UDA Preschool Blog - Page 6 of 11 - Nurture, Create, Inspire

May 6, 2019April 9, 2020

Why Your Preschooler Desperately Needs Time Outdoors — and What to Do Once You’re There

Kids these days seem to spend less time outdoors than we did when we were children. There are plenty of reasons for that: our lives are filled with more activities, we have access to more screens, backyard sizes and green spaces are shrinking, safe outdoor spaces are harder to come by…

Whatever the reason, though, it’s important we do what we can to give our children more time outdoors. The benefits of outdoor time for preschoolers are too good to pass up.

Outdoor Time for Preschoolers Increases Physical Health

As soon as the door is flung open to your backyard or the car door opened to a park or field, you’ll notice you preschooler burst into the outdoors with energy and enthusiasm. It’s almost impossible for a young child to not run, skip, hop, and jump when the space is available to do so.

And that’s such a good thing!

More time outdoors means your child will be moving more, building motor skills, and strengthening muscles and bones.

Exposure to Sunshine Improves Health

The sun is a funny thing. Too much of it can, of course, cause sunburns and serious health concerns. But not enough sun exposure can cause health problems as well. Sun exposure helps your body make vitamin D, which is crucial for bone development and healthy immune systems. It also helps regulate sleep cycles and improves mood. So lather up with sunscreen, wear a hat, and head outdoors.

Time Outdoors Builds Executive Function Skills

Playing outside, especially when the play is unstructured, gives your child the chance to hone her executive function skills. Executive function skills refer to the skills we all need to help us prioritize, multitask, plan, and troubleshoot. Outdoor time is full of opportunities to practice these skills. Figuring out how to climb the tree involves planning and troubleshooting. Tracking down worms with a friend involves cooperation and multitasking.

Outdoor Time Increases Attention Spans

Multiple studies have found that exposure to nature increases attentiveness, even more so than doing a physical activity indoors. As your preschooler grows and is expected to pay more attention in school settings and other places, this becomes more and more important.

Children who spend more time playing outside are often more curious, self-directed, and confident. They have more opportunity to start and create tasks and activities on their own initiative, and are more likely to stick with a task for longer periods of time.

Ideas for Outdoor Activities for Your Preschooler

Don’t underestimate the power of free, unstructured play outside. You don’t have to do a whole lot of planning to create a good outdoor experience for your child. Just open the door, drive to the park, head to the mountains, or find a walking trail!

In addition to unstructured outdoor time, try these fun ideas for outdoor play.

Take a Nature Walk

At UDA Creative Arts Preschool, we like to take nature walks as the seasons change to look for signs of the new season. You can print out a nature walk journal page for extra fun.

Collect Nature Items

Let your child collect blossoms, blades of grass, rocks, and more (as long as it doesn’t disrupt the area). Keep the items in a spot in your backyard or by the window for a few days. Or incorporate them into an art project.

Add Objects

Get creative, and add objects to your outdoor environment. Bring wooden spoons, plastic bowls, and planks to the backyard. See what your child does with them.

Act Out a Story

Tell a story, or read a book outside, and then encourage your child to act out the parts.

Color with Sidewalk Chalk

It’s such an easy outdoor activity. Hand your child some chalk, and let them draw what they want. You can also make a path for their bike to follow, draw a hopscotch board so they can practice jumping, or create a series of steps for them to follow (Jump up and down 5 times on this spot, do 3 jumping jacks on this spot, etc.).

“Paint” the House or Fence

Give your child clean paintbrushes and a bucket of water. Let him “paint” a wall of your house, the fence, the sidewalk, the trampoline… whatever his heart desires!

Add Explorer Props

Gather a magnifying glass, a clipboard and pencil, a butterfly net, a measuring tape, jars, a backpack, and anything else you can think of to aid in a good exploration. Watch your child’s imagination run!

Eat Outside

Have a family meal outside, whether it’s in your backyard or at a nearby park.

Cut Grass

Really! This is a favorite activity of our students all year round. Let your child use a pair of safety scissors to cut the grass. It won’t do the job of a lawnmower, but it will strengthen your child’s hand muscles and improve fine motor skills.

Take Indoor Activities Outside

Basically, almost anything you can do inside can be done outside in some way. If your child wants to paint, why not do the art project outside? Want to read books? Throw a blanket on the grass and read away. Practicing letters? Do it on a clipboard or with sidewalk chalk.

You get the idea.

Now get outside!

May 6, 2019

Get Fewer Tantrums When You Use These Transition Strategies for Preschoolers

You announce it’s time for bed, and your preschooler runs into the backyard and rolls around in the dirt. Or she screams and stomps. Or he whines and begs for more time.

It’s time to go to the store, but when you tell your kiddo to get her shoes on, she goes limp and refuses to move. Or he throws his toy across the room and tells you he isn’t going.

