At the Academy of Mt. Juliet, when the weather is wild and outdoor play is off-limits 🌧️❄️, indoor gross motor play becomes a BIG deal for preschoolers! Little bodies are made to move, jump, wiggle, and zoom—and when they can’t go outside, they still need ways to get those wiggles out.

🏃‍♂️ Let the Wiggles Out!

Preschoolers have lots of energy. Indoor movement helps them:

• Jump, crawl, and stretch instead of bouncing off the walls

• Feel calm and ready to learn afterward

• Avoid “cabin fever” meltdowns

🧠 Moving Bodies = Growing Brains

Movement helps brains grow! When kids move, they’re also:

• Building coordination and balance

• Strengthening muscles needed for writing and sitting

• Learning while they play (sneaky learning 😉)

😄 Happy Moves, Happy Kids

Gross motor play helps preschoolers:

• Feel proud when they master a new move

• Laugh, smile, and have FUN

• Release big emotions in a healthy way

🤝 Play Together, Move Together

Indoor movement games help children:

• Take turns and follow directions

• Play cooperatively with friends

• Practice listening and teamwork

🏠 Rain or Shine, We Still Move!

Keeping movement in the daily routine helps kids feel safe and secure—even when plans change because of the weather.

🎉 Fun Indoor Gross Motor Ideas

• Dance parties (freeze dance is a favorite!)

• Obstacle courses with pillows, tunnels, and tape

• Animal walks (hop like a frog, stomp like an elephant 🐘)

• Yoga and movement songs

• Ball games or scarf dancing

✨ Even when we’re stuck inside, gross motor play keeps preschoolers happy, healthy, and ready to learn. Because every day is better with a little movement magic! 💃🕺

Fine motor skills are a critical component of the Pre-K Frog Street Curriculum at The Academy of Mt Juliet as they lay the foundation for children’s independence, learning, and future academic success. At this age, children learn best through hands-on experiences, and fine motor development supports nearly everything they do in the classroom.

Here’s why fine motor skills are so important for Pre-K children:

✋ Builds School Readiness

Strong fine motor skills help children learn to:

• Hold crayons, markers, and pencils correctly

• Cut with scissors

• Trace, draw, and begin writing letters and shapes

These abilities prepare children for kindergarten tasks like writing, completing worksheets, and participating confidently in classroom activities.

🧠 Supports Brain Development

Fine motor activities strengthen the connection between the brain and muscles in the hands and fingers. This coordination helps improve:

• Focus and attention

• Problem-solving

• Hand-eye coordination

🌱 Encourages Independence

Fine motor skills allow children to manage everyday tasks on their own, such as:

• Buttoning, zipping, and dressing

• Opening containers

• Feeding themselves

This independence builds confidence and self-esteem.

🎨 Enhances Learning Through Play

Many learning activities depend on fine motor skills, including:

• Puzzles and manipulatives

• Building with blocks or Legos

• Art projects like painting, gluing, and beading

These activities also strengthen creativity and perseverance.

💬 Supports Social and Emotional Growth

When children can participate successfully in classroom activities, they feel capable and included. This reduces frustration and helps them:

• Express themselves

• Take pride in their work

• Stay engaged with peers

📚 Prepares for Academic Success

Research shows that fine motor development is closely linked to early literacy and math skills. Children who develop these skills early are better prepared for:

• Writing letters and numbers

• Following directions

• Completing classroom tasks

✨ In short: Fine motor skills are essential because they help our Pre-K children learn, explore, communicate, and grow with confidence—laying the groundwork for lifelong learning.

 

 

Math skills—including early ideas about color, size, and comparison—are essential in preschool because they form the foundation for how young children make sense of the world. At this age, math is not worksheets or numbers; it is hands-on thinking, exploring, and problem-solving. Here’s why these skills matter in our FrogStreet curriculum at the Academy of Mt Juliet:

1. They Build Early Cognitive and Thinking Skills

• Understanding color, size, sorting, and patterns helps children learn to observe, compare, categorize, and organize information.

