In our previous article, we explored how children can imagine, investigate and create through the Kindiedays Under the Sea theme.

Now our journey through experiential lesson plans continues with a world children can explore every day:

Environment 🌱🌳🌼

What might a stone inspire us to say? How can we help a plant grow? Can we find a leaf while hopping like a rabbit? Where might we discover numbers in a garden?

These questions invite children to observe, talk, create, move and care for their surroundings. They also give teachers opportunities to support language, creative expression, social development, mathematical thinking and physical development within one connected theme.

For a preschool owner or academic coordinator, this brings an important benefit: a familiar topic becomes a practical framework for purposeful learning throughout the week.

One theme with many opportunities for learning

Children’s environment begins close to home: a plant near the classroom window, a tree in the playground, a stone beside a path or flowers outside the preschool gate.

These familiar surroundings offer a starting point for exploration. Children can notice details, ask questions and discover how their actions affect living things.

Teachers can investigate questions such as:

• What can we see, hear and feel around us?
• How are these leaves or stones different?
• What does a plant need?
• How can we care for the places we share?
• What stories could we imagine about animals, trees and rivers?
• How can we use nature as inspiration for art, music and movement?

A preschool does not need a large garden to begin. Teachers can adapt experiences to a small outdoor area, a few planted pots, or suitable natural materials brought into the classroom.

The learning grows through what children do with these opportunities—and how the teacher supports their thinking.

In our previous article, we explored how children can investigate the changing world around them through the Kindiedays Seasons & Weather theme.

Now our journey through experiential lesson plans continues with something children are always curious about:

Under the Sea 🦀🐠🐳⛵️

What lives in the ocean? How do waves move? Can we build a boat that floats? What colours and patterns might we discover underwater?

These questions invite children to talk, imagine, experiment, and create. They also give teachers opportunities to support language, creative expression, emotional development, scientific thinking, and movement within one connected theme.

For a preschool owner or academic coordinator, a theme's value lies in its ability to provide an engaging context for purposeful learning throughout the week.

One theme with many opportunities for learning

Under the Sea opens a world that many children have seen in pictures or stories but may never have explored themselves. Some children know the beach well. Others might connect water with rain, a pond or a bucket in the playground.

Teachers can begin with those familiar experiences and introduce the wider ocean world through stories, pictures, sensory exploration, art and imaginative play.

Children can investigate questions such as:

• What creatures live in the sea?
• How can we describe how water moves?
• Which materials float, and which sink?
• How could we help a toy penguin travel across the water?
• What textures and patterns can we create in an ocean picture?
• How can we care for the water and the creatures that live in it?

Children can suggest ideas, test them, and talk about what they discover. The teacher guides the experience while leaving room for children's choices and curiosity.

Why explore Under the Sea in preschool

The theme brings together experiences that look quite different. A conversation about a favourite object develops communication. Printing an ocean background encourages creative expression. Testing a boat gives children a practical problem to solve.

The free Kindiedays Level 2 sample, Under the Sea — Ocean Explorers, shows how these experiences can fit into a balanced week. It includes five lesson plans, each about 30 minutes long, plus a weekly overview and supporting printable resources.

Reflections by Milla van der Burgh, CEO of Kindiedays and a mother of a 6-year-old boy in a Finnish preschool.

“They had a good day. Ate well and joined in the activities.”

These familiar, useful updates come up at pickup time. Yet they leave much of a child’s day untold. What sparked their curiosity? What did they discover? What made them proud?

These moments give parents something meaningful to connect with—and a starting point for conversation.

At a recent Finnish early childhood education seminar, Karoliina Purola explored how teachers can support families’ involvement. One distinction stayed with me: taking part does not necessarily mean feeling involved.

A parent can attend an event or read every update and still feel that their perspective has little place in their child’s early education. Meaningful involvement grows when families feel heard, recognise that their knowledge of their child matters, and have opportunities to contribute.

Everyday observations open the conversation

Teachers know a child through play, friendships and everyday experiences in the early learning setting. Parents know them at home and within their closest relationships. Bringing these perspectives together can deepen everyone’s understanding.

Specific observations help that exchange happen.

All images are AI-generated illustrative images of fictional people and places. They do not document actual centres, customers or product screens.

“We built with blocks today” describes an activity. A photograph with a short note about how a child worked with a friend to keep their bridge standing reveals their thinking, persistence, and cooperation.

This week, we are recognizing the Work of Early Childhood Teachers

A child joins a game for the first time. A tower collapses, and someone encourages its builders to try again. Two children find a way to share.

Behind these everyday moments is a teacher making thoughtful decisions—when to help, what to ask, and how to support each child.

Early childhood teaching takes warmth, knowledge and professional judgment. On 5 October, World Teachers’ Day reminded us to recognise that expertise—and provide the support teachers need. World Teachers’ Day · UNESCO

A long history of learning through play

Kindergarten has deep educational roots. In the nineteenth century, Friedrich Fröbel placed play, activity and children’s own expression at the heart of his approach.

👉 Historical background

In Finland, the profession developed over generations:

• In the late 1880s, Fröbel-inspired kindergartens took root.
• 1892 Kindergarten teacher education began.
• 1995  Teacher education moved into universities.
• 2014  National Core Curriculum for Pre-Primary Education in Finland

👉 Kindergarten teacher education · University of Helsinki

The early childhood teacher in Finland

The profession has continued to evolve, bringing together care, research-informed teaching, inclusion and collaboration with families.

Finnish early childhood education combines education, teaching and care, with an emphasis on pedagogy. Children’s interests, participation and play help guide everyday learning.

👉 The Finnish approach · Finnish National Agency for Education

That becomes visible through teachers’ daily decisions:

• Plan  Create experiences that support learning and invite participation.
• Guide  Help children express ideas, build friendships and explore together.
• Notice  Observe children’s interests, strengths and needs.
• Reflect  Use documentation to understand learning and decide what comes next.
• Connect  Work with families and colleagues to support each child.

👉 National core curriculum for early childhood education and care - Pedagogical Documentation (Chapter 4.2 (page 36)

More than a tower

Imagine children building with blocks. A teacher notices their ideas, asks what might make the structure stronger, and helps another child join the project.

Within one playful experience, children can explore balance, language, problem-solving and cooperation.

The teacher’s expertise helps turn an everyday opportunity into meaningful learning.

Appreciation that lasts beyond one day

Teachers deserve time to plan, opportunities to learn, and tools that support their work. At Kindiedays, we support teachers with Finnish-inspired playful learning resources, professional development, and digital tools to document and share children’s learning.

👉 Explore how Kindiedays supports teachers

Thank you to the teachers who notice the small moments—and understand how much they matter.

Warm regards,

Stella Giota, Early Education Specialist

stella@kindiedays.com

Kindiedays home page

How can you turn play-based learning into a consistent experience for children, teachers, and parents?

Most private preschools have a clear vision for the children in their care. They want joyful classrooms, confident teachers and children who are curious, capable and ready for the next stage of learning. Their websites often promise child-centred, experiential or play-based education.

The hard part comes after that promise. What will happen in every classroom on Monday morning? Will a new teacher know how to put the approach into practice? Will parents understand what their child learned while playing? And can the owner or Academic Coordinator see whether the intended quality is being delivered consistently?

These are practical questions for any preschool that wants its educational promise to mean something in daily life. They also affect the trust families place in the preschool and the confidence with which staff can represent it.

The gap between a curriculum and a classroom

A curriculum can describe what children should learn. It cannot, on its own, tell a teacher what to do when 20 children arrive, materials are limited, and the day is already busy.