A few years ago, my husband and I co-taught a week of Preschool Vacation Bible School (and yes-it was as exhausting as it sounds!) Luckily by that time in my life I had gained a lot of experience working with preschoolers so I had pretty good idea of what to expect. My husband however, bless his heart, did not.
On our first day of VBS we got through all the curriculum we needed to with 45 minutes to spare. My husband (Russ) looked at me with panic in his eyes as the energy in the room had risen to off the chart status! I reassured him that I came prepared. I then asked him to occupy the kids for 5 minutes with a story while I quietly got to work to create play areas around the room.
Play areas/centers are designated play areas spread out in different parts of a room. I knew ahead of time that this would be a great little trick to use to get through VBS without pulling our hair out!
While Russ read the kids a story, I grabbed the materials I had brought and set up four play areas throughout the room.
In one corner I set out a large basket of blocks and a basket of block accessories (cars, road signs, trees and animals).
In another corner I set out pillows and books.
On the other side of the room I put out 2 large floor puzzles.
At the table in the middle of room, I set out markers, colored pencils, crayons, stickers and a variety of construction paper.
After Russ finished reading to the preschoolers I talked to them about the newly formed play areas. I went over what was available in each area and explained that they could play at any of the centers for the next 45 minutes.
The kids jumped up from their seats and quickly settled into the area that caught their interest the most. Suddenly the room was filled with a quiet hum of focused children, happily playing!
My husband looked at me with a shocked expression. He could not understand how our room of widely energetic kids could suddenly turn into a quiet and engaged group of preschoolers, happily involved in their play.
