Preschool games are for children between the ages of two and five years of age, pre-kindergarten. Preschoolers should have a variety of different games to encourage proper mental and physical development. Emphasis needs to be placed in the focus areas of both fine and gross motor development, dramatic play, pre-reading skills, pre-writing skills, crtitical thinking skills, and social skills, as well as others.
Fine motor skills should be incorporated into preschool games. Fine motor skills are working with the small muscle groups and are the most forgotten. This will help define your childs writing skills, cutting skills, etc. in the future. Fine motor skills activities can include, sand and water play, cutting games, placing objects into small containers and areas, hand puppet plays with songs and many others.
Gross motor skills should be incorporated into preschool games. Gross motor skills are working with the large motor areas and are most often worked on. These games can be achieved by playing on the playground, throwing and kicking a ball, jumping, skipping, hopping, and any games that requires the use of your large muscle groups.
Dramatic play incorporated into your childs preschool games will help nurture your childs development. Dramatic play encourages your child to be creative, think, and reinact situations and scenarios on their own intelligence level. Children should be given props and toys to help them reinact different events for their learning skills.
Pre-reading and pre-writing skills should be incorporated into your childs preschool games. Some examples of these skills include reading to your child, reciting the ABCs, cutting with scissors, tracing lines with a pencil or crayon, and drawing and creating projects without lines. These pre-reading, pre-writing skills will help your preschooler develop the proper background for future life school skills.
Critical thinking skills should be incorporated into your childs curriculum. Critical thinking skills will help your child become a problem solver in the future. This will help in the areas of both math and science as well as other areas. Let your preschooler figure out different options and strategies to get to the same result. Let them think about the consequences and actions of their decisions.
Social skills are one of the most overlooked strategies in the areas of preschool games. social skills include playing with other children, however, the proper way to interact with children and other people should actually be taught. Appropriate behaviors need to be modeled and taught, how to share, how to take turns, how to say please and thank you, how to interact in a group, how to wait for their turn, how to be a gracious loser and a good winner, as well as many others.
In summation, preschool games are a very important part of your childs growth and educational process. Proper planning and instruction as well as modeling will prepare your child for their educational accomplishments to come. Please choose preschool games appropriately.