Preschool and Play

A recent report on CNN revealed that there has been a significant decline in physical activity and playtime for preschool age children.

The report further listed the benefits of physical activity and playtime for preschoolers:

• health and fitness
• gross and fine motor development
• development of social skills with interaction with peers.

I was surprised, however, that the report did not include the academic benefits of physical activity and play. (I think the reason for this is CNN does not want provide too much cognitive dissonance for its viewers, but that's a topics beyond the scope of this blog.)

Anyway, this report got me to thinking about the qualities to look for in a preschool--qualities found in Orchard's preschool program.

First and foremost, it's critical that parents understand that learning, especially in preschool, is embedded in play. In any exemplary preschool, there needs to be a healthy balance of academics and play. Too much sedentary work can even lead to delays in gross/fine motor development, which are actually crucial for brain development and a catalyst for academic skills. Research studies have also shown that too much academic emphasis in the preschool years can eventually lead to less motivation and even aggression in subsequent school years.

Second, free, imaginative play is crucial. Children are using this time to make sense of their world.  They are reflecting on experiences and processing these experiences in order to comprehend new information.  Imaginative play develops the ability to concentrate and focus for extended periods of time, and it is also a necessary component in the development of empathy. 

Third, an effective preschool program places heavy emphasis on social skills development. Learning to share, to get along with others, to develop self-discipline and control are essential for future success in schools. (The ability to self-control and self-regulate is actually twice as great an indicator of future success than intelligence). 

Fourth, there needs to be lots of verbal interaction from preschool teacher. Kids need to hear, speak, and sing. There needs to be lots of out-loud reading. The more children speak, hear, comprehend, the larger their vocabulary will become, which will ease learning to read. Learning to read is preceded by being able to discern words in sentences and sounds in words. In preparation for future math classes, preschool teachers need to introduce numbers and their relationships, e.g., bigger than/less than, sorting, measuring. Focus on letters, colors, rhyming are also important.

Finally and most important, is the high-quality of the teacher. They need to be quintessentially positive and love teaching in preschool. They need to know what preschoolers need to learn and experience, how to break it down into manageable chunks, and develop these skills and knowledge through fun activities.


There is ample evidence of the importance of a high quality preschool experience setting the foundation for subsequent learning. But, as you can see in the above characteristics, this doesn't translate into a "more academic preschool", which can actually cause more harm than good.