Sneak peek: Looking for a preschool tour checklist to guide you as you visit schools? This checklist will help you ask the right questions.
The Thoughtful Parent provides a preschool tour checklist designed to help parents select a developmentally appropriate school for their child. Developed by Amy Webb, Ph.D., this checklist focuses on assessing teaching approaches, social-emotional learning, and the physical environment, rather than just basic operational aspects. Research consistently indicates that a play-based learning approach is most suitable for preschoolers, guiding children to learn through meaningful play scenarios under skilled teacher guidance.
One quick Google search turns up many variations of a preschool tour checklist. As a parent looking for a preschool for your child, this can be a bit overwhelming. What I have found is that most of these checklists focus on the most basic aspects of preschool operation. Of course, we want to make sure our children will be safe so concerns like emergency procedures, CPR training, etc. are important. Similarly, basic statistics like the staff-to-child ratio and class size are good to know too.
When it comes to picking a preschool that fits your child and their developmental needs, however, many of these preschool checklists for parents fall short. In a sea of preschool choices, how do you really know which ones are developmentally appropriate and effective in helping kids learn the skills they need to learn?
Related reading: The Hidden Effect of Early Childhood Education Programs
After much research and reading, I’ve developed a preschool tour checklist that views choosing a preschool from a more developmental perspective. Research continues to point to the idea that a play-based learning approach is most appropriate for preschoolers. This play-based approach, however, does not mean chaos. Under the guidance of skilled teachers, preschoolers in a play-based setting learn through meaningful play scenarios that teach not only basic knowledge like numbers and colors but valuable social-emotional skills. The preschool checklist for parents (below) is designed to help parents assess the degree to which the school they’re touring is developmentally appropriate based on this play-based learning approach.
Questions to Ask on a Preschool Tour
The preschool tour checklist above is primarily focused on the teaching approaches, social-emotional learning and physical environment of the school. As a parent, it’s always helpful to consider what other questions you might want to ask the preschool staff related to your particular child:
- consider your child’s temperament (i.e., introverted, extroverted, sensitive, etc.) and ask how the staff feels children of this temperament fit in their school
- consider any special needs or behavioral tendencies your child has and ask how these issues might be handled at school
- basic information about staff-to-student ratio, safety procedures, etc.
- procedures for drop off and pick up times–what role do parents play in helping kids transition to preschool?
Choosing a preschool for your child involves considering many factors. Hopefully, this preschool checklist will help guide you in making this decision.
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Kate Hansen
It’s good to know that you should find out about the staff-to-student ratio. My sister was telling me last night about how she needs to find a preschool for her 4-year-old daughter to go to since she is starting a new job soon, and won’t be able to stay home to watch her daughter. I’ll make sure to pass this information along to her as she searches for a preschool for her daughter to go to.
Kate Hansen
It was helpful when you said to ask the staff about how they feel with your child’s temperament. I recently started a new job last week that will keep me very busy, and I won’t be able to stay home and watch my 3-year-old daughter, so I want to make sure that I find a good preschool for her to go to. I’ll make sure to keep this information in mind as I search for a preschool for her to go to.