No, you’re not raising a monster. Your child just needs a little help with transitions. Fortunately, implementing these transition strategies for preschoolers is something you can start today.

What Do Children Need When Transitioning to the Next Activity?

It’s always good to remember that for the most part, kids have very little control over their days. And this can be frustrating at times. To feel safe and secure in this world run by adults, they need to know three things:

What’s next?
How long will it take?
Why are we doing it?

Think about it: you typically know all of this information for yourself, and so it’s relatively easy to move from task to task throughout your day. But if a child doesn’t know what’s coming after lunch, they’re going to be mighty surprised when they’re told it’s time to go grocery shopping.

Keep these questions in mind as you communicate with your child, and try to be upfront. “After we eat a snack, we’re going to tidy your room so that it can look and feel nice. I think it won’t take very long if we turn on some fun music!”

Stick to a Routine When Possible

Routines work well because they take the guesswork and uncertainty out of what’s coming next. Not every moment of your day can follow a routine, but there are several chunks of each day in which the same things need to be done — each and every day:

Meal times
Nap times
Getting ready for the day
Leaving the house for preschool
Getting ready for bed

You may have even more routines throughout your day, but these basic ones are good places to start following a schedule.

Here’s an example:

After waking up in the morning, it’s time to make the bed and use the restroom. Then, we go to the kitchen and eat breakfast. We put our dishes in the dishwasher and head to the bathroom to brush our teeth. Next, we get dressed and find our backpack. We put on our shoes, and head to the car to drive to school.

Whether your child can do this whole routine on her own, or whether she needs you every step of the way, by keeping the steps the same each day, she can predict what comes next, and it will be automatic to move from task to task.

Time Your Transition

It’s really hard for a child to leave something enjoyable. When possible, try to time your transitions for moments when your child is naturally wrapping up. For example, wait until your child finishes a coloring page before announcing it’s time for a bath. Don’t yank your child from the produce aisle as he’s sniffing a strawberry; let him inhale, and then tell him it’s time to go find the pretzels.

Give a Signal

It’s easier to move from one activity to the next if there is a signal indicating the transition. In a classroom, a teacher might use a bell that gets children’s attention while signaling that it’s going to be time to do something else.

At home, you can try using a bell or a timer to signal play time is over and it’s time to run an errand. Or, like many teachers, you can also use a simple phrase each time it’s time to stop one activity and begin a new one. “Time to listen” or “Please give me your attention” work well.

Use Transition Words

Make eye contact with your child and say, “In a moment.” This will signal your child’s ears to pay attention to the words that you’re about to say. “In a moment, we’re going to clean up the breakfast dishes and get dressed.”

Give Choices

Nobody likes to be bossed around at every moment of the day. During transition periods, you can sometimes offer choices to help your child feel in control while also being more compliant with what needs to be done.

For example, “It’s time to clean up the toys. Would you like me to help you with the blocks or the dolls?”

Or, “It’s time to go to the store. Would you like to bring one toy or two in the car?”

Practice

If you notice you consistently have a problem with the same transition (i.e. getting ready for bed), it may be that your child doesn’t know everything that’s expected of him. Take a minute at a different time of the day to walk your child through the necessary steps of getting ready for bed. Have him act them out, and praise him for his cooperation. When it comes time for bed, remind him of how well he practiced earlier in the day and tell him you’re glad he knows how to do bedtime now. See if he can manage the steps without resisting.

Remember, no matter how perfectly you teach the principles of making transitions from one activity to the next, your child isn’t always going to like stopping one activity to do another. And that doesn’t mean anybody failed. It just means your child is a normal human being. Keep trying, and you’ll see improvement.

To learn more about UDA Creative Arts Preschool in Draper, Utah, contact us online or give us a call at (801) 523-5930

April 8, 2019March 16, 2021

How to Help Your Preschooler Build an Emotional Vocabulary

Your child has been busily adding new words to her vocabulary for years now. In fact, just yesterday, she used the word vehicle instead of car, and you marveled at how much she has retained and how grown up she’s getting.

But have you thought about your child’s emotional vocabulary? Expanding an emotional vocabulary is something that children need help with. Learn why it’s important for your child to have an emotional vocabulary, and what you can do to expand it.

What Is an Emotional Vocabulary?

Your child’s emotional vocabulary is the collection of words he can access to describe how he or someone else is feeling. Most children understand words like “happy,” “sad,” and “angry,” but they often don’t have an extensive vocabulary to describe their other feelings accurately. This can lead to acting out in other ways — biting, hitting, throwing, etc.

When children can more accurately tell you how they are feeling, they are empowered to control and manage their own feelings better. Likewise, when they can read the emotional cues of other people, they can interact in more appropriate ways, leading to better social situations.

