A fun way to learn

There''s a child screaming right at the kindergarten school gate. A common sight you would say. Well, not really.
It''s not the time to go to school. Rather school just got over and this little bundle of energy does not want to go home! Reason enough to do so. Why would one want to go back home when there''s so much happening on the school front.
‘Bits of paper, bits of paper...'' they sing as little feet move about in the room with a small broom and a bucket, sweeping the class clean.Tiny tots on cleanliness drive in a kindergarden! But that''s the way they learn.
‘Wash, wash, wash,'' they almost scream in unison. A peek into a classroom and you stand dumbstruck! Is it a washer-man''s domain or a school you entered? For in a line sit mere two to three year olds, washing small pieces of cloth, hands dipped in tiny buckets of soapy water and a drying line ready for them to spread these out.
These and some more like these are the new teaching techniques for tiny tots. That''s precisely the way teaching goes on for two-and -a-half-year olds, who are all set to experience their first ever stint in school. No wonder then that for most of them the routine crying each morning is out.
Instead, they let out wails at the time of leaving the premises.
Says Alka Solanki headmistress of a playschool, “There are so many attractions to keep the child busy that they don''t want to go home. Initially, children do cry but that constitutes just about one or two.�
The school has a whole lot of activities each day. Starting with prayer and a welcome song in the morning, a teacher comes up to the mike and speaks a line or two on anything and then a child is asked to say something which could just be what he had for breakfast.
“They come up and talk so sweetly and this is just a way to instill confidence in them,� she says. Every day the school has a different colour theme and kids, teachers and the entire school is done up in that colour.
Then there is an activity room that has a vegetable shop aptly titled ‘Rampyari ki dukan''. Kids are taught names of vegetables and how to buy these after weighing or counting.
“We stress more on value education,� says Archana Garg, principal of yet another playschool. Meditation, yoga, chanting of shlokas and Gayatri Mantra are the unique features of this school. Isn''t it difficult to teach such things to little kids, who cannot even speak properly?
“This is the best time to teach them as they learn very fast. Also whatever is taught at this stage remains with the child forever,� Archana explains.
Along with spirituality, physical education is also taken care of. Jumping, hopping like a frog, walking like an elephant, threading of beads, playing in the sand-pit, planting trees and watering plants are all included in their day-to-day activities. Puppetry and dramatization of story and poetry also involve a child in class.
“We have educational toys, wooden puzzles, blocks, educational puzzles and other things for kids to keep them busy in play school,� says Sunaina Aggarwal, principal of a school. The premises is spread in a vast area and has all sorts of fruits and vegetables growing there. “So we have nature walks for children, where they are taught names of vegetables and flowers by actually seeing, smelling and touching them.
It is a novel experience for these tiny-tots,� she says. Arti Mittal, principal of a playschool, says that most of the things are taught thematically to children. And pictures, cartoons, puzzles, blocks and toys play an important part.