After ensuring that the curriculum in the early learning centre is excellent and appropriate for your child, it’s now time to ensure that his/her extracurricular activities will be helpful, fun and productive.
What extracurricular activities should my child do?
Overall, activities about sports and performing arts are great for children. In other words, the activities should be as far as possible from traditional academics (literacy and numeracy). This way, children can have more time for physical activities (sports) and music and dancing (performing arts).
Many parents enrol their children in dance classes. Often it’s just for fun and exploration (not for the children’s future and professional pursuits). Aside from making friends, dance classes have also become great venues for children to develop their self-esteem as they perform on stage and in front of an audience. Music classes are also helpful because early on children can learn the foundations and perhaps help them discover their potential and talent at a very young age.
Difference between curricular and extracurricular activities
In recent years the difference has been disappearing because playtime is now actually part of the curriculum. This is the result of implementing the Early Years Learning Framework (which has been the outcome of research findings about how important the early years are in a person’s long-term development and future).
This means extracurricular activities are now actually integrated into the main curriculum. For example, here at Teddy Bear Early Learning Centre our curriculum for toddlers includes time for soccer, music, drama, dance and visual arts. We also give enough time for children to practice their creative freedom and expression (especially through arts and roleplaying).
Contact us today if you want your child to have fun and fully help him/her in his/her healthy development. We’ve designed age-appropriate activities that encourage fun, physical activity, exploration and creative expression.