Launch into Learning news

Our numbers at Launch into Learning (LIL) are growing every week with many new families taking up the offer of our free program for birth to four year olds.

Each week the children are able to immerse themselves in craft, fine motor activities, role play, and construction and music activities. The emphasis at LIL is early learning skills with their adult, but the main component is fun!

Play is all about having fun. Any activity, organised or unstructured, children find fun and enjoyable is considered play. While playing, children learn and develop important skills they will continue to use throughout their life.

Problem solving, creativity, and willingness to take risks are just a few of the skills developed through play. Children who use their imagination and ‘play pretend’ in safe environments are able to learn about their emotions, what interests them, and how to adapt to situations. When children play with each other, they are given the opportunity to learn how to interact with others and behave in various social situations.

In her famous study, Mildred Parten (1932) developed six categories of social participation among preschool children that are still widely acknowledged by educators today:

1. Unoccupied behaviour - not engaged in any activity.
2. Solitary independent play - child playing alone, no other children within a meter.
3. Onlooker behaviour - child observing others play but not joining in.
4. Parallel play - child playing next to others without verbal interaction.
5. Associative play - verbal interaction, but few attempts to organize the play situation.
6. Cooperative or organised supplementary play - each child taking an active role to plan and structure the play situation while collaborating with each other.

Please come along to our LIL sessions if you have a child in the birth to 4 years age group.

Registration forms are available on the College website. At LIL we recognise that play is an important vehicle that promotes children’s school readiness.

Mrs Linda Douglas - Pre-Kinder Coordinator