Thinking Outside the Box…Preschoolers Love Learning

Boxes…imaginations run wild when left to discover their many possibilities. Anchor Center Preschool children are learning from boxes in their most current program unit. Who can’t remember a time when a leftover box became a rocket to space or a fort?

There are so many concepts that can be learned when exploring boxes. Just think: pouring cereal from a box, opening the package that grandma sent, sitting on top of a box, getting a tissue from a box, reaching inside of the box…the opportunities are endless.

Through the end of December, our classes will be reading stories about boxes and will have different activities about their properties. During this unit, we encourage families to save boxes to continue learning at home. This allows children to relate the activities they experience at Anchor Center with daily living.

Below are just a few of the great home-based activities families can use with children during this time:

• In and Out: Let children explore crawling into a box, putting different objects in the box and have their favorite toy sit in and out of the box as well.
• Over and Under: Have children imitate what family members are doing by crawling over or sitting under a box.
• Push and Pull: Place something into a box that makes it heavier; let the child push the box around the house. Families can get creative and add a strap to the box so the child can pull the box also.
• Heavy and Light: Have an assortment of boxes that range from heavy to light and let the child explore the differences.

Families can get creative…paint boxes to work on fine motor skills, search for boxes in public and how they are used, or build towers to aid in motor planning.