Emotional Vocabulary Needs to Be Taught

This is not a subject where we should assume our children will pick up the necessary components by osmosis. Children need to be taught emotional vocabularies. Telling your child to “use your words” when she hasn’t been taught the appropriate words to use will only leave her confused and frustrated.

There are many ways to build your child’s emotional vocabulary. Try one or two this week!

Make Sure You Have an Emotional Vocabulary

First things first, make sure you understand what you’re going to be teaching. Do you have an extensive emotional vocabulary, or do you resort to the same basic adjectives or behaviors to express your emotions? If your lawnmower keeps jamming, do you curse and scream? Or do you tell yourself you’re frustrated and worried you won’t get the lawn mowed before it gets dark?

There’s no shame if your answer fell closer to the curse and scream spectrum. Our culture hasn’t done a good job of allowing us to have a range of emotions. As parents, it’s important we take the time to understand our emotions, label them, and let ourselves feel them. This will not only allow us to have more empathy and patience for our children’s emotions, it will give us a greater vocabulary to teach our children.

And remember — kids are always watching. When you express your emotions in a healthy way, they’ll try to do the same!

Label the Emotion

Label emotions so children can build their emotional vocabulary. Name what your child might be feeling. “You’re feeling sad because Daddy has to finish cooking dinner and can’t hold you. That makes you feel lonely, doesn’t it?”

Name emotions you see in other people as well. “Your brother is smiling and laughing on the trampoline. He must be feeling happy!”

Identify Emotions in Books

Picture books are a perfect place to learn about and identify emotions. As you read a story to your child, pause occasionally to point to a face. “Gretel looks worried, doesn’t she? I bet she doesn’t know what to do next.”

Play Games

Play emotion charades, in which one of you has to act out a certain emotion and the other one guesses.

Make faces at each other and guess what emotion each person is trying to convey.

Make sounds that go along with emotions, and guess which emotion the sounds match. (“Yippee!” for excited, blowing air out of your mouth for frustrated, “Grrr” for angry, etc.)

Use Art

Let your child illustrate different emotions by asking your child to draw a person who is cheerful, furious, afraid, grateful, joyful, loving, etc.

Turn on some music and ask your child to tell you what emotion he is feeling as he listens. Have him select a color of paint, crayon, or marker and draw, paint, or color as he feels the emotion of the music.

Make a feelings collage by cutting out pictures from magazines.

Move!

Talk about actions that go along with feelings — and then perform those actions. For example, frustrated might make us feel like balling up our fists and stomping. Joyful might make us feel like leaping lightly around the room.

Play music, and ask your child to identify an emotion that she feels through the music. Then ask her to move or dance with that emotion in mind.

Role Play

This is especially helpful if your child tends to have a consistent problem. For example, if a child at preschool tends to take your child’s toy, you can talk about the feelings your child might feel when it happens. Then, you can talk about helpful and unhelpful ways to react. You can then role play the scenario, with your child choosing one of the helpful ways to react. Identify the feelings your child might feel after choosing a helpful method.

Some Helpful Emotion Words

Remember, there are so many more emotions to talk about than happy, sad, and angry!

Use this list to help expand both your and your child’s emotional vocabulary:

Annoyed
Afraid
Worried
Brave
Confused
Grouchy
Loving
Lonely
Nervous
Peaceful
Pressured
Concerned
Considerate
Kind
Careful
Disappointed
Uneasy
Uncertain
Thankful
Unhappy
Secure
Surprised
Puzzled

At UDA Creative Arts Preschool, we work to help children identify their emotions and express them in healthy ways. Give us a call at (801) 523-5930, or sign up to come to one of our open houses.

April 1, 2019

8 Ways to Help Your Preschooler Fall in Love with Reading

Reading independently is undeniably a critical academic skill, but a child’s ability to read also affects their entire life — beyond academics. Of the adults at the lowest level of literacy proficiency, 43% live in poverty, while only 4% of adults with strong literacy skills live in poverty. Students who read frequently are higher achievers than students who read rarely.

Access to books at home helps children to go further in school — and in life. And when children decide to read independently, they become better readers and even score higher on achievement tests across all subject areas.

So how do you help your preschooler love reading so that she reaps the many lifelong benefits?

1. Get Familiar with Books

Read books to your baby. In the beginning, your baby will notice the pictures. Then, he’ll learn how to turn the pages. Soon, he’ll understand that the story is the same every time you read it. These are all pre-reading skills that can develop simply from reading and spending time with books from a young age.

2. Don’t Push It

At a young age, pre-reading skills are more important to literacy than being an early reader. Don’t push your child to learn to read. Certainly point out letters and discuss the sounds they make. And if your child is interested, follow her lead and help her learn how to sound out words. But follow the cue of your preschooler. If she would rather hear you read her favorite book than try and sound out The Cat in the Hat, go with that.

