Learning centers are guided play areas, set up to allow children to play freely while exercising a specific developmental goal. A school room can be divided into separate areas, each with a specific goal in mind. Centers may include Music and Movement, Fine Motor, Gross Motor, Sand and Water, Dramatic Play and Blocks and Building. Each of these areas would include activities geared toward accomplishing that center's specific developmental goal. For instance, a Music and Movement Center would include various instruments for children to play, music to listen to, and an open area for dancing. All of these activities are geared toward the specific goals of helping children develop rhythm and an appreciation for various types of music. There may be a half-dozen or more of these centers set up around the room, and children are instructed to play in each area for a designated amount of time, before moving to a new center. Signs are usually posted at each center for easy identification.
A Music and Movement Center is a great way to introduce young children to music from around the world, and help them hone their rhythmic and dance skills. A table can be set up with a tape or CD player, headphones and music from different countries and genres. Music Centers also typically include a generous variety of instruments, including horns, flutes, drums, triangles, bells, maracas and rhythm sticks. Don't forget a small space where children are free to move around.
Wooden blocks, Legos, Lincoln logs, wooden train and dollhouse sets, foam jumbo blocks and unit blocks are all good choices for the Blocks and Building Center. In this area, children will develop hand-eye coordination and use their manipulative skills to place and balance blocks of different shapes, weights, colors and textures. Children will also learn to use their imaginations as they are given various guided building projects, like building a farm, city, house or vehicle.
Fine motor skills involve all of the small movements your child will learn to make with his hands. These movements include picking things up with fingers, using the wrists for scooping, and the hand movements involved in writing, tying and buttoning. A Fine Motor Skills Center could include things like a sand and water table filled with sand, water, rice, beans or pasta, an easel for brush and finger painting, a small puppet stage with finger puppets, and a play table with games like jacks, mancala, lacing cards and "quiet books" that teach kids to button, snap and tie. A nice addition to a Fine Motor Skills Center for older kids is a quiet corner with a basket full of yarn and kid-friendly needles to teach children to finger knit, crochet and knit with needles.
The Dramatic Play Center is where your child will have the opportunity to really let his imagination run wild. This is the area where kids engage in free play that teaches them cooperation, planning and organizing, and imaginative enactment. The center can include any make-believe settings, including dentist, doctor or veterinarian offices, kitchens, post offices, restaurants, grocery stores and farms. Include hooks for hanging various costumes, hats and accessories. This area can also be changed seasonally, or based on themes and holidays.
Reading is one of the most important skills a toddler will learn. A Literacy Center will provide a place where a young child can practice this developmental skill at her own pace, in a fun, non-threatening way. This center can include things like age appropriate picture books, a tape or CD player; headphones and children's audio books, bins full of sandpaper and other textured letters, sight word cards and activities, picture and rhyming cards, and word games. This is a great place to set up a small classroom library and some throw pillows, creating a relaxing environment that will help to foster a love of reading.
Rolling, walking, standing, jumping and all movements involving the large muscle groups throughout the body make up gross motor skills. A Gross Motor Skills Center can be set up indoors or in a corner outside, and may include a few small activities, or something as large as an entire playground obstacle course. An indoor center may include a hopscotch mat, Little Tykes Cozy Coupes with cones to ride through, portable slides, beach balls, Hula Hoops, balance beams and small rubber tires. The play can be extended to an outdoor center that includes full-sized tires, tricycles, slides and room for laying outdoor games, like Follow the Leader, Freeze Tag, Simon Says and Red Light/Green Light.