Circle time is when children and educators come together and have a joined start for the day. Circle time is much more than a shared moment with the group. Circle time is full of educational aspects as well as the promotion of social development.

According to the Little Book of Circle Time all the learning areas can be covered through circle time activities. Circle time can be used for promoting speaking and listening skills, mathematical thinking, a sense of teamwork, and sharing/taking turns.

How to prepare for circle time?

First of all, prepare a big enough floor space to sit on. It is nice if you have a specific circle time area that you gather on each time. When the circle time area is familiar to children, it is easier for them to concentrate and they know what is ahead when they gather for circle time.

Same, repeated routines are recommendable. For example, start circle time at the same time (for example after breakfast). Have the same starting and ending songs for circle time, but other activities during circle time can vary depending on your current learning theme or season. Also keep track of time, make sure circle time is no more than 20-30 minutes long.

If you have a specific learning theme, attach Circle Time to go together with the theme. For example, if the theme is animals, read a book about animals, sing a song that contains animals (5 little ducks), and let each child show from picture cards which one is their favorite animal! The same circle time activities can be done on many days, especially if the attending children are little. The smaller the children, the more repetition.

Seasons and Weather Lesson Plan Sample

How to involve toddlers in circle time?

At Kindiedays, we are committed to supporting the growth and prosperity of your preschool business.

We are thrilled to introduce our latest offering, Kindiedays Pro Program created to help you empower teachers, provide joyful learning, engage families, and increase admissions.  The program is developed based on best practices from Finland to address the challenges and opportunities in renewing early childhood education. 

Here is how...

Charting Your Path to Success with a Step-by-step program

1. Develop and Cultivate Teacher Professionalism, Dedication, and Retention

Early childhood is the period from birth to compulsory primary school age. It is a time of remarkable growth and important milestones in brain development. During this stage, children are highly influenced by the environment and the people around them. (Unesco 2020)

In early childhood, children are highly influenced by the environment and the people that surround them.

That being said, it is good to assess how the whole learning environment is set up to support children's playful learning such as:

• Educator's pedagogical skills and competencies when working with the children
• Curriculum and learning objectives for playful learning
• Action plans, syllabus, weekly and daily plans
• Lesson plans and activities
• Learning materials such as toys, building blocks, painting and writing materials, etc.
• Observations, documentation, and formative assessment of learning
• The activity areas

These should encourage and support the children to play, interact, and practice cognitive processes such as problem-solving and controlling feelings. Play motivates children, brings joy, and supports the children's well-being. It allows them to learn new skills while enjoying the learning.

Kindiedays CEO Milla van der Burgh visiting Globetrotter Kids in Bangalore

Kindiedays provides an innovative approach to creating a high-quality learning environment:

• Digital Tools to support children's learning
• Theme-based Lesson Plans based on playful learning
• Interactive Online Workshops for teachers

Benefit from world-leading research and practices from Finland, to create the best learning environment for your children's development and holistic growth.

In this blog post, we focus on the physical activity areas.

Physical activity areas

Circle time is often a time when children as well as educators come together and have a joined start for the day. Circle time is much more than a shared moment with the group. Circle time is full of educational aspects as well as the promotion of social development.

According to the Little Book of Circle Time all the learning areas can be covered through circle time activities. Circle time can be used for anything: promoting speaking and listening skills, mathematical thinking, a sense of teamwork, and sharing/taking turns.

How to prepare circle time?

First of all, children will need a comfortable seat or rather floor space to sit on. It is nice if you have a specific circle time area (for example a round carpet) that you gather on each time. When the circle time area is familiar to children, it is easier for them to concentrate and they also know what is ahead when they gather for circle time.

Same, repeated routines are recommendable. For example, start circle time always at the same time (for example after breakfast). Have the same starting and ending songs for circle time, but other activities during circle time can vary depending on your current learning theme or season. Also keep track of time, make sure circle time is no more than 20-30 minutes long.

Seasons and Weather Lesson Plan Sample

How to involve toddlers in circle time?

Last but not least! After this, fifth learning area, we have gone through all five learning areas that Finnish early childhood education follows in their curriculum. Yay!

The learning area of I grow, move, and develop includes learning goals that include physical activity, food education, health, and safety. The purpose is to create a stable foundation for children so that they learn to value health and overall well-being. Another aim of this learning area connect to children's physical activity. Improving children’s physical activity, body awareness as well as control over their bodies. Also, the development of gross and fine motor skills is important.

Get a free lesson plan connected to I grow, move, and develop learning area!

Children are naturally curious to move in different ways and try different things. The level of courage, self-confidence, and speed varies according to the child's temperament and character. Some children are fearless; they ride a bicycle at 100km/h even though they fall every other minute! Other children take it easy; they observe, test a little, practice carefully, refuse to go on the bike, observe a bit more, try once or twice, and take a break...they learn little by little once they have the courage and confidence to do it!