[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-600800-105":59,"doc-detail-600800-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","what-preschool-children-like-best-about-school","What Preschool Children Like Best about School","","What Preschool Children Like Best about School examines how early care professionals can plan classroom environments by starting from preschoolers’ interests. The study reports a needs assessment for Head Start programs, using children’s open-ended responses and drawings to identify favorite school areas and activities. Results tabulate 23 activities grouped into 10 areas, then spotlight six most frequently mentioned domains and discuss research-backed ways to enrich learning through these preferences.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/what-preschool-children-like-best-about-school/600800/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/what-preschool-children-like-best-about-school/600800.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"dhado","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why did the researchers include preschool children’s perspectives in the needs assessment?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"They believed needs assessments often reflect an adult perspective, and that children’s voices are critical sources of information about classroom environment and curriculum.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How many preschool children participated, and what was their age range?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The study asked 252 preschool children from six Head Start programs, with an average age of 3.75 years and an approximately 50-50 gender distribution.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What learning area received the most mentions as the best part of school?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Blocks and manipulatives were mentioned by 69 children, with many specifying construction play materials like Legos, cars, magnets, and dominoes.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},600800,1792208594,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":44,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144},5909893218464,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_085a072bc5b1113ac321206ff7593b45","What Preschool Children Like Best about School  \n\n| Learn how teachers cangain a strong understanding of what engagesand motivates young children to provide more meaningful, high quality learning experiences. | Susan Griebling, Jennifer Jacobs, Leslie Kochanowski,& Lisa M. Vaughn |\n| --- | --- |\n|  |  |\n\nIn recent years, early care professionals have begun to look to children’s interests to plan the classroom environment and learning experiences. Research has shown that children are more deeply engaged in the learning process when the topic of study is meaningful, relevant, and personally significant (Helm, 2015) . By closely observing young children, reflecting on practice, and building dynamic relationships, teachers gain a strong understanding of what engages and motivates young children, and can provide more meaningful, high quality learning experiences.  \nWhen asked to conduct a needs assessment for a large Midwestern social service organization that provides Head Start services for low-income children, we purposefully included the children’s point of view. Typically, needs assessments evaluate issues and resources from an adult perspective; however, we felt it was critical to include the voices ofthe children as valuable sources of  \ninformation on both the classroom environment and curriculum. We wanted to reveal how children perceived their school and what they liked best about school--more specifically, what were their favorite areas and activities at school. This information would be important, especially in decisions about the allocation of time and funds for classrooms and programming.  \nWhat Do You Like Best About School?  \nWe asked 252 preschool children from six Head Start programs what they like best about school. The average age of this group was 3.75 years, and gender distribution was approximately 50-50. (Some teachers did not report gender.) The assessment was presented in an open-ended format to allow children to answer in a manner that reflected their personal experience at school. Children were asked to respond to the question “What  \n18  Vol 44, No 2, 2016 Dimensions of Early Childhood  \nWhat Preschool Children Like Best about School  \nis the best part of school?” both verbally and through drawing. We felt drawing would help the children communicate their thoughts to the teachers more completely, especially when asked to talk about their drawing (Coates & Coates, 2006) . The drawings themselves were not analyzed as they were meant only to support the children’s discussions with the teachers.  \nThe Children’s Responses  \nThe children’s responses were tabulated for each activity/area of the classroom. Some of the children listed multiple activities or areas of the classroom that were “best”, all of which were recorded in the results. The children identified 23 activities that were further analyzed and grouped into 10 areas  \nFor example, drawing, painting, play dough and music were grouped into “arts” and writing and reading were grouped into“literacy” (Figure 2) .  \nWe were touched by the children’s responses and felt these were significant areas to study and reflect on for our practice as educators. If children say these are the areas they like best, then we can assume that they spend a majority of their free time there. For the purposes of this article, we will focus on the six areas that received the greatest number of responses from the children and discuss recent research that advises how we can enrich those areas, thus enhancing the children’s educational experiences.  \nBlocks and Manipulatives  \nSixty-nine children mentioned blocks and manipulatives as the best part of school, of whom 30 chose  \nFigure 1: Areas children identifed as liking “best about school”  \nFigure 2: Activities included in “liked areas”  \n\n| Area: | Includes: |\n| --- | --- |\n| Arts | drawing, paint, playdough, music |\n| Literacy | writing, reading |\n| Dramatic Play | dramatic play, puppets |\n| Social | friends, teachers |\n| Bl","cbCaitILdgRJsSXs","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaitILdgRJsSXs","pdf",554265,"English","# What Preschool Children Like Best about School\n## Rationale for Including Children’s Views\n## Needs Assessment Design\n## Children’s Responses and Categorization\n## Focus Areas: Blocks and Manipulatives","[{\"question\":\"Why did the researchers include preschool children’s perspectives in the needs assessment?\",\"answer\":\"They believed needs assessments often reflect an adult perspective, and that children’s voices are critical sources of information about classroom environment and curriculum.\"},{\"question\":\"How many preschool children participated, and what was their age range?\",\"answer\":\"The study asked 252 preschool children from six Head Start programs, with an average age of 3.75 years and an approximately 50-50 gender distribution.\"},{\"question\":\"What learning area received the most mentions as the best part of school?\",\"answer\":\"Blocks and manipulatives were mentioned by 69 children, with many specifying construction play materials like Legos, cars, magnets, and dominoes.\"}]","What Preschool Children Like Best about School | PDF",1792091406,23]