Story-telling Developmental Activity for 3-5 Years Old Children
Introduction
The issue of child care is one that is seen as a direct result of today’s changing economy and family dynamics. Most of the premises surrounding the family have given way, leaving its youngest members without the support that we have come to expect for them. Gone are the days when a family is one where there is always someone around to care for the young ones. A trend of separations, divorces, increasingly difficult living conditions, gender equanimity, and the trend of distance between one unit and its relatives has deemed it necessary for the modern family to turn to child care.
And while this is a practical and increasingly common way for children to receive the attention they need while their own family is unavailable, there is still much concern about delegating this task to the individuals or groups that offer child care. There is always the question of whether or not this is the best, and the safest, thing to do for the child; and if a child relegated to receiving this type of support is being given as much care as a child who stays with his family. With as much or as little control is put into this by the government, and with the demands for more substantial child care policies, studies are turning more and more to the effects the system will yield on our future population.
This paper presents some personal reflection on facilitating cognitive, social, emotional and physical developmental through story-telling activity to children belonging to the 3 to 5 years old age group in a child care center. In line with this, my reflection on the observed activity suggests confirmations on my hypotheses that (1) the engagement of a child with the environment provided by child-care programs is likely to facilitate the acquisition of motor skills, concepts of space and time relationships, language, and will contribute to children’s intellectual development, and that (2) the interactions and social play with peers or the up-bringer will facilitate the development of social competence and peer interaction skills in the child.
Activity Summary and Discussion
Teaching children is perhaps, one of the most demanding yet rewarding experiences one can have. Teaching young children the basics, which eventually help them learn more complex ideas, is the whole idea of effective teaching and learning. , on his experiences in teaching History in primary school, suggests the following considerations in teaching: "make it lively, make it interesting, and -- above all -- involve the children." (1999). He emphasizes the importance of the children's involvement in their learning experience, that ideally they should not only be recipient of the process but that they also be involved in the subject as much as they want to be.
With this premise in mind, I made an appointment with the nearest child care center in the locale and inquired about the upcoming lessons and activities that the institution prepared for the children under their care. They showed me the list of activities that are lined for the next two weeks to occupy the children they teach and care for. The activities included the daily routines of the children which are composed of drawing, story-telling, block and puzzle games, singing nursery rhymes, counting, and play times in the park. From these range of activities, I decided to observe the class while they are in their story-telling activity. Aside from the free schedule that I was entitled that time, I find it amazing when kids are able to show they can receive information and comprehensively digest facts through their inquiries right after the activity.
In the book by (1984) on Classroom Strategies for Cognitive Growth, they give us the following rules which can be applied when planning and executing class activities. Although they were not specifically written with this topic in mind, they can be adapted to suit our purpose of getting the children’s ideas on the topics being presented. If successful, the teacher can then (1) find out what and how children think, (2) motivate children to become intellectually active, (3) can enhance cognitive development, the activation of problem-solving processes, and the focus of persistent attention on interesting and fruitful issues, (4) can help children become aware of their own thought processes as they clarify for themselves what they do and do not know, (5) can provide the direction and guidance needed for children to think through challenging issues, (6) can encourage thorough examinations of a problem or interest by providing the support, in whatever form, they need ()
During the story-telling activity, the facilitator introduced the fairy tale using huge colorful illustrations which were drawn by strings to animate the character. The class was seated by rows as spectators of the lively semi-puppet show. The colored illustrations and the changing voices of the narrators to dub the lines of the characters were very effective in catching and maintaining the attention of the kids. The center likewise made use of cassette player to provide for the background music and necessary theme of the fairytale. As the story progressed the children were encouraged to ask questions as the facilitator inquire about they are thinking. Moral issues and values in the story were tackled and discussed along with questions that seek to broaden the children’s cognitive processes and understanding. The children were asked hypothetical questions that explored the values they adhere to as well as inquiries that present them realizations of what is right and wrong. The physical and social skills of the children were exercised through simple group activities that followed which encouraged them to identify and pick the characters being described. This segment initiated the concept of the importance of helping and being compassionate with others.
According to (1995), “child care can strengthen or undermine children's cognitive and social development" () A well-equipped child care center can provide a suitable pace of learning, supervise social behavior, provide a sense of security to children up to the point where they develop an attachment to their caregivers. This is as much as an ideal compensation for the absence of the children’s parents. As such, it is apparent that the role of facilitators and child care institutes are highly influential to early child development. Their effective planning and implementation of pre-school activities to children under their care provides strong implications to the cognitive, social, emotional and physical growth of the children. Story-telling activity in particular is one of the most popular teaching methods to children in child care institutions.
Conclusions
My observations indicated that child-care environment are ideal for children who are 3-5 years old because their programs introduces and exercises the child’s motor skills, concepts of space and time relationships, language, and overall intellectual development. Moreover, the interactions and social play with peers and facilitators initiate the development of social competence and peer interaction skills in the child. Lastly, story-telling is an effective method to enhance the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development in children.
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