This document provides an overview of creative learning activities for young children. It defines key terms like learning activities and learning areas. It discusses various preschool curriculums and the learning areas/standards in preschool, including language, science, mathematics, physical education, and more. It also addresses developmentally appropriate activities in preschool like various types of play. Finally, it discusses selecting developmentally appropriate materials for young children and reflects on designing preschool activities and environments that suit children's needs.

1. C
CREATIVE LEARNING
ACTIVITIES FOR YOUNG
CHILDREN
Presented by:
Ronald M. Quileste, MAEd
School of Education
Xavier university – Ateneo de Cagayan
Corrales Ave., Cagayan de Oro City

2. Topic Outline
•Definition of Terms
•Kinds of Preschool Curriculums
•Learning Areas/Standards in Preschool
•Developmentally Appropriate Activities in
Preschool
•Workshop

3. Definition of terms:
• Learning Activities – are activities that enable the student(s),
through observation or participation, to achieve the learning
objectives. Examples include lecture, discussion, films, skills
demonstrations and practices, role-plays, small group activities,
reading and writing assignments.
• Learning Areas – are the subject areas present in the preschool
curriculum.
• Play – a learning activity that is characterized as fun and
enjoyable without the recipient being forced to do so.

4. Question #1
What are the Early
Childhood Curricula
Used Worldwide?

5. Kinds of Preschool Curriculum
• Montessori
• Parents as Teachers
• Project Approach
• High Scope
• Leap Frog Curriculum
• Bank Street
• HOSO Math/Science
• HIPPY Program

6. Kinds of Preschool Curriculum
• Reggio Emilia
• Anti-Bias Curriculum
• Waldorf
• Open Court Reading Program
• Constructivist Teaching
• Sesame Street Curriculum

7. Kinds of Preschool Curriculum
• Protect Zer0 (Multiple Intelligences)
• Arts-Based Curriculum
• Path-Social Emotional Curriculum
• High-Reach Learning Program
• Creative Curriculum
• Kindergarten Curriculum (Philippines)

8. Question #2
What are the Learning
Areas (Domains) in
Preschool?

9. FILIPINO
CHILD

11. LEARNING AREAS
•Language includes acquisition-learning of skills in
listening, writing, speaking, and reading. Visual skills
will not be exclusively developed in this learning area;
hence, it is integrated to all learning areas.
•Science takes care of the development of the skills in
body and the senses, animals, plants, and earth –
environment and weather.

12. •Mathematics or early numeracy develops skills in
number and numeration, operations on whole
number, space and measurement, and
probability and statistics.
•Physical Education, Health and Aesthetics helps
in the learners’ gross and fine motor
development, daily living skills, safety skills, music
and art production and appreciation.

13. Values Education and Social Studies hones
the following values and attitudes.
• Self-respect
• Honesty and truthfulness
• Love and respect for family
• Love and respect for others
• Responsibility and accountability
• Care for the environment
• Love and respect for God
• Social responsibility
• Nationalism and patriotism

14. THEMES
• Myself – concepts and ideas that help the learners
understand himself/herself better so that he/she will develop
as an individual.
• My Family – concepts, ideas, practices that guides the child
to be responsible and proud of himself and his family.
• My School – concepts, ideas, practices, and situations that
help the child understand how to be an individual and
socialize with other learners, teachers, school personnel and
other members of the school.

15. •My Community – concepts, ideas, practices,
situations, and responsibilities that the learner should
acquire and understand so that he/she will become
functional and responsive member of the community.
•More Things Around Us – all other concepts, ideas,
practices, situations, and responsibilities not covered
by themes 1 to 4 but which may be relevant to the
community, culture, and interest of the leaner.

17. What are the
Developmental Tasks
of Preschoolers?

24. Question #3
What are the Learning
Centers in a Preschool
Classroom?

26. Preschool Learning Centers
•Activities inside a preschool classroom should
be situated around Learning Centers to
organize the environment and curriculum.
•These planned areas (small sections) provide a
physical structure that helps children see all the
possible play and learning activities available to
them.

28. •Centers can be set up in a variety of ways to
best accommodate the space. This individual
(or small group) time allows children to explore
new concepts through hands-on activities
rather than guided instruction.

