Module 3: READINESS

Content 1)Creative activities

We have studied the meaning and definition of creativity I Paper 1 – Mental
development. Here we are studying creative activities. Why these activities are important in
child’s life?
Creativity is a part of human intellect. Creativity is a capacity which is possessed by
all human beings in some degree.
When we provide creative activities to children in the school they integrate all areas
of their growth. The teachers who are trained and understand the importance of these
activities, encourage the inventive, original and self initiated motivated behavior of children
which is creative potential.
Functions
The process of creativity has a great value in young child’s life than the end product.
- Creative activities foster imagination of young children.
- Creative activity enhances aesthetic sense.
- These activities help in developing prewriting and pre-reading skills.
- Through these activities eye-hand coordination is continually practiced.
- Through art activities children learn to concentrate.
- Art activities reflect a child’s inner self.
- Through art activities children learn to express their own emotions.
- Creative activities promote five sensory organs.
- Creativity helps in problem solving.
- Creativity helps in discovering.
- Creativity fosters abstract thinking and imagination.

Role of the teacher

Teacher’s role is important in art activities. Teacher should be trained in early
childhood education. Teacher must have creative approach towards art activities.
- Teacher should provide age and development appropriate activities.
- Teacher should plan a programme in such a way that children must get all kind of art
material to explore.
- Teacher has to provide help, guidance during creative activity session.
- Teacher should not create pressure during creative activities.
- Teacher should allow children to be experimental.
- She should create uncritical environment.
- She should keep the expectations at reasonable level.
- Teacher should interfere as little as possible.
- She should not provide a model for the children to copy.
- She should respect child’s developmental level.
- She should understand that it is the process, not the product that matters most to the
young child.
- She should allow plenty of time and opportunity for the child to use the materials.
- Teacher should learn how to make comments that enhance child’s creative
productivity.
Teacher’s role in organizing the art centre.
Most art materials are presented during indoor, self-selected activity period.
- Make the art centers as much self-service oriented.
- Most art activities or messy art activities (Painting, clay) need more water, logically
sent the centre near toilet block.
- Dry art activities nee (crayons, wet chalks.) limited space, so arrange the activities
near the shelves, from where children can take the material on their own.
- Teacher should carefully label the material and cupboard, so that she can have any
material whenever she needs.
- She should take the help of children in winding up and cleaning art corners.
- She should keep the art material at lower shelve from where children can pick up
independently.
- She should make the place available in the classroom to display children’s art
products. It gives colourful look to the room.
- The objects should be changed frequently to maintain children’s interest high in
creative art activities.
- Efficiently arranged art centre encourages the use of art material.
- She should use appropriate comments.
- Aprons should be provided for messy activities.
Creative activities in classroom
In practical No. 1 we are going to perform and enjoy creative activity practical’s.
1. Painting
Painting comes under wet activity. Also it is a messy activity. It needs supervision
by teachers. All type of painting activities needs paper, paint and brushes. For different
effects we can prepare brushes out of waste material.
Readymade brushes should be long handled and bristle should be stiff. Tell children
to wash and allow the brushes to dry. This practice saves damaging. Painting on large sheets
is preferable.
Paint should not be too thick or too liquid in form. The consistency and flow of paint
is important.
The children who are pressurized by parents to keep themselves cleanwill may not
touch the activity like painting. But if teacher plans the activity on particular day of the
week, and if she informs this day to parents then parents may allow children to do the
activity. Children also can enjoy their day in the school. Sometimes teacher has to stimulate
children for performing activity.
Objectives of activity “painting”
 To help to develop aesthetic sense.
 To enhance creativity.
 To release paint up emotions.
 To explore art material.
 To promote sensory organs development.
 To reinforce the concept of colours.
 To help to develop eye-hand coordination.
 To help to promote pre-writing skills.
Types: Easel painting, string painting, splatter painting, blot painting, blow painting,
spray painting, finger painting, marbel painting, bubble painting, stencil painting.

2. Printing
Printing again comes under wet activities. Printing also needs preparation like
painting. For this activity teacher’s supervision is necessary.
Objectives of activity Printing
 To help to release paint up emotions.
 To help to develop aesthetic sense.
 To enhance creativity.
 To develop pre-writing skills.
 To develop finer motor skills.
Types: finger printing, thumb printing, vegetable printing, block printing, leaf printing,
sponge printing, thread printing, palm printing, foot printing.

