Falling into Piaget’s preoperational stage from ages two to seven, preschoolers are limited in their ability to comprehend logic. Piaget described a preschooler’s thinking patterns as characterized by egocentrism, wherein the child can only view situations from his own perspective, and precausal thinking, wherein the child misinterprets cause and effect relationships. This suggests that preschool curricula should avoid particularly logic-based or abstract thinking lessons, such asking a child to sit still and maintain focus on a particularly challenging puzzle.
Piaget believed children of this age were remarkably perceptive and relied heavily on their senses to acquire new knowledge. He argued that preschoolers experience exponential mental growth using both their developing language abilities and their ability to establish connections between mental images and symbolic objects and the real world. Piaget felt the best way to encourage these new connections was through play and hands-on activity, believing that as your preschooler encounters new information, he assimilates it into the schema or mental map already built and accommodates it as a new piece of knowledge.
Following a Piagetan approach, your preschooler should learn through teacher- directed activities incorporated into the curriculum. The core academic subjects of language arts, math, science and social studies can all use these activities to amplify the retention of core concepts. Examples of this activity-based learning include a math lesson that incorporates counting or measuring physical objects, a science lesson on plants relayed through a student-grown garden or a language arts lesson on letters centered in group games.
In addition to directed projects, preschoolers also learn from unstructured and imaginary play. To encourage creativity, your preschooler’s classroom should be equipped with a creative play space filled with props, such as dolls, building blocks and other toys that encourage imaginary role playing. Having a set of dishes, for example, might encourage your preschooler to role-play an imaginary tea party or cooking lesson. While the range and amount of props can vary, the most important aspect to learning experiences is that your preschooler is able to direct his or her own activities, which not only encourages learning but also improves individual independence.