Learning Centers for Children Ages 4 to 6 Years of Age

The theme for my classroom would be the winter season. My classroom has children ranging in age from 4 to 6 years of age. As we enter the winter season here in California this theme is very relevant to the children and allows many areas for our class to explore. We'll explore the weather and holidays during the season. They'll be able to participate in the activities and recognize how the activities apply to their everyday life because they'll see what we've learned happening all around us.

For our first domain, Cognitive, the activity the children would participate in is a timeline of the winter season. The children are broken up into teams of three or four each. They will brain storm together what happens over the winter season and when it happens. They'll put the events on a time line by placing pre-cut shapes, pictures, and key words to mark the event. Also they'll use colors to match the events they come up with. For instance when they put Christmas on the time-line they'll use the colors red and green to mark the date and then place the pre-cut pictures and keywords (Christmas) on the time-line. Once they were finished I'd have the children present their time-lines to the class. This exercises all areas of Cognitive development in children of this age. They have to recognize which shapes and pictures go on a winter calendar and also have to recognize the words that go with the season as well. Once they've finished they have to present to the class their time-line which is important because it helps them learn how to translate what's on the time-line into words that everyone understands. The above activity also touches on other domains of development as well.

For our second domain, Social-Emotional, the activity the children will participate in will be to create and act in a play which highlights the children's most favorite time of the Winter Season. This helps with Social-Emotional development because the entire activity is about working together with others. The class would split up once again into groups of four and brain storm what they want their play to be. They'll then write it out and also determine the staging for the play. Once they've written out their play, they'll work on creating the props they'll need for their play as well as costume pieces. The children will then be assigned an area in the classroom so they can set up their props and rehearse their play. Once they feel they've rehearsed enough, they'll act their play out for the rest of the class. This touches not only on Social-Emotional development because they'll have to work together completely with other children but it also touches on Cognitive development because they have to write out the play to present to the class. This helps with their individual self-esteem as well because they have the ability to create something of their own and then present it to the class and they'll be proud of what they've done.

For the last domain, Physical, the activity will finally be individual based. For fine motor skills I'd have the children create a picture of their favorite Holiday in the season using colored macaroni's and other hard pastas. This would work their fine motor skills because macaroni's aren't easy to handle in general and they'll have to glue it on without making a huge mess and without ruining the picture as a whole. To reinforce gross motor skills we'd have a dancing activity where the class would create a dance together and learn it. This is not only Physical but it touches on the Social-Emotional skills as well because the students have to work together and compromise on the dance they create.

What I'd do to finish this theme off, for instance at the end of the season, we'd present the time-lines, plays, pictures and dance to the family and friends of the children. This will help build up their self-esteem and let them take pride in their work at school! All the activities helped build up the Cognitive, Social-Emotional, and Physical Development for the children. None of the activities we're specific to one domain or the other, rather it just featured one domain and included the others in lesser roles. It allowed them to learn how to work with others, read and write better, express themselves in an appropriate and understandable manner, and refine motor skills through multiple activities. This allows the children to practice and learn the necessary skills they need to become productive later in their school careers and even may carry over into their adult lives.