3. Drawing:
This activity comes under dry activities. Drawing activity needs less supervision. As
a teacher we have to provide paper and media to draw. Also this activity can be given on
slates. Children also can use black boards.
Drawing always offers pre-writing experiences. Children pass through different
stages in drawing. They draw lines or they have to fill the colour inside any shape or
drawing. It helps to develop small muscle coordination and control.
Child passes through following stages –
I :- Random scribbling – Age 1 year to 2,1/2 year. Drawing tool is held in the whole
palm. The whole hand movements are done.
II :- Controlled scribbling – Age 2,1/2 to 3.1/2 years. The drawing tool is held in five
fingers. The wrist movements are done. Full page is used. More loops can be seen
in scribbling.
III :- Named scribbling – 3’1/2 to 4,1/2 years. Now children name their drawing. It
shows their development toward abstract thinking.
IV :- Early representation – 4,1/2 plus years. Adult can recognize the shape, and drawing.
The drawing is not photographic representation but it has some parts through which
we can recognize the picture.
V :- Pre-schematic drawing – age five plus years. Now there is line between sky and
ground. Relative sizes of the objects can be seen in drawing. The drawings are also
coloured.
Objectives
 To enhance creativity.
 To get acquainted with writing tools.
 To help to develop pre-writing skills.
 To help to develop tripod grasp.
 To encourage thinking, imagination.
 To help for language development.
 To enhance aesthetic sense.
Types:- Crayon, pencil, colour pencils, sketch pen, wet chalk, slate and pencil or chalk.

4. Modelling
Modelling comes under wet activity. With this medium children can experiment with
shapes. Children can roll, pound, and squeeze the medium. It is very helpful in releasing
hostile or aggressive feelings. While playing with this medium children pass through stages.
Sometimes teacher has to stimulate children for this activity. She should also play
with material to motivate children, but she should avoid making model out of it in front of
children.
The consistency of material is important. It should not be dry, should dnot be formed
with lumps.
Objectives
 To provide pleasurable experience.
 To help finer muscle coordination.
 To encourage thinking, imagination.
 To help to develop prewriting skills.
 To release paint up emotions.
Types:- clay (shadu clay), dough, plasticine, sawdust mixed with wheat paste.
Tearing, cutting
This activity is a drgactivity. Tearing gives pleasure to children. Young children
always should be given opportunity to tear the papers, unwanted papers, news papers. But
the older children should be encouraged to tear the paper for their art work.
Cutting activity needs supervision. It needs more skill than tearing. For cutting
activity also, children pass through stages. Scissors for activity should be in good condition.
For children’s use scissors should be blunt ended. Activity of scissors should be given once
in a week to children because it needs practice to master the skill. If children are not able to
operate scissors, it creates frustration very easily and early. Teacher should motivate and
encourage the children till they master the skill. Actually cutting is a readiness activity.
It is interesting for children to experiment with cutting different lines and shapes. In
the beginning stage left-over papers can be given to cut. As children gradually masters the
skills then lines and shapes, pictures can be given to cut.
Objectives
 To enhance readiness for writing.
 To develop tripod grip.
 To develop eye-hand coordination.
 To help to learn the concepts of shapes.
 To develop finer motor skills.
 To boost the feeling of achievement.

5. Pasting
This activity again comes under wet and messy activity. Children like to explore this
medium. They manipulate paste as they do in finger painting. Once they get satisfaction out
of handling paste, they will turn to use it properly.
Objectives
 To enhance creativity.
 To develop pre-writing skills.
 To satisfy self by handling the soft medium.
 To develop finer motor skills.
 To develop eye-hand coordination.
Types:- Pasting shapes, pictures, collage pasting can be combined with paper twisting,
paper crumbling, paper cutting, tearing.
Different art activities can be combined with craft activities ahead. Craft activities
Should not be given for preschool children. Preschool children need free and spontaneous
form of performance because they are in developmental stage. Craft work needs model in
front, which is not a correct way for preschoolers yet.

