Creativity excels at St Jude Kinder Playschool

Playschool should be an exciting time of discovery and growth for children. This is made possible at St Jude Kinder Playschool with the school programme focusing strongly on encouraging social, emotional, physical and intellectual growth through creativity.

Numerous opportunities for creative expressions are priorities on the curriculum, and children have access to a melange of activities throughout the day. This includes playing with sand, educational toys, building blocks and puzzles. "Such activities are important to help children build skills they need to read, write, solve problems and co-ordinate things, thoughts and actions," principal Sandra Darmanin said.

The school also concentrates on paints, art material and crafts. With the help of the teachers, the children are able to create their artworks and crafts which serve as classroom decorations or to be gifted on specific occasions that come up during the year such as Christmas, Valentine's Day, Carnival festivities, Easter, Mother's Day and Father's Day. It is exciting to see two to three-year-olds creating Christmas cards or Carnival masks, which they exhibit and give to their parents as gifts. This proves that everyone is born creative, but probably due to too much instructional curriculum, such creativity is swept away.

Nevertheless, creativity is definitely not put aside at the play-school, as even when it comes to learning numbers and the alphabet, this is done in the context of the children's everyday experiences. Singalongs and watching educational videos are all part of a well-planned school day.

"We at St Jude Kinder Playschool strongly believe that creativity helps children to become more interested in discovering things for themselves and to make them keen to interact with each other even at this early age," Mrs Darmanin said.

Moreover, the children have the opportunity to play outside everyday. Outdoor play is never sacrificed for more indoor time. In addition, what about trying those busy small hands at "grown-up" activities? Surely, children thrill at the chance of doing such meaningful activities like cooking or preparing food. Through these activities, children learn nutrition, organisation and a bunch of other important life skills that provide the basis for learning.

Consequently, education should aim at making children and parents look forward to school, and having dedicated staff and a curriculum overflowing with creativity is the chore of it all. "I urge other schools to focus on letting children have fun while learning," Mrs Darmanin said. "As a result, children are more open to new creative ideas and their pace of learning, and self-esteem increases," she added.

For more information on creativity learning contact Mrs Darmanin on 2165-1412 or 7965-1412.