• These are the same mental processes used later for counting, problem-solving, and logical reasoning.

2. They Strengthen Foundational Math Concepts

Preschoolers learn math through concrete experiences.
Skills such as:

• Grouping objects by color

• Ordering items by size (small to big)

• Recognizing patterns (red-blue-red-blue)
  all prepare children for:

• Number sense

• Measurement

• Sequencing

• Geometry

• Later arithmetic

3. They Enhance Vocabulary and Language Development

Math experiences introduce new descriptive words:

• “Bigger/smaller”

• “Longer/shorter”

• “Light/dark”

• “Same/different”
  Children learn to explain their thinking, improving both math understanding and communication skills.

4. They Support Problem-Solving and Decision-Making

When children sort items by color or figure out which object is tallest, they are:

• Making choices

• Testing ideas

• Learning to think critically
  These problem-solving skills transfer to all areas of learning.

5. They Promote Creativity and Exploration

Activities involving colors and sizes encourage open-ended play:

• Building with blocks

• Creating patterns with beads

• Exploring art materials
  This kind of play teaches children to experiment and try new strategies—core traits of creative thinkers.

6. They Build Fine Motor and Visual-Spatial Skills

Math activities (matching, stacking, arranging) help children:

• Strengthen hand muscles

• Develop hand-eye coordination

• Understand spatial relationships (under, besides, inside, around)
  These skills are important for writing, reading, and everyday tasks.

7. They Connect to Real-Life Experiences

Children see math everywhere:

• Sorting toys by color

• Comparing the size of shoes

• Noticing patterns in nature
  Teaching these skills helps them make sense of their environment and participate more independently in daily routines.

  

  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

At the Academy, as part of our Conscious Discipline Curriculum, our toddlers participate in Baby Doll Circle Time. 

Here’s why baby doll circle time is important for preschoolers and toddlers, especially when grounded in the Conscious Discipline approach:

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🌱 1. Builds Emotional Connection and Empathy

In baby doll circle time, children care for a baby doll—feeding, rocking, soothing, and talking kindly.

• This helps them practice empathy and understand feelings (“My baby is sad—what can I do to help?”).

• By mirroring the nurturing behaviors modeled by the teacher, they learn how to express love, gentleness, and comfort with others.

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💬 2. Strengthens Language and Communication Skills

Through songs, rhymes, and talking to the dolls, children:

• Practice naming feelings and body parts (“Baby is sleepy,” “Baby’s eyes are closed”).

• Build vocabulary and use social language in caring, relational contexts.

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💗 3. Supports Attachment and Safety (Key to Conscious Discipline)

Conscious Discipline emphasizes that safety and connection come before learning.

• When children “care” for their doll, they experience being the nurturer, reinforcing a sense of security and self-regulation.

• The routine of circle time helps children feel safe and predictable, key to developing self-control.

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🧠 4. Teaches Self-Regulation and Problem-Solving

Children learn to manage emotions by modeling soothing actions (“Let’s take a deep breath to calm our baby”).

• This helps them practice calming strategies they can later use on themselves.

• Over time, they internalize those skills for their own emotional regulation.

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🤝 5. Encourages Social Skills and Community

Group circle time with dolls helps toddlers and preschoolers learn:

• Taking turns, watching others, and sharing space

• Practicing cooperation and kindness

• Feeling part of a caring classroom family, a key Conscious Discipline principle

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In short:

Baby doll circle time is not “just play.”
It’s a powerful way to help young children:

• Feel safe and connected

• Develop empathy and self-regulation

• Build language and social skills

• Experience the foundations of emotional intelligence

 

In preparation for kindergarten readiness, our PreK classrooms are working on shapes and fine motor skills, including cutting and gluing. Children benefit in many ways from these types of activities: 

🎯 Key Benefits of Combining Fine Motor + Shape/Math Skills in Preschool

1. Enhanced Brain Development

• Activities that involve both hands-on manipulation (e.g., cutting, tracing, building) and shape/math recognition (e.g., sorting shapes, matching patterns) activate multiple areas of the brain at once.

