Could you briefly introduce your preschool and your role? 

I'm Mira Slawinski, entrepreneur, teacher, and founder of two daycares, By the Sea and Tiny Wonders. By the Sea opened its doors in 2021, and ever since, we’ve been sailing through days filled with curiosity, laughter, and discovery. We welcome your little ones aboard our ship, where they can explore, play, and learn every day in a safe and nurturing environment.

Tiny Wonders opened its doors in August 2025 and offers children a warm community and space to blossom at their own pace, guided by caring educators passionate about early childhood development.

What made you start using Kindiedays?

Honestly… can’t remember a time we didn’t have Kindiedays…I don’t understand how we managed then, even though I've been doing this work for 35 years…

How has Kindiedays helped your daily work (e.g., planning, documenting, assessing, communicating with parents)? 

Playful learning didn’t start as a trend. It didn’t originate in Finland either.
And it’s definitely not about “just letting children play.”

So where did playful, experiential learning come from — and how did it become the foundation of Finnish early childhood education?

Kindiedays Education Specialist Stella Giota tells the story.

Learning through experience: an old human idea

Long before schools, curricula, and worksheets, humans learned by doing.

Children learned by:

• Watching others
• Trying things out
• Making mistakes
• Playing, imitating, and experimenting

Learning through experience is not new. What is new is how education systems choose to value or ignore it.

In many ways, what we now call playful, experiential learning is simply a return to how children have always learned best.

When experience became “learning”

Preschools around the world want the same thing: A high-quality learning environment that is engaging, child-centred, and trusted by parents.

This is why many preschools start with training like Kindiedays Academy to learn:

• How playful learning works
• How children learn best through experience
• How to support early skills in a holistic way

But after the training, almost every preschool asks the same question:

“How do we make this work every single day?”

From Training to Daily Practice

Many schools have activities, worksheets, and “content.” But content alone does not create transformation and give answers to: 

• How teachers plan
• How to run activities
• How to observe learning
• How to document progress
• How to communicate with parents
• How to reflect on the learnings

Kindiedays Annual Subscription solves this by giving teachers structure and guidance without rigidity.

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What Is the Kindiedays Annual Subscription?

The Annual Subscription is a single yearly licence that combines four elements into one clear workflow:

✅ Learning Objectives (derived from curriculum)
✅ Academic Calendar
✅ Lesson plans
✅ Digi Tools (for documentation, portfolios, and parent communication)

These are not standalone products. Together, they create one organized journey.

Plan->Teach->Observe->Document->Share->Reflect

How the Annual Subscription Works in Daily Teaching

With Kindiedays, teachers don’t have to “create everything on their own.” Instead, they work with a comprehensive system that guides them step by step.

1) Learning Objectives: Clear Direction for Children's Skill Development

Teachers know exactly what children should develop across the year: language, early literacy readiness, numeracy readiness, motor skills, social-emotional development, creativity, and more.

Learning objectives build purpose and clarity

2) Academic Calendar: The Whole Year Structured for You

The academic calendar gives structure to the year, so Center Heads and Teachers can plan with confidence.

• Full-year calendar for 3 learner levels (3-4yrs, 4-5yrs, 5-6yrs)
• 5 learning areas
• 8 themes
• 32 weekly plans

No more disconnected weeks or rushed planning

3) Lesson Plans: Playful Learning Made Easy to Deliver

Teachers follow ready-to-use lesson plans designed for real classrooms. The lesson plans are organized by level and themes.

• Weekly programs with meaningful play-based activities
• Learning goals, activity steps, and printables
• Stronger child engagement
• Better teacher confidence and smoother classroom flow

Playful learning becomes consistent, not occasional

4) Digi Tools: Making Learning Visible 

This is where everything comes together. The Digi Tools support teachers to:

• Document learning naturally during daily activities
• Create learning posts and portfolios
• Track development over time with versatile reports
• Share meaningful learning moments with parents

For parents, learning becomes visible.
For leaders, quality becomes measurable.

Real Change Happens When Methods and Tools Work Together

The biggest mistake schools make is trying to introduce new pedagogy without supporting it in daily practice. With Kindiedays Academy and Kindiedays Annual Subscription:

✅ Teachers are trained in modern methods
✅ Teachers get a structured system they can use daily

The bridge between knowing and doing

What Preschool Owners and Principals Gain

For school owners and academic coordinators, the Annual Subscription supports the bigger business goals too:

• Consistent teaching quality across classrooms
• Clearer evidence of learning and pedagogy
• Stronger preschool positioning for modern, quality-focused parents
• Higher parent trust and satisfaction
• Smoother year-long academic planning
• Happier, more confident teachers

It creates a preschool that doesn’t just say it offers modern education, but actually delivers it daily.

In One Sentence

The Kindiedays Annual Subscription is one yearly system that helps preschools plan, teach, document, and share playful learning — consistently, confidently, and visibly — throughout the entire school year.

What next?

👉 Learn how Kindiedays can support you with a complete Curriculum Partnership.

I look forward to meeting you.

Milla van der Burgh

👉 Click here to schedule a consultative call on Zoom or contact me on WhatsApp!

PS Join our official WhatsApp group 👉 click here to join the group!

Are you curious to explore the secrets?

You’re warmly invited to a Kindiedays Free Workshop on the core strengths of Finnish education—what makes it work in practice and how you can apply the principles in your own context.

Details

• Topic: The Strength of Finnish Education
• Date: Thursday, January 29th 
• Time: 
  
  • Finnish time 11.30-2 PM EET
    
  • Indian time 3-5.30 PM IST

What you’ll learn

• The main goal of the Finnish Education System
• The principles of Finnish Early Childhood Education and Care
• The learning areas of the Finnish Curriculum
• Practical takeaways you can implement in your preschool

Teachers, school leaders, ECE coordinators, and anyone interested in evidence-informed, learner-centred practice should join.

📃 All participants will receive a certificate.

If you have any questions you’d like addressed, please reply to this email, and I’ll do my best to include them.

👉 Sign up HERE, it is completely free.

Looking forward to meeting you at the workshop❤️ 

Stella Giota, Education Specialist

stella@kindiedays.com

Kindiedays home page

A practical guide for teachers – with a real classroom example by Kindiedays Education Expert Stella Giota.

Playful, experiential learning is not about spontaneous activities or “free play without purpose.”It follows clear pedagogical steps—but the steps guide the process, not the outcome.

Below, each step is first explained in principle and then illustrated in practice through a month-long restaurant project.

STEP 1: Start With Children’s Ideas and Prior Knowledge

The principle

Experiential learning always begins with:

1️⃣ What children already know

2️⃣ What they believe (including misconceptions)

3️⃣ What they are curious about

The teacher’s role is to listen before planning.

Restaurant Example in practice

The teacher invites a group discussion:

• “What is a restaurant?”
• “Who works there?”
• “Where does food come from?”

Children share experiences, ideas, and questions.
The teacher documents their thinking and uses it as the starting point for the project.

STEP 2: Define Broad Learning Intentions (Not Activities)

The principle