Let your preschooler love reading — in all forms, including looking at the book and being read to — so she will continue to naturally develop reading skills.

3. Location, Location, Location

Setting up cozy or fun reading nooks makes reading both enjoyable and special. This could be as simple as pulling out a cozy blanket to snuggle with on the couch, or it could be as detailed as designing and decorating a reading corner with fashionable furniture.

Throw a blanket over a few chairs and read together in your makeshift fort. Pick a theme (teddy bear picnic, beach day, snow day) and throw a few props together for an instantly-fun reading corner.

4. Read TO Your Child

When your child is young, it’s obvious that she’ll need you to read to her. But remember to keep reading to your child as she grows up. Reading can be taxing and tiring for emergent readers. When you read to your child, you take the pressure off and let your child experience the joy and pleasure of getting lost in a story.

5. Go to the Library

There’s magic in a library. Just ask a children’s librarian. Let your child discover this special magic by making regular trips to the library. Go to story times and craft afternoons. Attend special events and participate in raffles and summer reading programs. Hold your child’s hand and walk up and down the bookshelves looking for covers that jump out at you. Show enthusiasm when your child selects a book.

The more you make the library a meaningful part of your family’s life, the more your child will associate happiness and joy with the library — and books.

6. Keep Books Within Reach

Keep books throughout your house. Put a bookshelf in your child’s room, keep books on the coffee table, decorate with books, and fill your bookshelves with books you love to read. Keep a basket or shelf just for library books that constantly rotate. Bring out seasonal books as you decorate for different holidays. Make books a familiar part of your child’s life and he’ll be more likely to reach for a book more often.

7. Connect Books to the World

Does your child love Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggie books? Go to a local farm to see the pigs. Search for elephants nearby, and have a conversation about why they aren’t in the same place.

Read Giles Andreae’s Giraffe’s Can’t Dance, and then head to the zoo to contemplate whether or not the giraffes dance when you aren’t looking.

Read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and then look for letters on store signs, street signs, and refrigerators.

Read Dr. Seuss‘s Green Eggs and Ham, and discuss foods or experiences you and your child might be afraid to try. Then go try them!

8. Let Them Read What They Want

Introduce your child to new books regularly, but also let her read what she wants. If she’s a pre-reader, this may mean you’re going to have to read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish 100 times, but if your child is enjoying the story and the process of reading, you’re on the right track to help your preschooler love reading.

When your child gets older and reads on their own, don’t criticize them if they only want to read Junie B. Jones or Captain Underpants. Let them read what they love on their own, and continue reading other books to them out loud to expose them to new authors and stories.

At UDA Creative Arts Preschool, we work on pre-reading and reading skills constantly and immerse the children in a reading environment. Come see us in action. Come to an open house or give us a call at (801) 523-5930.

April 1, 2019April 1, 2019

S is for Space — What’s Happening at UDA Creative Arts Preschool

Space Week is always a blast. The children love pretending to be astronauts, or managing launches from Mission Control. But the week isn’t only about pretending and playing (although there’s plenty of that going on — it’s the best way for young children to learn!). At UDA Creative Arts Preschool, we use themed weeks that will interest the children as a way to teach concepts about our world (or Outer Space, as the case may be) and to also fully immerse the children in the important aspects of our curriculum that help children develop and learn.

Science

Space Week lends itself so easily to understanding science concepts more fully. It’s also a fun time to blast off with some impressive experiments!

We used our rocket launch experiment as a way to understand the properties of gas, while learning how to make educated guesses.

Before the launch, teachers placed an Alka-Seltzer tablet in water so the children could see how it bubbled. The teachers explained that the bubbles were made of gas (carbon dioxide), and that gas takes up space — even though it’s invisible! To further expand (haha) on this concept, we used Alka-Seltzer to blow up a small balloon.

We talked about how the gas was pushing on the walls of the balloon because it was running out of space. That’s what made the stretchy balloon expand. But what would happen if we put an Alka-Seltzer in a film canister, which isn’t stretchy?

The children made hypotheses (some hypothesized accurately!), and then teachers placed the Alka-Seltzer in the film canister with water.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… the lid blew off the canister!

We added variations by changing the amount of water in the canister and predicting which would produce the blown lid first. As you can imagine, this was popular, and we did the experiment over and over… and over. And over again and again (which is great, because repetition reinforces concepts!).

Creative Movement

When children get their bodies involved, they can learn concepts in more memorable ways.

To gain a more comprehensive understanding of the solar system, we had children take turns as the sun, planets, stars, shooting stars, and comets.