• This promotes neural connections between motor coordination, spatial reasoning, and early numeracy.

2. Improved School Readiness

• Fine motor skills (like holding a pencil or manipulating small objects) are essential for writing.

• Recognizing shapes and understanding spatial relationships lay the foundation for geometry, measurement, and number sense.

• Together, they prepare children for kindergarten tasks, such as drawing shapes, writing numbers, and solving puzzles.

3. Stronger Spatial Awareness

• Manipulating shapes builds visual-spatial skills: understanding how objects fit and relate in space.

• These are key for early math skills such as geometry, symmetry, patterns, and even understanding quantity and number lines.

4. Deeper Conceptual Learning Through Hands-On Activities

• Children internalize math concepts more deeply when using their hands.

  • E.g., Using playdough to make shapes = understanding sides/corners + developing hand strength.

  • Puzzles and tangrams = shape recognition + problem solving + hand-eye coordination.

5. Language and Vocabulary Growth

• As children handle shapes and tools, they’re more likely to use descriptive math vocabulary: circle, triangle, bigger, smaller, sides, corners, etc.

• Teachers can scaffold these moments into math talk, boosting both math literacy and language development.

6. Increased Engagement and Focus

• Motor activities that incorporate math are fun and interactive, keeping young learners focused longer.

• Hands-on shape games and manipulatives support active learning, which is more effective than passive listening at this age.

7. Supports Diverse Learning Styles

• Combines kinesthetic (movement), visual, and logical learning modes.

• Helps children with different strengths access math concepts in ways that suit their learning needs.

By integrating fine motor and shape/math skill development, preschool educators support whole-child growth. This approach not only builds strong foundations for math and writing but also enhances focus, language, and confidence in young learners—setting them up for long-term success.

 Our children have been busy exploring, creating, and learning through hands-on building activities using everyday objects like cardboard boxes, plastic containers, paper towel rolls, bottle caps, and more. You might be wondering—why are we using these ordinary items for learning?

The truth is, building with everyday objects plays a powerful role in your child’s development.

Here’s why it’s important:

1. Encourages Creativity and Imagination
When children build with open-ended materials, there are no instructions—just possibilities! This helps them think creatively, come up with their own ideas, and bring their imagination to life.

2. Builds Problem-Solving Skills
Figuring out how to balance, stack, or connect objects teaches children how to solve problems, try new strategies, and keep trying if something doesn’t work the first time.

3. Develops Fine Motor Skills
Handling small items, taping, gluing, and stacking help strengthen the small muscles in their hands and fingers—essential for writing and other daily tasks.

4. Supports Early Math and Science Thinking
As children build, they explore concepts like size, shape, weight, balance, and measurement. They’re also experimenting—just like young scientists and engineers!

5. Encourages Teamwork and Communication
When building with friends, children learn to share ideas, take turns, negotiate, and work together to bring their vision to life.

At home, we encourage you to save and offer safe, clean recyclables and household items for your child to use creatively. A box might become a rocket, a castle, or a cozy animal den—let their imagination lead!

 

💡 Preschool STEM in Action: Exploring Light Through Colored Water

This week in our preschool STEM corner, we dove into a magical world of light, color, and water! Using simple materials and a lot of curiosity, our little scientists experimented with how light travels through different colors—and the results were just as exciting as a rainbow!

🔍 What We Learned:

• Light can change color when it passes through a transparent material.

• Mixing colors of water shows how primary colors combine to form secondary colors.

• Observation skills were strengthened as we described what we saw using words like “glow,” “shine,” “bright,” and “colorful.”

• We practiced hypothesizing (“What do you think will happen if we mix blue and yellow water?”) and testing our ideas—just like real scientists!

 Why It Matters:

STEM at the preschool level is all about playful exploration. Through this experiment, children learned about basic physics (light and color) while also building language, fine motor, and critical thinking skills.

🏠 Try It at Home!

This is a simple and fun activity to do in your kitchen or backyard. Ask your child to predict what will happen when you shine light through a certain color—and talk about what you observe together!