Happy Weekend Chembur Family.
Choosing a preschool also means deciding what you believe “learning” should look like at this age.
And that can be harder than it sounds.
With 25+ preschools in Chembur, parents can compare everything from location and fees to facilities, activities and curriculum. But when children are two, three or four years old, how much of their learning should actually look like conventional academic work?
There is growing pressure for young children to read earlier, write earlier and demonstrate more academic skills. But Pooja Savla of ThinkNest Learning questions whether more visible academic output necessarily means better learning.
Her perspective is that the foundations need to come first.
Before expecting a child to write, there is fine-motor control to develop. Before expecting them to read, there is language, listening and a love for stories to build. Before asking them to solve problems on paper, there is experimentation, observation and thinking to encourage.
That changes what parents might notice when they observe a preschool.
A child building something, negotiating with a friend, sorting objects, watering a plant or pretending to run a shop may look like they are simply playing. But through those experiences, they can also be developing language, problem-solving, social skills, early mathematical thinking and independence.
The learning is happening. It just doesn't always look like a lesson.
Pooja also places importance on something that can easily get lost when adults are trying to help children, independence.
Giving a child the opportunity to make a choice, try something themselves or solve a small problem matters even when they don't get it right the first time.
That means a preschool environment isn't only about what educators teach children. It is also about how much opportunity children have to explore, experiment and figure things out for themselves.
And this way of thinking doesn't stop at the preschool gate.
Everyday life can become an opportunity to learn.
Counting while cooking. Comparing things while shopping. Noticing what is happening during a walk. Predicting what happens next in a story. Talking about what a child sees and, importantly, listening to what they have to say.
At ThinkNest, this thinking is reflected in an approach that draws inspiration from different early-childhood philosophies while bringing together play, hands-on exploration, movement, creativity and real-world experiences with intentional teaching.
Rather than following a one-size-fits-all model, the emphasis is on creating meaningful experiences that give children opportunities to learn through doing, exploring and engaging with the world around them.
For parents, that changes the question they might ask when choosing a preschool.
Instead of only asking, “What will my child learn here?”
Perhaps ask: “What opportunities will my child have to become more confident, curious, independent and willing to try?”
Because at this age, learning doesn't always need to look like learning.
Sometimes, it looks like play.
Sometimes, it looks like a conversation.
Sometimes, it looks like a child trying something for the first time and figuring it out on their own.
And those experiences can be doing much more than filling a worksheet.
This is the second of our conversations with Chembur preschools about what parents should think about before making that choice. There’s more to come.