The home center engages kids in a way that relates to all things home-related. The home center's main purpose is to familiarize children with everyday household objects and customs. Some of the toys and items included in a typical home center include a child-sized stove, refrigerator and sink; plastic pots, pans and dishes; napkins and place mats; empty food cans and boxes; a toy telephone; an old phone book; old junk mail; stuffed animals; and dolls.
The science center is designed to introduce children to concepts and ideas that aren't readily found in a typical home. Science centers are a springboard for children to look at the world around them. Some recommended items a science center should have are plastic magnifying glasses, magnets, tree leaves, rocks, seashells, science books, toy dinosaurs, and pictures or booklets of animals and plants.
Th art center encourages kids to be creative. Classroom art centers give children the opportunity to color, draw, paint and get engaged in crafts of various kinds. Include the following items in your classroom's art center: pencils, crayons, markers, paint (watercolor or tempera), paintbrushes, easels, glue sticks, construction paper, drawing paper, child-safe scissors, stencils and play dough.
The block center engages children in building exercises and activities that increase motor skills. Children use this area, containing big Lego blocks, Tinkertoys, toy cars and trucks, wooden blocks and child-sized plastic tools, to stimulate their brains to creatively put together small projects with their own hands.
This center focuses on building and logic exercises and is meant to be quiet and relaxed. In manipulatives, children become familiar with various kinds of puzzles -- board puzzles or floor puzzles -- as well as with pegs and peg boards. A manipulatives section isn't complete without a smaller set of Lego blocks, various kinds of action figures, and folder activities which include connect-the-dots and color-by-numbers activities.
Like manipulatives, the library/listening center is a more relaxed center that gets children involved in books with simple stories. A library/listening center should include items like small, child-sized bookshelves, a collection of age-appropriate books, a child's tape player or CD player with a selection of audio books, comfortable seating arrangements like bean bag chairs, and crayons and paper to make their own stories.