EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT

Lesson 29: Different types of Early Childhood Care Centers

Kindergarten school

A school prior to the entrance to the first grade is designated as kindergarten. It is the unit of the school which enrolls 5 years old children on a regular basis for a year. The purpose of the kindergarten programme is to further the developmental growth of the children through experiences that are of interest and help them. Many of these units are a part of the public school system; others operate as church related, privately owned or sponsored groups. Fredrick Froebel (1782-1852) opened the first kindergarten in Germany in 1837. He formulated his philosophy around the spontaneous and self sustaining nature of children.

Functions of Kindergarten

In kindergarten schools, major emphasis was given on sociability, aesthetics, sensory, motor development and achievement motivation. The functions of the kindergarten school according to Headley (1965) are to assist the child towards realization of the following objectives

• Friendliness and helpfulness in relationship with others.
  
• Greater power to solve problems based on individual activities and group relationships
  
• Responsiveness to intellectual challenges
  
• Achievement of good sensory-motor coordination
  
• Understanding of concepts necessary for the continued pursuit of learning
  
• Responsiveness to beauty in all forms
  
• Realization of individuality and creative properties.

Curriculum of Kindergarten: It includes gifts, occupations, games and songs and nature study. Activities of Kindergarten: include -

• Creative activities: 40-50% of the time is devoted to specific creative activities like art work, model building and so on.
  
• Music: singing, listening and rhythmic activities
  
• Language based activities: story listening and telling, poetry, group discussion
  
• Self care activities