29. Different Learning Centers
•Discovery, including sand and water play, large-muscle
activity, movement
•Art and Music
•Socio-dramatic make-believe and role-playing
•Language (listening, speaking, reading, writing
•Viewing (Film, environmental symbols, etc.)
•Manipulatives, including small puzzles and finger toys, block
building
•Science, including nature study
•Math

30. Question #4
What is Preschool
Play?

32. Preschool Play
•Play is the foundation for all
learning for young children, and
giving them time and a few
basic toys provide a variety of
valuable learning opportunities

33. “Play is how children begin to understand
and process their world. Children's play
unlocks their creativity and imagination,
and develops reading, thinking, and
problem solving skills as well as further
develops motor skills. It provides the base
foundation for learning.”
• Angie Rupan, Program Coordinator for Child Development Center in South San Francisco, CA and
early childhood educator for over 20 years.

34. Play
•Cognitive Levels:
a.Functional play
b.Constructive play
c.Dramatic play
d.Games with rules

35. Play
•Social Levels:
a. Solitary play
b. Parallel play
c. Group play

36. Question #5
How does a teacher
supervise and plan
play activities?

37. Observing Children’s Play

38. Sample Play Activities
Functional Play: Bead Stringing
Learning Areas: Motor development,
social skills, representational
development
Instructions:
1. Provide children with beads and
lengths of string which are knotted at
one end.
2. Beads may be types of colored
macaroni.

39. Sample Play Activities
Functional Play: Bead Stringing
Cognitive Level
Functional Constructive Dramatic
Games w/
Rules
Social
Level
Solitary
Parallel
Group

40. Sample Play Activities
Constructive Play: Spider Webbing
Learning Areas: Mathematics, motor
development and social skills
Instructions:
1. Provide long lengths of yarn or
string for the children to make
spider webs on chairs and
objects in the classroom
2. Children wrap and unwrap the
yarn around objects, creating
“spider webs.”

41. Sample Play Activities
Constructive Play: Spider Webbing
Cognitive Level
Functional Constructive Dramatic
Games w/
Rules
Social
Level
Solitary
Parallel
Group

42. Sample Play Activities
Dramatic Play: House Cleaning
Learning Areas: Social skills, motor
development, scientific processes
and language/ literacy development
Instructions:
1. Provide the children with brooms,
mops, sponges, water sprayers,
dust cloths, etc.
2. These items may be added to the
housekeeping center or to the
entire classroom.
3. The children may pretend they
are cleaning house.

43. Sample Play Activities
Dramatic Play: House Cleaning
Cognitive Level
Functional Constructive Dramatic
Games w/
Rules
Social
Level
Solitary
Parallel
Group

44. Sample Play Activities
Games with Rules: The Wheels on the
Bus
Learning Areas: Social skills,
Language/Literacy, Motor
development, Problem Solving
Lyrics:
The wheels on the bus go round and
round,
Round and round, round and round.
The wheels on the bus go round and
round all through the town.

45. Sample Play Activities
Games with Rules: The Wheels on the
Bus
Additional verses:
…Baby goes wah, wah, wah
…Lights go blink, blink, blink
…Driver says move on back, move
on back, move on back
…Money goes clink, clink, clink
…People go up and down, up and
down, up and down

46. Sample Play Activities
Games with Rules: The Wheels on the
Bus
Cognitive Level
Functional Constructive Dramatic
Games w/
Rules
Social
Level
Solitary
Parallel
Group

47. Workshop
•Directions: Given your play
materials, design a play activity
for your children and complete
the table below.

49. C
WHAT ARE
DEVELOPMENTALLY
APPROPRIATE
MATERIALS?

51. •Books and Records
•Board Games
•Active Play Materials (Indoor and
Outdoor)
•Puzzles and Form Boards
•Building Sets
•Carpentry

52. •Dolls and Soft Toys of Animals
•Dramatic Play Materials
•Sensory Materials
•Music and Art Materials
•Sand and Water

53. Books for Infants and Toddlers
Should have . . .
•things to touch
•language that repeats over and over
again
•pictures of objects and words to match

54. Books for 2 –to –4 – year – olds
should have . . .
•objects to identify
•language that builds or accumulates
•language that repeats and has
rhythm, like a song
•simple stories
•ideas that center around the child

55. REQUIREMENTS OF A GOOD IM
1. Meets student’s needs
2. Within student’s experience
3. Fits in well with the general program
4. Covers course adequately
5. Interests and stimulates students to learn
6. Appropriate to student’s educational and
cultural background

56. 7. Suitable to the situation in which they will
be used.
8. Suitable for use it is intended
9. Makes use of most appropriate methods
and techniques
10.Easy to use
11.Meaningful and natural

57. CRITERIA FOR SELECTING BOOKS
1. Theme
2. Plot
3. Content
4. Characterization
5. Style
6. Format
7. Illustration
8. Other considerations

58. Other External Factors to be considered:
•Is the layout and presentation clear or
cluttered?
•Is the material too culturally biased or specific?
•Do the materials represent minority groups
and/or women in a negative way? Do they
present a ‘balanced’ picture of a particular
country/society?

