Canterbury Community Nursery School 2025-2026
Approach
Our Learning Approach
Learning Through Play!
Water and Sand Play
Children develop coordination as they learn to pour and basic math concepts are absorbed while watching water or sand levels rise or sink in different shaped containers.
Dramatic Play
The “playhouse” area of the classroom is an important place where children practice developing language and social skills.
Blocks
When children play with blocks they have the chance to become a giant. They can create anything and knock them down. Wooden blocks which are precisely measured give children many experiences with practical mathematics.
Science Area
This will hold different things from time to time. Children will have a chance to examine and play with various natural materials, such as rocks, beans and shells. They will absorb concepts of texture, color, weight and etc.
Art Projects
Whether it is pasting, coloring, finger-painting, or cutting children stretch their imagination and develop a greater awareness of size, shape, color, texture and position when they engage in art projects. Hand-eye coordination basic to writing and reading is also developed as children “make a mark” and create shapes and compositions.
Table Toys, Play Dough, Clay, and More!
Table Toys – Materials such as puzzles, beads to string, legos, peg and lacing cards develop children’s eye-hand coordination and awareness of concepts of size, shape, color, number and location – all basic to later reading and math skills.
Play Dough/Clay – These “tactile play” choices are very soothing and are useful in releasing tension and channeling feelings of aggression in children. Basic important math concepts are absorbed as children change the shape of a mass, break it apart and lump it back together again. And, of course, imagination and language grow as children create things and make up stories about them.