How to Improve the Effectiveness of Kindergarten Regional Activities

Regional activity is a kind of children's play and learning activity under the artificially created situation. Its organizational structure is relatively loose, with the characteristics of openness and individuality. Children can freely choose activities, venues, materials and partners according to their personal interests, needs and abilities, do what they want to do and play the games they want to play most. It provides a lot of opportunities for children to operate and think, so that children can actively gain knowledge and experience through their own activities, and at the same time, teachers have more opportunities to contact children, so that they can understand children more truly and teach students in accordance with their aptitude. Creating valuable regional activities can better promote the development of young children. Practice also makes us realize that combining regional activities with local curriculum, integrating curriculum content into regional activities and promoting children's development in regional activities can better reflect the value of regional activities.

Our county is a sacred place in the south of the Yangtze River, where there are plenty of fish and rice. Old towns and streets, crab festivals, folk festivals and ecological parks enjoy a good reputation. These are also the main contents of our courses with local characteristics. Making cloth shoes, modeling crab shells, feather fans and so on can become the game contents of children's activities. In the creation of the activity area, we fully tap all available natural and social resources, provide some necessary basic materials for children, and at the same time, pay attention to collecting more reasonable game materials with strong local flavor with children as far as possible, so that children can carry out activities according to their own wishes and emotions, and strive to promote their initiative, independence and creative development.

First, create activity areas by combining various means

1. Create regional environment by combining kindergarten-based courses

Our park has previously conducted research on such topics as "Research on Science Education with Local Materials", "Research on Art Creation with Local Resources" and "Research on Sports Activities with Local Characteristics". We draw lessons from experience and combine kindergarten-based curriculum to create regional environment. For example, the middle class created the "gaochun old street" activity area in combination with the local characteristic curriculum, and divided the whole activity into five regions: characteristic gourmet house, blue printed cloth embroidery workshop, Meijia cloth shoes shop, feather fan pearl craft workshop and folk custom exhibition hall.

2. Create characteristic areas according to children's age groups

We create activity areas of three age groups according to children's age characteristics. Small-class children are young and have just left home to start collective life, so the creation of small-class activity areas mainly reflects the feeling of home and play. For example, in small classes, dolls' homes, living areas, toy areas and weaving areas are mainly created. Children in the middle class gradually begin to like to play role games and pay attention to the surrounding environment, so the activity area created in the middle class mainly reflects their connection with the surrounding environment. For example, in the middle class, gaochun old street was mainly created. Large classes embody humanistic and geographical characteristics, highlighting strong local characteristics and humanistic environment. For example, in the big class, the folk performance workshop, Yinlin Mountain Villa Ecological Zone, Crab Modeling Zone and Folk House were mainly created. Through these different activity areas to meet the needs of children of different ages for activities.

3. Creating areas around theme activities

Regional activities have irreplaceable value functions, so we create activity areas around characteristic themes, provide a relaxed and free environment, satisfy children's interest development ability and personality, and enrich the content of activities.

During the theme activity of "Autumn comes to the field" in small classes, we carry out activities according to local conditions and make full use of the advantages endowed by nature. We carried out activities such as Going to the Field, Picking Wild Flowers and Weeds, Playing in Paddy Fields, Farmer's Uncle Working, Walking on the Ridge, and so on. And combine this theme to create or generate regional activities to enrich the theme content. First of all, we adjust the activity area according to the theme and add areas related to the theme. If we combine the above themes, we will create a "fun straw toy" corner and a "farming fruit" corner. Put straw toys made by parents, children and teachers in the corner of "Fun Straw Toys" for children to play. Put the collected agricultural fruits such as sweet potato, corn, radish and water chestnut in the corner of the "agricultural fruit" area to carry out activities such as cognition and classification. At the same time, replace other corner materials with autumn materials. For example, in the weaving area, we use the straw collected in the field to carry out simple weaving activities (such as knotting and winding);

In the art area, we use the collected wild flowers and weeds to arrange flowers. On the basis of children's cognition of sweet potato and radish, sweet potato, radish and green vegetable pedicle are used for printing activities; In the sports corner, straw toys are used to carry out grass rope games, grass stick relay and grass horse riding activities; In the doll's home, the dug wild vegetables are put in the doll's home to play cooking games.

Our hometown is the hometown of crabs, and we launched the theme activity of Gaochun Crab Festival in the big class. In the development of the theme, we combine the theme to create a suitable regional environment, and create the whole activity room as a crab festival environment. We use crab shells to make a big crab and decorate the wall. In the creative workshop, let children design slogans and posters to promote the crab festival, in the production area, let children use crab shells to turn waste into treasure, in the language area, let children use crab shells to make doll performances, and in the sports area, let children learn crab walking competitions. There are crabs in the science area, and children can play with crabs with sticks. Through various regional games, children can increase their understanding of crab knowledge, gain rich perceptual experience and promote the effective development of the theme.