59. Culture Sensitivity

60. Culture Sensitivity

61. Culture Sensitivity

62. Stereotypes

63. Gender
Equality

64. Stigmas

66. Other Creative Activities
•Storytelling
-Big books
-Design
-Font size and style
-Pictures
-Characters
-Plot

67. Other Creative Activities
•Puppet Show
•Role Playing
•Exhibits

68. Things to remember…
The Activities…
• Activities should involve (if possible) the child’s whole body
• Activities should interest the child
• Activities should address the learning objectives
• Activities should nurture and develop the children’s creativity
• Activities should promote social interaction
• Activities should develop children’s critical thinking skills
• Activities should be (if possible) play-based

69. Things to remember…
The Materials…
• Materials should be colorful and attractive
• Materials (such as art) should be cleaned thoroughly after use
• Materials (scissors) should be of plastic material
• Materials (paint) should be of high quality and non-toxic

70. C
FINALLY,
REFLECT ON THIS…

71. The Animal School
by Rev. Dr. Devorah Greenstein

72. •Many years ago, the animals in the Great
Forest decided that they wanted to start a
school for all their children. Until that time,
it had been the responsibility of parents to
teach their children the skills they needed
to know, but the animals in the Great Forest
wanted their children to learn from
professional teachers. So they organized a
school and hired staff.

73. •The teachers met and decided to provide a
standardized educational curriculum to their
animal students. So they adopted an activity
curriculum consisting of swimming, running,
flying, and climbing. All the animals took all
the subjects – because it was very important
to them that no child be left behind. To ensure
that students were progressing satisfactorily,
standardized achievement tests were
administered to all students.

74. •Here's what happened. The ducks were excellent in
swimming. In fact, the ducks were better than their
teacher. But some of the ducks made only passing
grades in flying and all of them were very poor in
running. Since they were slow in running, they had to
stay after school for remedial running practice, and they
had to drop swimming in order to practice running
during their swimming class time. This was kept up until
all the ducks‘ webbed feet were very sore. And the ducks
were so tired, that soon they were only average in
swimming. But average was acceptable in school, so
nobody worried about that – except the ducks.

75. •In running, the rabbits started at the top of the
class, but they did very poorly in swimming. Also,
the rabbits insisted on hopping around, and the
teachers were concerned about their
hyperactivity – so they made the rabbits walk
everywhere instead of allowing them to run or
hop. And the rabbits had to come in early every
day for special swimming class. Many of the
younger rabbits developed severe fur problems
because they were having to spend so much time
in the swimming pool.

76. •The squirrels were excellent in climbing and
running. In fact, the squirrels were the best
students at climbing the standardized tree. But
they wanted to fly by first climbing the tree, then
spreading their paws, and gliding to the ground.
(That's the way squirrels fly.) But in flying class
their teacher made them start on the ground
instead of at the treetop, and the squirrels were
not mastering the course material.

77. •So every day, the squirrels had therapy – a flying
therapist took the squirrels into the gym and made
them do front-paw exercises to strengthen their
muscles so they could learn to fly the right way.
The squirrels' paws hurt so much from this
overexertion that some of them only got a C in
climbing. Some of the squirrels failed climbing
altogether.

78. •The eagles were definitely problem children – in
climbing class, the eagles beat all the others to the
top of the tree, but they insisted on using their own
way to get there and were quite stubborn about it.
The eagles said that clearly it was the goal that
mattered, and that it was quite right for eagles to
get to the treetop by flying. The school
psychologist diagnosed them as having
oppositional-defiant disorder. (That's a real
diagnosis that some children are given in school.)
A strict behaviour modification plan was developed
for the eagles.

79. •We can end this story in
two ways:
1. A happy ending.
2. A sad ending.

80. Thank you and
Namaste!

81. References:
• Aguirre, Roderick Motril. (2014). Kindergarten Curriculum and Instruction.
Department of Reading and Literacy, College of Languages, Linguistics
and Literature, Philippine Normal University, Philippines
• Aguirre, Roderick Motril. (2014). Preschool Play and Developmentally
Appropriate Activities. Department of Education. Republic of the
Philippines.
• Stone, Sandra J. (2001). Playing: A Kid’s Curriculum. Harper Collins publishers.
• http://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org/power-of-play
• http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/why_play_is_important.html
• http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/why-children-need-play-0