The child who was taking a turn as the sun stood still in the middle of the room, while the planets revolved around the sun. The stars stood still in space and twinkled, while shooting stars and comets shot through space randomly.

We also practiced hand/eye coordination by tossing comets back and forth with friends.

We blasted off into space and visited each planet in our land rovers (scooters). We weren’t able to walk or land on some planets because they were too hot, and we had to get out of there fast! Other planets presented tricky problems, as we had to navigate ice rings and asteroids just to get to them!

Art

Space featured heavily in our art, as the children created their own representations of outer space. They also learned cause and effect, and used their creativity as they explored the effects that different artistic tools could make.

Sensory Learning

We filled the sensory bin with black beans and black rocks that represented dark space. Stars, planets, land rovers, astronauts, and rockets were mixed in. As the children searched for the items, they got a sensory learning experience that connected them to our theme.

Dramatic Play

Mission Control was located in our preschool during “S is for Space” week! With a computer (not plugged in), telephone, and other gadgets, the children communicated to each other about the important space missions taking place. The teachers loved seeing how much the children had learned as they pretended. The children requested launches to different planets, and we even heard Mission Control tell the astronauts, “You can’t go to Mercury! It’s too hot. You will burn up!”

This kind of immersive learning never gets old for us at UDA Creative Arts Preschool. And it always allows the children to form their own connections as they learn important concepts. If you’d like your child to have fun, immersive experiences like this, give us a call at (801) 523-5930 to request a tour.

February 15, 2019

Q Is for Queen and King

We had a royal good time learning math, science, letters, engineering, art, and more during our “Q Is for Queen and King” week. Thematic units help us to incorporate imagination while we cross subject lines. This gives our preschoolers a more comprehensive understanding of concepts as we explore and appreciate the many themes of our world.

We invited some of our favorite princes and princesses into the classroom to enjoy our royal ball, royal feast, and even do some learning.

Majestic Math

Even queens and kings need to do math, and our royal guests were down on the floor with our preschoolers as everyone counted out jewels and returned them to princesses who had lost them.

Aristocratic Art

Symbols are all around us, and children are good at picking up on them. The next time you’re out and about, see if your child can spot warning signs, exit signs, bathroom signs, and more based on the symbols.

To drive home the point of symbols and colors, and what they may represent, we had each child make their very own Coat of Arms. After discussing different symbols and colors, the children used watercolor glue and salt to make a Coat of Arms that represents themselves.

Resplendent Royal Feast

One of the highlights of our thematic week was the royal feast. The children loved using their fancy goblets and eating from fancy plates. They also loved clinking their glasses together!

Fancy Fine-Motor Skills

What is a royal feast without royal headwear? Each child decorated their own crown to wear to our royal feast. Using jewels, they not only fancified their crowns, they developed their fine-motor skills as they used the pincer grasp over and over.

Engineering the Empire

Using cups, the children created fortresses and castles fit for a queen or king. Through trial and error, concentration, and observation, they learned that some structures are more secure than others. They then built on what they discovered, and created stronger buildings the next time around.

Monarchs on the Move

Kings, queens, princesses, and princes need to be active if they are going to manage their kingdom effectively. In creative movement class, we created castles with our bodies when we held hands in a circle and raised our arms together to create windows. The children took turns going “in and out of the castle.”

We also rode horses throughout the kingdom, surveying the land and well-being of our subjects.

And the children performed princely promenades and coordinated dances that impressed their royal guests.

We have so much fun exploring, learning, and creating at UDA Creative Arts Preschool in Draper, Utah. If you would like to come see us in action, join us for an open house or schedule a tour.

February 15, 2019

The Importance of Teaching Character Traits in Preschool

All parents want their children to reach their full potential. That’s why we agonize over decisions like where to send them to preschool, what sport they should play, what extracurricular activities we should find for them, how to help them achieve their academic potential, and more.

It’s also why we cringe when they call someone a mean name, forget their manners, or refuse to share.

But just like a beginner soccer player has to learn the fundamentals of kicking, stopping, aiming, and more, our preschool children need to learn the fundamentals of character. Your 3-year-old isn’t ready to share every time she needs to, he doesn’t yet know how to overcome his fear of speaking in front of the class, she doesn’t know how to patiently wait for something in the future, and he still struggles to use his words when he’s angry.

That’s why it’s important to gently teach character traits in preschool. Children have so much to learn, and a nurturing environment in which teachers patiently coach children through big concepts like gratitude, patience, respect, and more will help your child gradually build on skills so that her character will allow her to reach her full potential.

[7 Ways to Teach Your Preschooler to Be Respectful]

Teaching Character Traits in Preschool Helps Your Child’s Future Self

Character traits take skills. You have to learn the foundational skills of problem solving before you can negotiate sharing on the playground.

