Evaluating Your Child’s Preschool for Motor Activities

A favorite time for many young children in preschool is arts and crafts time, the time when they get to cut and color and paste and glue. These activities are crucial for helping children develop their fine motor skills, which they need when they begin to learn to write. Unfortunately, many preschools, in an effort to cut costs, have done away with many motor skills activities. With a lack in trained staff and the cost of materials always rising, many preschools are turning more to a straight academic curriculum that many preschoolers are simply not prepared for. Young pre-Kindergarten children do not have the skills to simply sit at a desk and fill out worksheets. The motor skills that are needed for this type of work must be developed in the early childhood years. It has become crucial for parents to evaluate preschools and see what they are doing to help children foster good motor skills. So before you sign your preschooler up for the next school year, here is some information you need to know about how to evaluate your preschool for motor skills activities.

· Questions you may want to ask before enrolling your child in preschool. (These questions all concern the activities for the development of motor skills).

1. What types of coloring do you have the children do? Do you do other coloring activities besides having them color printouts or workbook pages? Are the children allowed to use other coloring materials besides crayons (markers, pens, colored pencils etc.) Do you have a specified art time and if so how often?

Take the time to evaluate preschools before admitting your child.

2. Do you allow the children to work with scissors? (Surprisingly many preschools are afraid of the liability and no longer allow their young students to use scissors.) Are they safety scissors? (Child-proof scissors with blunt edges)

3. Do you have painting in your school? How often will my child be allowed to paint? Are there child-sized easels and other painting equipment available? Do you do finger-painting? Are there other paint-centered activities on your curriculum? What kind of paints do you use?

4. Do you allow the children to play with play dough? If play dough is allowed how often will children be exposed to it? Is there other equipment that will be used along with the play dough (rollers, cutters, shapes etc.)

5. Are there blocks, building sets and other manipulatives available for my child to play with? Do these building materials come in a variety of sizes to fit different children’s abilities? How often will the children be playing with these items? Will there be free play where my child can express her own creativity?

6. Will there be activities that give my child a chance to experience different sensory techniques while developing motor skills? Will he or she be allowed to thread beads, play in whipping cream and mix textures into paint? Do you do outside activities that allow my child the chance to work on her art while enjoying the outdoors?

While there are numerous questions that can be asked about a school’s curriculum, nothing takes the place of a visual inspection. Ask the owner/operator if you can observe a preschool class before enrolling your child. This will help you to determine if this is the right school for your child. While you are there, do a visual inspection that can help you determine if the school has the needed equipment to help your child foster his or her motor skills. And lastly be sure to interview teachers so that you can determine if this is a priority in their teaching. When you have received all this information you should know whether your chosen preschool is the right place to help your preschooler develop the needed motor skills for her school years ahead.