The process of creativity is important them the end product in young children’s life.
Creative activities play a vital role in young children’s life. Creativity is promoted through
different art activities and material.
Opportunity to manipulate creative activity material, and experiment with it enhances
mental development, developmental tasks. Also it promotes formal education methods, as it
helps in readiness.
Teacher’s role in providing these activities and organizing and arranging these
activities is very important.
 Module 3: READINESS
Content 2)Readiness for 3R’s

Readiness means capacity of children in relation to instructional objectives. Readiness is

willingness shown towards learning. It means it is a essential component in all kind of
learning.
Readiness is a product of training and maturation. Readiness is a level of maturation. We
cannot say at which point child will be ready to perform certain things.
When we say readiness in all kind of learning, people are always eager to know when my
child will read? When my child will start writing? Now my child has started going to preprimary
school, he should be able to read and write. But people-parents forget that it is a preschool,
means before going to primary schools, child must gbo to pre-primary school for his
basic learning. Basic learning is before formal learning, means that is readiness for formal
school activities. Formal schooling is based on reading, writing and arithmetic skills.
Without preparation reading, writing, and arithmetic skills cannot be acquired, they
need some training before. Those activities are called pre-preparation activities or readiness
activities.
Reading, writing, arithmetic
In English, the activities of reading, writing and arithmetic are called 3 R’S activities.
Here we are thinking of preschool activities. So they are pre-reading, pre-writing and
premathematical
activities.
Formal learning needs receptiveness. A teacher cannot make the child learn until the
child herself/himself is not ready to learn.
Why not to teach formal learning activities in preschool stage.
 Young children are not physically and mentally ready or mature to learn formal
activities.
 Eye-hand coordination is yet to be strengthened.
 They need more training in listening skill.
 Thinking should be enhanced.
 Logical thinking is yet to develop.
 Formal learning puts undue pressure on children. It may damage children’s self
confidence.
 The attention span is less.
Importance of readiness
 Readiness gives more understanding of learning.
 Readiness provides pleasure and joy through learning.
 Readiness inculcates, learning fast.
 Readiness lays foundation for formal learning.
Readiness refers to a combination of abilities, understanding, and opportunities.
Readiness also is a product of nature and maturation. Readiness shows the concern with
child’s capacities and the instructions given to him.
3R’S – Reading, Writing, Arithmatic
a) Reading readiness
Reading readiness means the stage when a child is mature enough to learn to read.
Maturity in muscle come naturally. But to promote readiness child needs stimulation. So
readiness point is dependent on maturity and the stimulus, environment which child receives.
Each child is having his own innate level of learning, thus they develop at different rates.
The skill of reading involves specific readiness experiences and competencies. These
competencies are visual discrimination, auditory discrimination, visual auditory association
and direction oriented habit of task completion.
Reading precedes all formal learning
Chall (2967)
Reading is the ability to transform printed words in to oral responses.
Thorndike (1917)
Reading readiness is the meaningful interpretation of symbols.
Reading is very highly perceptual process, involving discrimination among visual forms,
and coordination of information received from two senses hearing, and sight.
Steps in reading readiness process
1) To find out similarities in different shapes.
2) To find out differences in two shapes.
3) Association between picture and sound.
4) To understand direction of reading from left to right.
5) Association between picture and name of the picture in written form.
6) Association between sound and picture.
7) Symbolic sound and word association.
b) Writing readiness
Writing is a process when child starts holding pen or pencil with tripod grasp. Formal
writing should be introduced only when the child is ready for it. By being ready is meant the
child should have good muscular coordination of fingers, eye-hand and the competency to
differentiate between different shapes and form.
But before going towards formal writing process child should be exposed to prewriting
activities. Writing readiness is developed by different large and small muscle activities like
hand movements in all directions in the air, activities with ball throwing and catching. Small
muscle activities like drawing, copying, tracing.
Writing needs established handedness, and improvement in smaller muscle coordination.

Steps in writing readiness process.

1) For writing letter forms, need to practice on activities for eye-hand coordination.
2) Can draw various shapes.
3) To know writing direction from left to right.
4) To draw patterns of letter writing.
5) Can draw picture or situation with sequence.
c) Arithmatic readiness
Learning number concept is a difficult task for preschooler. Child can be prepared for
learning numbers by different activities.
At preschool stage children does not have any prerequisite knowledge to begin learning
numbers, they have sight vocabulary. Teacher also should not push the child too early to
learn the numbers. The skills in mathematics which child will acquire lay the foundation for
later knowledge in mathematics.
Preschool child has an ability to count by rate. He is, not able to count rationally, so to
teach proper counting, it needs training with concrete objects. Learning to read and write
numbers also may create difficulty in preschool stage. If it is not learned in relation to
objects, then there is no meaning to read and write.
Mathematical readiness includes counting, shape. Size, one to one correspondence.

