Suddenly you realize your baby’s grown not only beyond being a baby but is getting close to being through the toddler stage too! What’s next? Those wonderful years between 3-5 called the preschool years! Maybe you haven’t decided yet to send your kiddo to preschool–if you’re still debating here are some things to think about. Even if you have made the decision to send your child to preschool, there are many other decisions left to be made.
Do you want a preschool that’s:
• Cooperative
• Private, religious-based
• Foreign language immersion
• Private, non-religious-based
• Outdoor program
• Academic-focused
• ARTS-based
• Partial week, partial day
• Preschool + daycare combined
As you can see there are lots and lots of choices!
Use your kiddo’s preschool as the basis for their PLAY at home with the Lego® DUPLO® Preschool set! You can use this set as a way to ease your kidlet into what they can expect when they go to preschool OR as a way for them to show you what they’ve been doing at preschool! Using the preschool teacher and two children, your kiddo can role play different things they did or others did at school.
This Preschool Set includes:
• 3 figures: (1) preschool teacher; (2) children
• Preschool building with the following features:
—–·an opening door
—–·shelf
—–·opening storage bins and
—–·bathroom with toilet and sink
•Decorated Duplo blocks to encourage pretend PLAY such as:
—–·the numerals 1, 2 and 3
—–·a book
—–·sandwiches
—–·child’s drawing
—–·toilet paper
—–·hand soap, and a preschool sign
•Additional accessories include:
—–·fabric play mat
—–·bear
—–·two chairs
—–·cup and a jug
The Lego® DUPLO® Preschool set gets a PLAY ON stamp of approval with a couple of drawbacks I’ll highlight below.
PROS:
•Durable
•Promotes fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination and problem-solving skills
•Improve language skills
•Inclusive representation in figures
CONS:
•No way to store individual pieces. If you don’t have something to contain all of your pieces they’re easily separated and/or lost. In this set alone, there are 36 pieces plus 3 figures.
•Age-range: The manufacturer’s suggested age starts at 2. I would be more comfortable with the 3 years and over, unless the kiddo is closely supervised
•Creativity stymied–this isn’t as much of an issue for the older toddlers/younger preschoolers. However, as preschoolers start getting towards that 4-1/2 to 5 year stage, try not to give so many specific items and let them use their imaginations to create scenario. This gives them the chance to employ symbolism to represent various things.
Start early by developing an organizational system to keep track of pieces and directions. Because, just as your baby become a preschooler awfully quickly, your child will move from playing with DUPLOS® and go to straight Legos®. If you thought keeping track of parts was hard before you aint seen nothing yet! May the Force be with YOU! Yours in Play!
Teacher Karen