Pre-KG 2026/ 27 Blog 5 Playing is learning !

 Pre-KG 2026/ 27 Blog 5

Playing is learning !

For centuries it was thought that children's play was either idle occupation or different from serious learning. 

This mindset was challenged by Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852), a German educator who invented the concept of the Kindergarten and changed early childhood education.

Mr. Friedrich Froebel believed that play is the most important way young children learn, grow and express their soul and the word "Kindergarten" which he created is used worldwide.

Being German, I am often asked about the origin, so I would like to share an introduction of Mr.Froebel and his concept.

This week again the Pre-Kindergarten children played and discovered with their friends inside and outside the classroom all while learning lots of new things. During outside time the Pre-Kindergarten children challenged themselves to trying a variety of vehicles and it was heartwarming to see how the older children engaged with them and made sure they were alright !

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Who was Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852)

Born on 21 April 1782 Friedrich Froebel was a German educator who invented the kindergarten. He believed that “play is the highest expression of human development in childhood for it alone is the free expression of what is in the child’s soul.” According to Froebel, in play children construct their understanding of the world through direct experience with it. His ideas about learning through nature and the importance of play have spread throughout the world.

Core Beliefs of Friedrich Froebel

Play is Serious Work: He argued that play is the highest level of child development. Through play, children test ideas and make sense of the world. 
Unity and Nature: He believed all things in the universe are connected. Spending time outdoors in nature helps children see these bonds and feel at peace. 
Child Autonomy: He taught that children learn best by doing things themselves. Adults should guide gently rather than give strict instructions. 
Holistic Growth: Education must care for the whole child. This includes physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. 
Women as Teachers: He believed women were naturally suited to be early educators. This idea gave women new professional roles during his time.

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Froebel considered the whole child’s, health, physical development, the environment, emotional well-being, mental ability, social relationships and spiritual aspects of development as important. Drawing on his mathematical and scientific knowledge Froebel developed a set of gifts (wooden blocks 1-6) and introduced occupations, (including sticks, clay, sand, slates, chalk, wax, shells, stones, scissors, paper folding). The gifts and occupations are open-ended and can be used to support children’s self initiated play.

Froebel believed that it was important for practitioners to understand the principles of observation including professional practice, the multiple lenses through which they see children- and that children see their worlds, as well as offering children freedom with guidance and considering the children’s environments including people and materials as a key element of how they behave.

Because Froebel based much of his understanding of children on observing them this has changed the way we think about children’s play. 

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It is interesting to see how wooden blocks, some of the original Froebel gifts, never fail to fascinate and always inspire the children to create, connect and try over and over. These original blocks now come in different materials and give children the opportunity to discover shapes and seek solutions.

It is fantastic to see how curious the Pre-Kindergarten children always are, how much they are starting to bond with their friends from the other EY classes and how ready they are for new challenges!

Looking forward to many more enriching play times and new discoveries !

With kind regards, mit freundlichen Grüßen, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY GFL & Deutsch      

German Saturday School homeroom teacher

Pre-KG 2026/ 27 Blog 4 Three shapes and more

 Pre-KG 2026/ 27 Blog 4

Three shapes and more

In our current unit in Pre-Kindergarten the subjects revolve around "Colours and Shapes" and our classroom boasts a lot of related materials.

As the children are getting to know the colours quite well, we focused on shapes this week, using our shape sorter with three shapes as a starting point. 

This yellow bucket with three shapes is much loved by the children and many of them know it from their Playgroup days when they experienced their first success of fitting the triangle, square and circle shaped blocks into the appropriate slots.

The week commenced with printing activities where the Pre-Kindergarten and K1 children used these three shapes and some water to print on the magic mats which I have owned for years and which are really useful as you only need water to play.

It was a little tricky to get the right amount of water and then move on to a white spot to make new prints. As K1 is learning about transportation, the children also tried to make a bus by using circles and a square and a different roller for the road. Everyone had lot of fun, learnt how to hold the shapes in order to print and engaged well.

Later in the day we expanded on this knowledge and let the children print with paint on their favourite colour paper. Paint has a different adhesion than water, so the children learnt to push and pull the shape off at the right time and take turns with the colours. Again, the children were very interested and the results were some colourful lively prints.

As shapes are really good for creating different types of art and fostering imagination, we took out our many boxes of different shapes from the Pre-Kindergarten drawers and the children created a variety of images and collages, from cherry pies with hexagons and circles to Picasso style art pieces showing that there really is no limit to one's ideas!

Fine motor skills are developing right from birth, so using paint brushes and making strokes or using tongs to pick up small coloured cotton balls and sort them into corresponding boxes are great activities to foster them and the ability to focus as well.

This week K1 also worked on their unit of seasons and the children of both classes painted big pieces of paper in green in order to make leaves for their season tree. Great collaboration, everyone !

Matching shapes is an activity children really enjoy and it is important for their recognition and early math skills. They can match them to cards, puzzles, books or even to images of a video clip. 

While I am not a big fan of TV and screens, there are some educational short clips out there where children can learn vocabulary, observe and interact. One of these is "The Shape Song" by Simple Songs and the Pre-Kindergarten children and their friends from K1 really enjoyed the song and showing their knowledge.

The Shape Song #1

We ended the week and our discovery into shapes with a beautifully illustrated book called "Color Farm". The book by Lois Ehlert has been around for many years and never fails to fascinate with its colourful illustrations and clever cutouts of shapes that show a different animal at every turn. I hope you have an opportunity to find it and read it with your child.

Wishing you a colourful and beautiful weekend!

With kind regards, mit freundlichen Grüßen, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY GFL & Deutsch      

German Saturday School homeroom teacher