Steps in Arithmatic readiness process

 Making use of mathematical language.
 To classify the objects on various attributes.
 To put the objects in series according to size.
 To see one to one correspondence.
 Association between the said number and a set of objects.
 Fractions of object.
 Number recognition.
Goals of early Mathematical experiences.
 To observe and describe concrete objects.
 To be able to recognize patterns, attributes.
 To be able to compare objects and describe quantity such as “more than”, l “lighter
than”.
 To enable a child to classify objects on various attributes.
 To be able to copy pattern.
 To make the child acquainted with shapes.
 To be able to recognize number.
 To be able to use one to one correspondence.

Promoting readiness experiences

Reading readiness
Before taking children, to read printed letters and words, pre-reading skills should be
developed. They can be developed through following activities.
- Free hand movements in the air-form left to right, up and down.
- Free line drawing on sand, floor, clay, paper.
- Describing picture, object or any situation. (Picture/object talk)
- Sight vocabulary – by putting labels on different objects, equipment, material.
- Memory game with objects.
- Recognizing objects by clues.
- Story telling through pictures.
- Picture books, books which has bold writing.
- For visual discrimination
 Odd man out
 Match the pairs
 Matching sets
 Spot the difference
 Classification
For these activities they can be conducted either in form of activity and after practice on
paper-work-pages.
- Informal talk
- Puzzles, self learning puzzles

Writing readiness
Prewriting skills to be conducted through various activities. Writing cannot be done
without experiences in reading. Reading readiness and writing readiness goes
simultaneously. Following are prewriting activities.
- All creative activities.
- Hand movements in the air.
- Cutting, pasting.
- Threading beads, flowers, leaves.
- Index finger movement on different shapes, prepared with sand paper, wool, cloth,
seeds, shells, stones, buttons etc.
- Putting seeds, stones, shells on the shape line.
- Joining dots and completing picture.
- Making patterns.
- Work pages
- Find the way (Maze)
- Odd man out
- Match the pairs
- Completing a picture, figures.
- Patterns of letters
 Standing lines
 Horizontal lines
 Slanting lines
 Half circles
 Full circle
- Filling water, cereals in bottles.
- Lacing boards, lacing shoes, buttoning shirts, frocks.
- Folding clothes.
- Sorting cereals.
- Tracing and copying.
- Drawing in sand.
- Jigsaw puzzles, self leaving puzzles.
- Creating writing centre in the classroom.

Mathematical readiness
Mathematics is always related with numbers and digits. When children come to school
they are familiar with numbers, they have seen these on telephone, clocks, calendars, cards
and all vehicles, addresses. But children are not aware with mathematical operations.
Activities related to mathematics are not directly addition, substraction, multiplication;
they are pre-mathematical skills for preschool children. These activities should be concrete
operations and handling with objects. Objects, pictures should be given in children’s hand.
These things should create curiosity in children. Following activities should be provided for
mathematical readiness.
- Introduction to mathematical language by telling stories to children, by informal talk.
- All comparative concepts, with the help of concrete objects, pictures, flash cards.
 Far-close
 Big-small
 One-many
 Up-down
 Fat-thin
 Long-short
 Few-many
- Classification
 Giving different objects, pictures to classify on different attributes.
- Seriation
 Objects
 Cards
- One to one correspondence
- Shape and size
- Fraction
- Measuring
- Counting Number recognition( 1 to 10)
- Number writing (1 to 10 within 2 years)
- Songs
- Creating mathematical centre in the classroom

Teacher’s role in 3R’S

- Appreciate child’s efforts.
- Praise children on their achievement.
- Provide opportunities to handle many things, concrete objects.
- Provide support to complete the work.
- Be patient.
- Provide time to children for completing their work.
Readiness for learning to read, write and number work depends upon different factors.
These factors are
- Vision
All the activities need vision to be developed. Children have to focus and concentrate on
the activities. All activities need eye-hand coordination for perfection. Poor vision affects
the development of skills.
- Hearing
Reading, writing or mathematical skills need proper auditory skills to be developed.
Without them the child will not be able to perform his activities.
- Physical fitness
The child should have physical energy, enthusiasm child should be healthy, then only he
will be also become mentally fit.
- Socio-economic status
Children may lack in language skills because of his environment. Parents may be are not
aware regarding stimulating environment. Also children do not get proper environment.
- Cognitive development and intelligence.
Problem solving ability, language skills, vocabulary, thinking perception are the skills
necessary for formal learning. If children lack in that because of their environment, vision,
auditory skills, they do not get any opportunity to listen them many difficulties arise.