Second, collect materials from activity areas in various ways

It is pointed out in the Outline that "the space, facilities, activity materials and routine requirements of kindergartens should be conducive to the active exploration and communication between children". Materials are very important to the development of activity areas. "Children's wisdom comes from operation", and children construct their own cognitive structure in the process of operating and fiddling with materials. In this process, children don't break their brains, think positively and put forward new challenges to themselves. Appropriate materials can arouse children's interest, develop their intelligence, cultivate their ability and autonomy, and develop their positive emotions. The materials in regional activities are teachers who can't talk. They build a bridge between children and knowledge, are tools for children to acquire knowledge and develop their abilities, and are effective carriers for children to carry out various learning activities in the region. Then, in our regional activities, we attach great importance to the use of local materials, and our materials are mainly collected through the following channels.

1. Collecting children

On the one hand, the materials collected by children in the activity area are mainly collected daily. We set up a treasure chest in the class. In the early stage of theme activities, we will let children collect all kinds of materials related to the theme. Some of these materials may not be used in the early stage of theme activities, so we will store them in the treasure chest. Including finished products and semi-finished products. These things will soon come in handy in games generated by children's theme background. Rich materials can help children find substitutes or make things when they encounter difficulties, so that children's themes and game activities can be carried out vividly, and children's innovative ability and problem-solving ability can be cultivated. On the other hand, we collected it in activities such as collection and visit. The materials collected by young children are mainly natural materials. Natural materials, as the name implies, are natural. They have not undergone any complicated physical and chemical treatment, showing children the most primitive beauty of nature. For example, when spring comes, we take our children to collect wild flowers and weeds; in summer, we take them to the stream to pick up stones; in autumn, we pick up straws, pinecones and reeds; in winter, during the Spring Festival, people like to eat dried fruits; peanut shells, melon shells, happy fruit shells and candy paper all become the materials in the treasure chest.

2. Collecting by parents

The materials collected by parents in the activity area are mainly produced or provided by parents during the theme activities. For example, in the development of "beautiful folk products", we mobilized parents to make various small folk artworks, and parents made cloth monkey sachets, cross-stitch insoles, water chestnut sachets and so on. Another example is "Fun Crab", in which we mobilize parents to collect all kinds of crab shells for activities. We also mobilized parents to collect a series of materials such as tiger shoes, blue calico clothes, feather fans and so on.

3. Collecting materials through teachers

Collecting materials through teachers is mainly achieved through teachers themselves and their potential guiding role. For example, teachers use their spare time to collect and make materials for the activity area. For example, some wild fruits, such as pinecones and Quercus acutissima, were collected by teachers in the corner of "Fruit Baby" area. Collect weaving materials such as reeds in the weaving area. At the same time, through the role of teachers, children and parents are guided to collect materials suitable for the activity area. For example, in the corner of the "Beautiful Feather Fan" in the big class, teachers first collected some common feather fans to give children a perceptual cognition, and then we guided children to collect their own feather fans together and launched parents and children to use feathers to create activities together. In such a process, the materials in the activity area are constantly enriched, and children have a broader creative world in the rich materials and open environment.

4. Collect through the society

In the corner activities of the "folk game area" in the large class, we collect folk activities through the society, such as "Grass and Grass", "Lotus Fragrance", "Flower Basket" and "Vaulting Horse Lantern", etc., and match them with local folk songs, so that children can play independently in the sports activity area. At the same time, we use the craft level of folk craftsmen to let children know about traditional handicraft production. For example, when we were in Tomb-Sweeping Day, we asked the peasant women who could make dumplings, and when the Dragon Boat Festival came, we taught the children to try making zongzi, and invited folk artists to tie dragon lanterns, make allegro and bamboo dragonflies. The rich and lively game materials collected from the big family of society have promoted the effective development of our regional activities.

3. Flexible delivery of materials in the activity area

1. Purpose of material delivery

In regional activities, the delivery of materials is targeted and closely linked to our educational goals. The materials should be put in purposefully. When choosing to put in operational materials, teachers can consider whether the materials meet the needs of children of this age according to their age characteristics, and at the same time, make the materials meet the actual development needs of children at this stage. In the material delivery, select and deliver those operational materials that can promote the development of children. For example, in the art area of our big class, we combined the theme activity "Gaochun Folk Festival" to provide dried bamboo to make lotus fragrance, decorate flower baskets and make masks to jump into the five cabins. Through the children's operation and use of materials, it reflects the fun brought by local materials and achieves the teaching goal.

