What to Look for in a Preschool: A Guide for Curious Parents

Last Updated on August 27th, 2019

{Parents often ask what to look for in a preschool program. A guide for what questions to ask on a preschool tour. Learn why play in preschool is really brain-building}

You walk into a pre-K classroom and you see several groups of 4-year-olds playing in different areas in the room. One group of students is playing at a pretend grocery store. They are deeply immersed in “buying” and “selling” toy fruits and vegetables. A teacher stands nearby and asks them open-ended questions like, “what does the cashier do?” or “how much does a banana cost?”

Another group of students is building with blocks on the floor. They are working together to build a tall tower. Another teacher is asking probing questions like, “how many blocks do you have stacked so far?” and “what will happen if we stack another block?”

As a naive bystander, you wonder if the kids here are really learning anything? I mean, aren’t they just playing? What about all the preschool learning activities they are supposed to be doing? What are the teachers doing just playing with them? You start to wonder if preschool is really worth the money you are paying for it.

As a parent, you may have had an encounter similar to this one. Maybe you were touring schools wondering what to look for in a preschool or what questions to ask on a preschool tour. Perhaps you saw this as you watched your child at preschool prior to pick-up time.

What Makes a High-Quality Preschool Program

As adults, we often have preconceived notions about what “schooling” should look like and include. Doesn’t preschool mean a teacher in front of a group of kids instructing them in the ways of ABC’s and 123’s? What is often missed is the subtlety of how children learn and the beauty of children’s development. Research and real-life experience tell us that all people learn best when they are actively engaged in preschool learning activities. This is especially the case for young children.

And what engaged kids more than anything else? Play! Although kids can learn through worksheets and flashcards, the lessons that benefit them the most and that they will keep in their little brains for years to come are those learned through hands-on engagement, which usually happens through play.

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In her new book, The Most Important Year: Pre-Kindergarten and the Future of Our Children, author Suzanne Bouffard brings to light these issues of learning, play, and child development. As I mentioned on my Facebook Live last week, this book is must-read information if you have a child approaching pre-K age.

Questions to Ask on a Preschool Tour

It takes real skill to pack lots of research into a book and it does not sound like a textbook. However, Suzanne Bouffard does it! She uses a wonderful storytelling style and incorporates the top research in the field in such a way that it’s enjoyable to read. You feel like you are just following along with a few families as they visit preschools. After reading this, you will know what to look for in a preschool. Crucial topics to consider include:

the orientation of the program towards play or academics
teachers’ demeanor and attitude toward the students
teacher turnover rates
the physical organization of the classroom (e.g., space for students to move around, etc.)

The Role of Play-Based Learning

For me, this was one of the big highlights of the book–a detailed explanation (with examples!) of play-based learning and WHY it is the preferred method for teaching young children. As a parent, this is what you want to know–how is my kid learning through play and what does it look like in real life. This book delivers on this point. She shows wonderful real-life examples of preschool learning activities that are engaging and playful. Just reading these examples will give you ideas for what questions to ask on a preschool tour for your child.

How Education Policy Affects the Schools

I think many parents struggle with understanding how national education policy and funding affects their local schools. This book explains in real-life examples how national policies towards early education and K-12 education impacts preschools in our country. If you want insight into how schools in lower SES neighborhoods struggle or why staffing in preschools is so difficult, this opens the door to all those issues.

The Value of Play-Based Preschool Learning Activities (at School or Home)

All these points are wonderful, but perhaps the best lesson I learned from the book was one that may not be so easy to see. Her discussion of how preschoolers learn and examples of play-based learning gave me more confidence as a parent that I can help my child learn through play at home. Many of us send our kids to preschool (myself included) but the other 5 or 6 hours of the day I sometimes struggle to know how to engage him in play and not allow him to zone out in front of a screen.

The BEST Preschool learning activities

This book really offers insight into the use of open-ended questions, open-ended toys and an understanding of how preschoolers learn to help parents incorporate guided play at home. After reading this, I realized all the little things I do with my 4-year-old at home or while running errands really do help him learn important lessons. Singing songs, asking him questions, teaching him about how things work in the world, are not just wasted words…this is actually the best way for him to learn.

Hopefully, you will find this aspect of the book helpful as well and gain confidence in your ability to parent your child in such a way that incorporates a bit of playful preschool learning activities.

Are you searching for a preschool or pre-K program for your child soon? Not sure what to look for?