MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE -- Toddlers were scattered around the pre-kindergarten classroom in the Child Development Center, Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, playing a variety of games and enjoying arts and crafts recently.
“Kids learn through play,” Kia Bush, Pre-K site director, CDC said. “We are using entertainment as a teaching tool.”
Bush explained young children are not designed to sit in a classroom all day and receive lecture-style instruction. She said they enjoy playing and are more likely to learn and retain information if it is presented in a fun, interactive way.
Fun instruction was evident as young students painted the monsters they had drawn. While each child’s interpretation of a monster was drawn differently, they were all being painted green.
Several little cups filled with green paint sat on the table, but the bottles that provided the liquid was not.
“Which colors make green paint?” Natasha Coney, assistant Pre-K teacher, CDC, asked them as they continued with their artwork.
Yellow and blue was the answer given by the students.
“That’s right,” she responded. Coney had taken a bottle of blue and a bottle of yellow paint, mixed the two in front of the children then provided the end product, little cups of green paint, to the kids.
In another area of the room, two toddlers independently maneuvered through the log-process on computers in order to access games they wanted to play.
“We are not just preparing our children for kindergarten; we are teaching life skills,” Bush explained.
Having basic knowledge of how to access a computer system is a must-have in today’s world. Interacting with a variety of people from different backgrounds is another necessary skill set which she said can be learned at the CDC.
“There is consistent interaction with a wide range of individuals, personalities and cultures,” Bush revealed. “Those conditions prompt children to develop tolerance, inclusion and many other effective people skills.”
She encourages every parent with a Pre-K child to consider enrolling them in the CDC. The program is offered at no cost during the hours of 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., however; there is a fee for care prior to 8 a.m. or after 2:30 p.m.
For additional information contact Kia Bush at 229-639-6180.