KIDS PLAY AT YOUNG LEARNERS PRESCHOOL

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Young Learners Preschool

Located in Clifton Block 4 Karachi, Young Learners Preschool offers an adorable toddler friendly set-up with a secure and clean environment, conducive to learning through fun and play. Manizeh Qayoom, Imrana Zuhair & Yasmin Zaman, three ex-Karachi Grammar School Teachers from the Kindergarten section, started this venture in 2011 and now greatly benefiting all the students at YLP with their wealth of experience. All three of them are highly trained in Child Development and Education from USA & UK and various other international exposures from all over the world.

YLP hosted a kids play so I along with a few fellow bloggers went to see it. The director was there at the front door to greet us, walked us to the classroom where the teachers were smiling with warmth and the parents were nice and friendly too. I quickly discovered that it was far more than a preschool, it was a community.

Their classes are divided into 3 standards:

The youngest is the Mothers & Toddlers course designed for age groups from 9-17 months of age.

Then they have playgroup for ages 1.6-2.2 years.

The highest grade is pre-nursery in which the graduating students are of 2.3 – 3.4 years.

Currently they have enrolled 30 students, with 2 trained teachers in each class.

I love how Young Learners Preschool is a play-based school and they focus on "active participatory learning" so students have direct, hands-on experiences with people, objects, events and ideas. The teachers pay attention to what the kids are interested in and so they base a lot of their curriculum on that. Other than the regular classes there is outdoor time, music class, puppet shows, and they have a home and market setup to teach kids table manners and a know-how about grocery which I find really great. This method focuses on the elements of Early Childhood Development and Education:

1. Social and emotional: YLP has a puppet in each class with cute names. If they want to send a message they send it through the puppet. Like if a child is crying, he will say that "It's okay to cry, but you don't need to cry right now, you have so many friends around you". They also use the puppet to teach children words like 'please' and 'thank you' and they call them magical words. This aids in the children's feelings about themselves, the development of responsibility, and their ability to relate positively to others.

2. Physical development: The school has swings and a trampoline placed in their playground, jungle gym and monkey bars beside the regular slide, all secured with sand and mattresses in case they fall. Plus 1 maid and 2 teachers constantly supervise each child. Different activities and outdoor games give them a sense of achievement for instance, reaching heights on their own.

3. Cognitive/Intellectual development: They make sure to embed thinking skills, including the development of logical and symbolic thinking, problem-solving skills in children through various class room activities like identifying and remembering objects, shapes, names etc through nursery rhymes, songs, pictures, toys and sometimes even games.

Bloggers with Manizeh Qayoom and Imrana Zuhair

This place is a great learning environment for children at an early age. The educational games keep kids entertained while they are learning! For further details you can check out their Facebook page.