When we teach problem solving at UDA Creative Arts Preschool, we teach the children how to use their words to express what they want. We also teach them how to state their feelings in clear ways, and we teach them to listen to other people’s feelings. Through this process, they learn to understand what they truly want and to hear and understand what others want. They become very good problem solvers as they try to find solutions that work for all parties involved.

We tie our character trait learning into our weekly themes as often as possible, so during our royalty week, we talked about how to act like royalty and use our words to find solutions.

As children learn these skills now, they develop a strong self-esteem and confidence to help them navigate their future life. Learning problem solving skills at a young age helps children develop resilience and grit, as well as integrity and forgiveness.

Set Your Child Up for Lifelong Learning

Studies have shown that when character education is included in school curriculum, academic performance (and even attendance) increases, while disciplinary problems decrease.

Learning about, and being encouraged to develop, traits like honesty, fairness, compassion, and patience creates a safe place where children want to be. It also helps children feel prepared to learn and to absorb the skills necessary to become lifelong learners.

At UDA Creative Arts Preschool, we teach children they are responsible for their bodies, their actions, their words, their learning, and more. During a week focused on safety, we become “Super Safety Kids” who learn the rules of interacting with strangers, crossing streets, getting help from firefighters or police officers, and more.

The children learn they are responsible for taking care of their safety and making their environment safe for others. This emphasis on responsibility helps them understand they are also responsible to do their best in academics, learning, and friendships.

We also focus for a whole month on the character trait of courage, helping the children learn for themselves that they don’t have to be perfect at everything. They just have to have courage to try to do hard things, like learn new things in school or try new things.

After watching caterpillars turn into butterflies, we do a butterfly release every fall. The children gather around and give encouragement to the butterflies. “Have courage! You can do it!” they shout. When the butterflies take flight, the children are ecstatic and easily see the connection to courage and the many new, big things they have to do as preschoolers.

Help Your Child Have Better Relationships

Children who learn character traits have better success in relationships both at school and outside of school. They learn to be more forgiving, responsible, caring, and compassionate.

They also learn how to cooperate with others, to tolerate different viewpoints, and to respect the needs of others.

At UDA, we help teach compassion by participating in Project Sleep Tight. Our students bring in donations of blankets, stuffed animals, and books to share with children who are homeless. As we assemble the kits, we have some of our most meaningful conversations with the children. They really think about what it means to be someone else and how to help others. At this age, they feel compassion without even trying, and the project helps solidify that strength they already have.

Help Your Child Be a Good Neighbor and Citizen

When children are taught that their behavior impacts others, they learn that they matter in their community and beyond. They feel anchored and important, and that leads them to be their best selves in all aspects of life. When they become adults and take on roles as parents, employees, business owners, neighbors, and more, they contribute in meaningful ways to a better community and world.

At UDA, we take a trip around the world while we learn about being compassionate and respectful. We learn about other cultures and different traditions, while also thinking of our own traditions in our own cultures. The children learn they are part of a family. That family is in a city, which is in a state, which is in a country, which is in the world. They become aware of who they are in this world and how they can have respect for people who are both the same and different from them.

Preschool is so much more than learning ABCs and 123s. Children really begin to develop in who they are during their preschool years. Teaching character traits in preschool is essential to helping children develop their whole selves.

Come visit us! Call UDA Creative Arts Preschool at (801) 523-5930, or contact us online to set up a tour.

February 15, 2019

6 More Reasons Why Your Child Needs Dramatic Play

Dramatic play (also called pretend play) enhances your child’s life and world in countless ways. From language skills to problem solving skills, and even to physical development, dramatic play in preschool is a crucial component in helping your child become her best self.

[Pretend Away! Why Your Child Needs Pretend Play]

We’ve covered some of the many benefits of dramatic play, and wanted to give you 6 more reasons why you can relax when your child plays pretend. It’s not a waste of time. In fact, it’s necessary.

1. Dramatic Play in Preschool Empowers Children

Think of how many rules your preschooler has to keep in mind each day. Sharing, keeping his hands to himself, waiting for a parent’s hand before running into the street, saying please and thank you, waiting her turn, etc.

And that’s just a normal day. If something upsetting or frightening happens in your child’s life (even something like seeing a scary image in a movie), your child has a lot to process and keep in mind.

It’s tough. But dramatic play helps a preschooler feel power. As they take on common pretend roles like Mom, Dad, the doctor, or the teacher, they get to be in control of the situation and try on the feeling of power. Plus, they get to make their wishes come true, and this helps them to process real-life emotions and events in a safe and empowered way.

2. Dramatic Play Helps Your Child Cope

When something difficult happens in your life, you talk it out with a friend, loved one, or therapist. Or you replay it in your mind as you work through your emotions and feelings. Maybe you write about it to process what happened.

