How much free play time is desirable in toddler/preschool pr

seeker

Mon, Jul 04 2016, 2:27 am

As a mom as well as from theoretical developmental perspective, I like little kids to have lots of free time. I would like it balanced between active free play and free/lightly facilitated play with toys and pretend props.

But I'm curious what moms sending to structured programs expect, and what more experienced preschool leaders do. I don't want to set up a schedule my way and then have parents complain that we're not doing anything with the kids. Or put toy type of play on the schedule and then have them upset that we're spending time indoors in the summer.

What do you think? Should we spend more time letting kids be kids, or do we let them be free on their own time after camp/school and keep more programming in the program?

amother

Cyan

Mon, Jul 04 2016, 8:53 am

My almost 3 yo went to a 2/yo playgroup this past year. I dunno for sure the whole schedule but it was something like this

Free play for a full hour+
Davening songs
Snack time and while the kids ate morah told them a bit about the parsha and they looked at the pics in her parsha book
More play but usually more of a structured specific activity where everyone did the same thing.
Project or coloring time
Free play
Lunch
Books and get ready to go (was a 4 hr group)

She did sometimes take them outside but only the last couple months. I think she also did morah music at some point in the day a song or two and she did the motions with the kids but not sure that was everyday or sometimes. In the summer I would expect out time play so long it wasn't boiling hot.

L25

Mon, Jul 04 2016, 9:06 am

you might want to ask the parents who will be sending- they might not agree with the posters here.

I'm with you from a developmental perspective that they are little and should be allowed to play. As long as it's not too hot/cold (it seems you are referring to school as well) I would want A LOT of outdoor time preferably in the shade during the summer- fresh air is so important but too much sun can be an issue. If they are outside a lot you would need to be on top of making sure the kids drink enough...

I would also want sensory play- sprinklers, finger painting... you know the messy stuff that parents don't always want to deal with but are so important for children Wink

amother

Amethyst

Mon, Jul 04 2016, 12:48 pm

I've run backyard camps for 2-3 year olds. In theory, I believe that most of their time should be free play. In practice, I noticed that the kids get either bored or rowdy really quickly with long periods of free play. So I tried to schedule activities, but vary them between fine and gross motor skill activities, between sitting activities and moving around activities, etc and not have 2 sitting down activities in a row. Most importantly, keep everything relatively short (20-30 minutes max for each item). For example:
1) Davening and circle time
2) Light snack
2) Free play (20-30 minutes)
3) Fine motor skill arts & craft (finger painting, gluing things, coloring and stickers, paper mache, popsicle stick crafts, etc).
4) Free play (20-30 minutes)
5) Lunch
6) Free play (20-30 minutes)
7) Pool or water games (running through a sprinkler, or in the pool, etc) or other indoor/outdoor gross motor games (bowling, freeze dance, 'exercise' routine, simon says, hokey pokey, dance party, etc.)
8) Story time (with snack)
9) Free play until pickup.
So they have free play as almost every other activity, but not long enough for them to get bored, and even some of the structured activities have the kids up and moving and some are even not so structured (like some kinds of water play or having a dance party).

The most important thing is flexibility at all times - if the kids seem restless or bored or not following in an activity on any day, just swap it for the opposite activity (swap a sitting activity with a moving around activity, or swap a gross motor activity for a fine motor activity, or swap free play for a structured activity). Also, if the kids seem really engrossed in an activity, don't stop them because there are other things to do - just skip the next activity or push everything off by a bit. The opposite is also true - if the kids get bored of an activity early, then just wrap it up right away and move to the next thing - don't make them continue for the last scheduled 10 minutes just because it's not time for snack yet - either give them snack early or let them have a bit of free play or story time. Taking cues from the kids themselves is the easiest way to go, especially since every group will be different in this respect.

The bottom line is that it's really important to have a schedule, but don't plan on sticking to the full schedule exactly more than once or twice a week (if your lucky). Most days will loosely resemble the schedule, and that's great!