSEY -The Best Preschool in Gurgaon has a curriculum that gives a great mix of activities and games impacting MIND, BODY and SOUL that helps in building a strong foundation for the little children to learn, grow and imbibe essential life skills.