A preschooler doesn’t yet have these language capabilities, and that’s where dramatic play comes into… well, play.

Instead of talking about his feelings, your child might reenact a difficult situation with his stuffed animals or friends. This helps him make peace with what happened and gives him the chance to move forward.

3. Dramatic Play Improves Your Child’s Thinking Skills

Dramatic play is a form of abstract thinking. As children play, they are recreating something they once experienced or pulling from their imagination. This requires cognitive skills, and each time your child plays pretend, those skills are enhanced.

4. Dramatic Play Increases Your Child’s Understanding of Symbols

When children play, objects stand in for the real thing. For example, a stuffed cat becomes a child’s “real” pet or a tiger in the jungle. Domino tiles become crackers or coins. Not only do children learn to improvise on the spot, they begin the important work of understanding symbols — which leads to understanding concepts like letters and numbers down the road.

5. Dramatic Play Increases Attention Span

In the beginning, a young child may only be able to have a pretend tea party for a few minutes. But as children grow, their pretend tea party lasts all afternoon and takes on new forms. Maybe something magical happens at the tea party, requiring the guests to take a break and follow the magic. Maybe the tea party becomes a fancy restaurant and menus must be drawn up.

As children engage in dramatic play, their attention span increases and they can spend a longer amount of time in their pretend world.

6. Dramatic Play Gives You an Insight Into Your Child’s Mind

Preschoolers can’t always articulate their feelings in a way that makes sense to adults. They’re still building their emotional vocabulary and piecing everything together. That can make it tricky to understand what’s going on inside your child’s mind.

But if you sit back and watch (or join in!) your child’s dramatic play, you’ll see clues about the inner workings of her mind. You’ll get a glimpse into what makes her afraid, happy, proud, and bold. And when you keep your discussions in the framework of what your child was playing, you can help your child talk about her feelings.

Dramatic play features heavily in UDA Creative Arts Preschool curriculum. Even though we witness it every day, we’re constantly amazed at how dramatic play can build confidence and improve children’s lives in countless ways. Come see us in action. Give us a call at (801) 523-5930, or contact us online to schedule a tour.

January 30, 2019

Does Preschool Matter?

Does preschool matter? Do children really gain anything from their time spent in preschool? Is it worth it?

It’s true that small children aren’t going to hold onto every memory created in preschool, but when you think about the fact that their brains grow to about 90 percent of their adult size by the age of 5, it makes sense that quality education during their formative years is important.

Evidence suggests that children who attend high-quality preschools gain consistent and positive short-term effects in literacy, language, and math skills. These benefits even extend to later years, when children who attended preschool experience a lower percentage of grade retentions and special education.

Long-term, some studies have even linked a high-quality preschool education to reduced criminal behavior and higher graduation rates.

In the Perry Preschool Experiment conducted by Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman, 123 low-income African American children from Michigan were randomly assigned to a group that received a high-quality preschool education or to a control group with no preschool education. These children were then tracked for the next several decades. At the age of 40, the adults who had attended the preschool program were 20 percent more likely to have graduated from high school and 19 percent less likely to have been arrested more than five times. Not only that, they were also more likely to remain married and were found to be less dependent on welfare programs. They also received better grades throughout their education.

While children learn the most and gain the most from their parents, the benefits of a quality preschool cannot be overstated. Preschool provides important learning experiences, opportunities, and exposure that can’t be found anywhere else.

Social Skills

Important social skills are an obvious plus that children gain in preschool. Spending time with other children in a group helps young children develop emotional control while they learn to share, take turns, get along with others, and more. Appropriate language expression also develops in a preschool group.

Learning those basic social skills at a young age helps children add on to more complex social skills as they mature. And because we all need to interact with each other throughout our lives, social skills may be one of the best benefits of preschool.

Environment Affects Brain Development

Did you know that the experiences your child has as a young child interact with their genes? This affects brain development — positively or negatively. If your child spends time in enriching, nurturing environments, she gets a head start in developing cognitive skills, behavioral skills, social skills, and more.

Young children’s brains are still developing, which means this is the perfect time for learning to adapt. If your preschooler is exposed to a language-rich environment with structured, enriching activities, he will grasp important concepts easier and will be able to expand upon them.

Early brain development is important, and a high-quality preschool can help your child have a successful educational career.

Academics

W. Steven Barnett, PhD and director of National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), said that “Children who attend high-quality preschool enter kindergarten with better pre-reading skills, richer vocabularies, and stronger basic math skills than those who do not.”

Think about it. If your child learns letters, shapes, sounds, and more in a rich preschool environment, he will have an easier time meeting the demands of kindergarten. When he moves onto harder tasks and subjects in later grades, he’ll be better equipped to master them because he never missed out on the fundamentals.

