Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 35 Getting dressed

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 35 

Getting dressed

Getting dressed is one of the skills that parents are keen for their toddler to learn fast.  

As the Pre-Kindergarten children start classes at age 2 , they are still very young and need to learn getting dressed.

It is not an easy task as it involves everything from fine and gross motor skills and coordination to balance and cognitive awareness.

So first, the easier part is to take things off. The hats, the shoes, the socks, the jackets…

Once this is managed, the children would like to put everything on again and often get quite upset if it doesn’t work their way.

Here at Pre-Kindergarten I invest a lot of time helping the children to reach their goals and I offer different methods to practice.

The children have taken very much to the many different dolls that inhabit our classroom and they are so wonderful for role play - tor feeding, carrying around, mothering, taking on rides, combing, putting to sleep, practicing the body vocabulary on and most recently trying to dress them. 

Showing amazing patience with getting the dolls dressed, the children are improving their skills daily. Two of our girls also started to iron the clothes, showing their understanding of proper care for clothing and making connections to their home environment.

We looked at a variety of clothes and we discussed why clothes are important. Most of the children understood that clothes are warm and protect our body. Clothes are useful. But clothes can also be lots of fun.

Kai told us that he is wearing his special white and blue birthday T-shirt. 

As we were celebrating Kai’s 3rd birthday, we had the perfect opportunity to dress up! So everyone went to the K2 classroom, choose a colourful costume and wore it for the party. Thank you for sharing, K2 !

Happy, happy Birthday, dear Kai ! What a fun celebration we had ! And thank you to the Brabant family for the cute and useful hand towels as gifts and the cookies !

Everyone loved them !

During the week the children also tried out different puzzles to learn more about the proper sequence of dressing. 

After some repetition, almost everybody could do it.

A layered wooden puzzle taught the children more in depth what is under the clothing and even under the skin.

The children showed great interest in learning that there are many muscles that make our body work.

In preparation for our excursion on Friday, the children looked at the beautiful leaflets of the Fashion Museum and wanted to be princesses or princes as well.

So the children changed themselves into royalty by gluing a picture of themselves onto the leaflet and also choosing a royal partner.And let’s not forget the crowns, necklaces and earrings ! What a beautiful and beaming group of princesses and princes !

On Friday then, the children visited the fabulous exhibition in the Kobe Fashion Museum, which featured a colourful variety of sparkling costumes and head dresses of the Takarazuka dance troupe. Their shows are wonderful combinations of elegance, hard work, a world of imagination and beautiful costumes, acting and singing.

If you have a chance, please visit the exhibition and please visit the show. Thank you to Suzu’s parents for accompanying us!

The Pre-Kindergarten children were mesmerized and commented on the amazing clothing and displays.

My philosophy is to always give the children a wide range of learning experiences and our excursion shows again that it is very important to expand the children’s horizons.

Next week it is Show Time at our SLC, student led conferences ! 

I am looking forward to seeing all of you then !

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher