A playgroup plays a crucial role in a child’s development. It’s a safe and inclusive environment that brings children together to learn how to socialise, collaborate, play, and make sense of the world around them.
Behind every toddler playgroup in Singapore is a well-structured curriculum that targets multiple aspects of a child’s development, preparing them for formal education and training them to become well-rounded individuals.
The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) has outlined a framework called Nurturing Early Learners (NEL) that toddler playgroups in Singapore may follow to develop a comprehensive and age-appropriate playgroup curriculum for children.
Read on below to learn more about what constitutes a toddler playgroup curriculum in Singapore and what it can do for your child!
1. Building foundations for learning
With Singapore’s rigid and competitive formal education, it’s critical that playgroups develop children’s love for learning as early as possible.
When children have an affinity for learning, they tend to approach learning with enthusiasm and perseverance because they know the importance of acquiring knowledge, regardless of how tough it may get.
To cultivate such behaviours, playgroups often focus on exposing children to activities and games that harness curiosity, appreciation, resilience, and critical thinking.
The earlier these attitudes are instilled in their daily routines, the more children become genuinely interested in learning something new every day.
2. Developing social and emotional skills
Children learn how to understand themselves in relation to their family, friends, and community by attending a toddler playgroup in Singapore. Regular interactions with children their age and adults outside their family unit develop their social and emotional competencies.
As children get to participate in different activities, they learn how to cooperate, negotiate, empathise, and resolve conflicts. These are critical competencies that will guide them through building relationships and setting boundaries with other people.
3. Strengthening language and pre-literacy skills
Strengthening language and pre-literacy skills is important for every child’s overall development and ability to communicate.
So… how do toddler playgroups in Singapore enhance these skills? Exposing children to daily activities that require attentive listening, tests their understanding of the language, and expands what they know about themselves.
These may include singing along to alphabet songs and learning nursery rhymes to help them distinguish sounds faster and understand read-aloud stories better.
It’s also common for playgroups to have bilingual classes to facilitate language and pre-literacy development. For example, Lilly Valley offers a Mandarin Immersion programme designed to nurture children’s interests in the Chinese language.
Similarly, playgroups need to provide children with a wide range of reading materials to develop a love for reading at an early age. It’s essential that children get to listen to all sorts of stories because stories allow them to understand the world around them.
Ultimately, learning these skills empowers them to effectively communicate their thoughts and ideas by either writing or speaking.
4. Supporting physical development through healthy habits
Toddler playgroups in Singapore understand that physical development is just as important as social, linguistic, and cognitive development.
Children get to participate in all sorts of activities that will keep them physically active. These include running, jumping, musical chairs, hopscotch, dance and freeze, kickball, and obstacle courses.
For children who aren’t so physically inclined, there will be other equally exciting and fun but less physically tiring activities that they can do.
There are also daily practices at playgroups that will help them realise the value of having healthy habits and following them. These include cleaning up after themselves, organising their own tables, and seeking help from adults when needed.
