We focus on a love for learning and helping children prepare for Kindergarten!

From what I have seen from typical daycares, they seem to have basic academic activities, but primarily focus on allowing students to free play throughout each day. While free play is most definitely important, and will also be utilized at my daycare, my focus is on helping children prepare for Kindergarten through fun and interactive hands-on learning activities that are both academic and also directed towards social skills and behavior. 

At our daycare, we have:

• Maximum of 8 children a day for small group activities, focused individual attention, and personal learning

• Weekly letters of the alphabet with activities such as practicing letter tracing and writing, as well as sound recognition

• Activities focused on active play, meaning there will be crafts, music, games, and storytelling related to the topics they are learning

• Practice in following directions and transitioning to new activities, as they would in a Kindergarten classroom setting

• Introduction to numbers, shapes, the weather, community jobs, and other academic topics

• A large focus on  social emotional skills and how to manage big emotions in young children

Examples of weekly letter activities:

• Play dough to make the shape of a letter

• Tracing a letter in shaving cream on a table

• Alphabet sound freeze dance

• Beanbag toss to match a letter with its sound

• Learning animals names that start with each letter

• Matching stuffed animals to the first letter of their name

• Making a mask of the animal in a craft and playing a game of pretend to act like the animal around the room

• Actively participating in a song about an animal by singing or doing movements to mimic the animal

Example activities relating to other academic topics:

• Scavenger hunt for objects around the room that match a certain shape

• Shape hopscotch with music

• Shape stamp art

• Number dot or sticker art

• Using tweezers (find motor skills) to count pom poms

• Number Build-A-Cupcake by adding certain amounts of “ingredients” to numbered cupcake liners

• Creating a tornado in a bottle with water, soap, and glitter

• Blowing feathers race to teach windy weather

• Crafting rain sticks

• Using flashlights to cast shadows from different angles (sunny weather)

• Delivering mail to mailboxes like a mailman

• “Baking” cookies with play-dough like a baker, and selling those cookies in a shop like a store clerk

• “Healing” stuffed animals like a veterinarian

• Sorting play money by size, number, or amount like a banker

Examples of social/emotional learning activities:

• Learning words for different feelings, and coping strategies to manage overwhelming or big emotions

• Choosing an emotion and drawing a picture to represent it

• Playing a game of charades to act out different emotions for other kids to guess

• Playing a game of emotion freeze tag (when the music stops, act out the emotion called out)

• Having short discussions: during games, children give suggestions on how to calm down a certain emotion, or give an example of a time they felt that emotion and how they reacted

While I am sure there are many amazing daycares in our area, I can personally guarantee that children who come to Einstein's Imaginarium will find a love for learning. They will leave well prepared to face Kindergarten, and will feel more confident in social interactions with future classmates and teachers!