If a child doesn’t have that same access, he will have a hard time mastering the fundamentals, and every subsequent milestone will be harder to reach. This lag will follow the child throughout his whole educational career.

Executive Functions

Executive functions refer to the critical mental skills we all need to help manage our life — planning tasks, keeping track of time, emotional control, organization, focus, and more.

In the preschool years, the part of the brain that governs the executive functions — the prefrontal cortex — is still developing. That makes this time of life ideal for developing those important functions.

A long-term Penn State study found that a high-quality preschool program helped children grow in executive functions. Plus, the same children in the study who expanded their executive functions demonstrated better reading fluency and math performance than a control group.

High Quality Is Key

But not just any preschool program will do. Researchers have found the benefits of preschool to be present only when associated with high-quality preschools.

Schools that rely on evidence-based curriculum and that hire high-quality teachers (and continue to train them) impact children’s long-term education for the better.

A high-quality preschool curriculum should include engaging activities that help children make connections and draw their own conclusions. Hands-on activities reign supreme in preschool for their ability to help children more fully grasp concepts.

A preschool’s program should be well-structured and managed, with consistent routines that allow children to understand what’s happening now and what will be happening next.

Preschool teachers should be kind and patient, allowing children to develop at their own pace. If that means some children repeat activities when they want or need, the teacher allows it. Teachers also are adaptable and can cater to each child, allowing those who are advanced to continue to advance while those who need extra time to be given it.

A high-quality preschool also needs open-ended play with enriching toys and props to allow children the chance to learn, try new things, develop socially, and more.

The environment should be safe, and a balanced teacher-student ratio is critical so children can have the attention they need.

At UDA Creative Arts Preschool, your child’s development is important to us. We teach the whole child, and aim to help each child grow in their own individual way. Schedule a tour today.

January 14, 2019

7 Qualities of a Great Preschool Teacher

You might say that teaching preschool is a calling. Sure, a preschool teacher needs to study, learn, and practice approaches and methods, but great preschool teachers have some inherent qualities that make them suited for the job — and suited to love the job!

Great preschool teachers not only teach the ABCs and 123s, they also nurture, encourage, and love their students. They give their students a foundation for a lifetime of learning, confidence, and growth.

Look for these seven qualities of a great preschool teacher when you’re looking for a preschool in Draper, Utah.

Passion

Just like you want your doctor to have a passion for learning everything there is to know about their specialty, or for your hairdresser to have a passion for keeping up on the latest trends, or the chef at your favorite restaurant to have a passion for blending flavors, it’s important that a preschool teacher has a passion for early childhood education — and for making a difference in young children’s lives.

A passion for helping young children thrive and succeed drives preschool teachers to stay on top of the latest research, to be creative in finding solutions, and to care about each individual student.

The job of a preschool teacher can be demanding — runny noses need to be wiped, fights need to be resolved, and tears need to be calmed on the daily. If a preschool teacher has passion for what she does — and the difference she knows she’s making — she can muscle through the tough parts to continue to provide an enriching environment and education.

Enthusiasm

Children often mirror the emotions of the adults in their lives, and an enthusiastic preschool teacher can keep a class or individual on course in the face of obstacles or setbacks. Not only that, enthusiasm makes the learning environment fun, which encourages children to eagerly soak up knowledge and let their curiosity guide them.

Patience

Preschool children have short attention spans and can be quick to sudden mood changes. Add in the fact that every child develops at a different rate, and you have a bubbling stew of potential frustrations that would make most people lose their cool. But a preschool teacher must have vast stores of patience so that the highs and lows of the day don’t distract from the end goal. Children benefit from patience, knowing they can make mistakes and still be cared for.

Communication Skills

Preschool teachers need to communicate effectively with small children, helping them understand new concepts in reading, manners, self-control, and more. Not only that, they need to communicate with parents to let them know what’s going on in the classroom and to resolve any conflicts. They also need to communicate with team teachers about lesson plans, the progress of individual students, and more so that each student can receive a quality education.

Flexible

It’s supposed to be the day that the children head outside with magnifying glasses to look for and observe insects… only it’s raining cats and dogs. No matter! A great preschool teacher can roll with setbacks, using an alternative activity that still teaches the necessary concepts.

Compassionate

A great preschool teacher has empathy for her students and their families. She is worried when a child struggles, and she extends compassion to help the child get through their difficulties. She is emotionally available to her students and works to find solutions for problems of all kinds — from difficulty sharing a toy to a struggle with understanding the concept of letters.

Loving

Most importantly, a preschool teacher needs to love her students — and show it. When a child knows he is loved, he feels safe and confident. Trying new things isn’t so scary, and making mistakes becomes part of the process of learning — not something to be ashamed about. A great preschool teacher shows love to all her students.