Children in early learning centres are exposed to various hands-on activities and play to assist them with their development. The hands-on activities are effective in developing both fine and gross motor skills in a child. Also, play helps to improve a child’s thinking ability and increases their creativity. As children engage both their hands and brains, it strengthens their ability to solve problems and focus on goals.
In this article, we will discuss major hands-on activities and play that children are taught in North Rockhampton kindergartens to boost their motor skills and cognitive development.
Top hands-on activities practised in North Rockhampton Kindergartens
– Playdough and clay moulding
Practising playdough and clay moulding helps to strengthen the tiny muscles in children’s hands as well as fingers, thus improving their motor skills. It also boosts a child’s creativity as they try to shape different objects from clay. Additionally, the rolling, punching and cutting of playdough helps to improve coordination abilities, which prepares their writing skills later on.
– Drawing and colouring
Drawing and colouring help children attain fine motor skills by holding crayons and pencils in position to try and come up with meaningful paintings. The colouring process helps children improve their focus and hand control while teaching them the virtue of patience. It also encourages creativity and self-expression.
– Cutting and pasting
Children are encouraged to use scissors to cut paper into different shapes. This helps to improve their hand strength and coordination. Pasting is where children take different shapes, probably the ones they have cut from paper, and place them on one paper or book with the help of glue. Pasting helps children to develop spatial awareness as they can fit the shapes in areas they can fit without overlapping. Cutting shapes out of paper requires a lot of patience and focus.
– Threading beads
Threading beads onto a string improves a child’s hand-eye coordination and also finger dexterity. The child has to focus on passing the thread through the tiny holes of the beads one by one until they all fit. It also encourages creativity as children try to balance different beads’ colours to achieve an interesting pattern. The activities help to improve the child’s concentration especially when they will be learning to write.
– Finger painting
Finger painting is another fun way for children to explore colours and textures. They use their bare fingers to apply different paints on different surfaces with different textures. It serves to improve fine motor skills and encourage sensory exploration to support brain development.
– Outdoor play and obstacle courses
Children are encouraged to participate in various outdoor activities including running, jumping, climbing and balancing on different surfaces. These activities help to develop gross motor skills. Moreover, obstacle courses encourage problem-solving and coordination in children as they try to figure out how to navigate through difficult challenges. It also helps to improve their physical strength and endurance.
– Sorting and counting objects
Sorting a mixture of small objects like buttons or beads based on colour, shape or size encourages cognitive development in children. They also learn basic math by counting objects.
Taking a child to a kindergarten exposes them to various activities that help them to develop various skills including motor and cognitive skills that are essential for creativity, coordination, problem-solving and logical thinking abilities. Doing these activities daily helps to achieve perfection. The activities can vary from one centre to another depending on the available resources and curriculum. If you want to find out more, visit https://www.naturalwondersel.com.au/.