Besides playing with friends and strengthening academic skills, childcare centres in Singapore regularly include community engagement activities in their curriculum. These efforts help support social and emotional development during their early years.
Through community engagement initiatives, children develop stronger connections with those around them and understand how society works.
Some of the best playgroups in Singapore inculcate these learning goals into their programme. All in a bid to raise little citizens of the world.
Find out how the educators at Little Footprints Preschool integrate community initiatives to benefit children’s learning and growth.
How preschoolers benefit from community engagement activities
1. Strengthens children’s sense of belonging in communities beyond the classroom
Preschoolers may have limited interaction with people who aren’t family, teachers, friends or neighbours. Thus, community engagement activities may be a termly initiative for preschools in Singapore to take learning from books to the real world.
Being exposed and involved with different groups of people allow children to learn the concepts of community, belonging and identity.
2. Complements and enhances children’s learning and understanding of the world around them
Aligned with ECDA’s childcare curriculum in Singapore, lessons are built on a scaffolding framework to allow layered learning of themes and concepts. Besides learning through play, one of the best ways to learn is through experimental learning. This widens the understanding of their role in our community when they interact with different occupations or interest groups.
During the Covid period, children from Little Footprints Preschool were involved in a Start Small Dream Big project to bring cheer to our local migrant workers. From learning about their plight and lives, to shopping for essential items for them, the kids took this donation drive seriously. Through their experience, the little ones learned about compassion and how their little hands and hearts can make a big difference in others’ lives too.
3. Encourages self-awareness and a better understanding of what they are capable of
By participating in various community engagement projects, preschoolers go on a self-discovery journey to find out more about themselves.
How do I contribute to the task? Will I be able to do it alone or as a team?
These are some thoughts that may go through their developing brains.
4. Gives preschoolers the opportunity to ignite change in their communities
They might be young, but they can learn to make a positive impact when taught and shown how.
Children at Little Footprints Preschool who embarked on the Start Small Dream Big 2023 project discussed and learned how animals play an important role in our community. They realised that animals can save humans.
However, they learned how human actions have hurt our animal friends, even damaging their living environment. Materialising their new knowledge, these children are working together to promote an inclusive community that focuses on the co-existence between man and animals in collaboration with ACRES!
5. Provides opportunities to interact and communicate with people from all walks of life
Nursery students from Little Footprints Preschool learned about the power of kindness by spreading positivity to our community helpers in Singapore.
For Singapore Kindness Day 2023, they helped to pack welfare kits and personally handed them to our bus drivers and train conductors. Showing appreciation can be picked up at any age – these thoughtful hands managed to touch many hearts.
This yearly community engagement idea offers kids a reflection opportunity to be thankful and grateful to those around us too.
6. Exposes preschoolers to pick up values and good habits
Water conservation sounds like a big theme. To help preschoolers better understand the concept, community engagement activities are an extension of learning.
To commemorate World Water Day, children at Little Footprints Preschool embark on hands-on activities to learn about the importance of saving water. Through games, they learned how their daily routine could reduce the use of water too. This could be as simple as turning off the tap when brushing their teeth and rationing how much water is used during baths. The older children went around the neighbourhood to garner pledges for water conservation from the public too.
By collaborating with classmates, adults from external bodies and more, they learn about empathy, respect, cooperation, appreciation, being kind to others and more.
Community engagement activities for Little Footprints Preschool children in Singapore
With regular community-centric ideas weaved into the preschool curriculum, such initiatives support a young child’s socio-emotional development. As a firm believer in raising confident communicators, efficient problem solvers and independent thinkers, Little Footprints Preschool focuses on all aspects of a child’s learning and development.
Book a centre tour to find out more about our lessons and activities that are in line with ECDA.