2. Gradation of material delivery

When teachers choose and deliver operating materials, we will first think about: according to the requirements of going from shallow to deep and from easy to difficult, the materials to be delivered will be decomposed into several possible operating levels that can be consistent with children's cognitive development, so as to make the materials "hierarchical". And in children's activities, give them the necessary tips and guidance, so that children can choose their own materials according to their own abilities, use their own methods, enter exploration quickly and move toward the goal.

For example, when feeding small animals in the corner of the "Fruit Baby" area in small classes, the materials prepared by teachers are carefully considered and decomposed. In the early stage of children's operation, teachers provide small animal cartons, and children feed all kinds of fruits to small animals through their own hands. Then provide a small spoon for children to eat by small animals. Finally, chopsticks are provided for children to try to hold objects with chopsticks. The above details can show that the hierarchical nature of the materials we put in is also reflected in the materials we prepare for young children. They should be able to explain the changes in children's operation and exploration process, be able to adapt to the new requirements and challenges constantly put forward by children, and be developable, and play a role in helping young children accumulate various experiences, improve their abilities, constantly build cognitive structures and constantly improve their own development through constant exploration and trial.

3. Abundance of materials

The so-called richness refers to the diversity of materials selected by teachers for children, which can serve the realization of educational goals and the promotion of children's development from our educational goals and the needs of all aspects involved in children's development. Secondly, it means that the number of operating materials can meet the needs of the whole class of children to choose different and the same materials freely. Then, when we put the materials, we should first put them in a variety, and then put them in sufficient quantities to meet the curiosity and cognitive interest of children, and to meet the needs of children's free choice, so that children can add and change the operating materials according to their own wishes during operation. Children are particularly fond of imitation, and sometimes they have a desire to operate the materials because of their peers' novelty and interest, which requires a certain amount of materials for children's activities to ensure the smooth operation of children's activities. For example, in the "Fun Weaving Corner" held by the big class, we provided a variety of weaving materials, such as reeds, straws, bamboo strips, ribbons, crumpled paper, wool, cardboard, etc., which were added and satisfied according to the wishes of children in the activities, reflecting the autonomous characteristics of activities in the activity area. At the same time, we also pay attention to the enjoyment of the same material resources. For example, we have put straw in the weaving areas of all ages. Small classes use straw to tie knots, middle classes also use straw to weave straw ropes, while large classes use straw leaves to weave small animals and scarecrows.

IV. Integration with local curriculum

In the activity area, we attach great importance to the combination with local curriculum, and incorporate the curriculum content into regional activities, which will promote the development of the curriculum and promote the adaptation of individual children to the curriculum. Mainly reflected in the following two aspects.

1. Local characteristics provided by materials

Name of activity area

Contents of activities provided by materials

Scientific exploration area

Quercus acutissima fruit, pine cone, ginger, garlic, edamame, grain, sweet potato, corn, radish, taro, wild fruit, straw, green bristlegrass, etc < 2, according to the same name classification; 3. Specific size; 4. Distinguish different sounds (packed in cans); 5. Weighing stones and sorting stones; 6, itchy green bristlegrass, etc.

Sports area

Bamboo toys such as bamboo ladders, bamboo mats, bamboo rings, bamboo sticks and bamboo boards, and straw toys such as straw ropes, straw mats and straw sticks

1. Walking on bamboo ladders, playing with old mats, relaying straw sticks, throwing straw balls and beating scarecrows.

2. Make bamboo chips and do allegro exercises.

Music performance area

Snails, mussels, bamboo tubes, sand, etc.

Snails are worn as small bells, mussels are used as round dance boards, and various seeds are classified into cans to make sand balls.) Bamboo instruments and seed sand balls are used for music accompaniment.

Arts and crafts area

Crab shells, blue prints, gourds, feathers, tiger shoes, pearls, etc.

Crab shells are used as dolls, pearls and tiger shoes to decorate the classroom.

delicious food shop

glutinous rice flour, broken catkins, fried rice, etc.

make broken catkins dumplings, happy dumplings, various cakes, etc.

from the above table, we can see that we provide a series of local materials in the activity area, which has the following advantages: 1) it caters to the "local curriculum" and highlights the characteristics of our regional activities; 2) It is convenient for us to collect materials for rural kindergartens (these materials can be seen everywhere around us) 3) Save funds for kindergartens (rural kindergartens are generally poor in funds). Using homemade local toys saves a lot of funds for kindergartens, and at the same time, these materials can also meet the educational requirements well.

1. Activity content