Practical Life skills build cognitive, social, physical and emotional development of children. It plays an integral part in creating awareness about generic surroundings around them. Life skills not only promote daily actions into play, but also form an essential part of any education system. Small activities like pouring water, using a spoon, picking up a toy, selecting eateries, etc. when put into play, help children in understanding the value connected to the action performed.

Understanding the importance of Practical Life Skills in a child’s life, GIIS Noida integrates the concept in its teaching methodologies. Practical Life Skills as one of our 9 Gems, help our tiny tots in getting familiar with daily activities in a fun yet effective way.

The session 2015-16 saw many activities taking place, which taught young GIISians about general things and their importance in life. Activities like cooking without fire, laughter day, messy day, gratitude day, peace day, community helpers’ day, healthy food week, etc. were organized to promote usage of motor skills along with practical and visual understanding of the activities performed.

i-Care activities were organized throughout the session to make students understand and associate importance in day to day life. My Square Foot Garden activity was organized to develop a sense of green surroundings among the students. They were taught about easy to-do activities while creating and maintaining a garden, making of a compost pit with biodegradable materials, and how waste foods like leftover fruits and vegetables can be used as manure to nurture the plants. Another i-Care activity named appreciating the environment was organized to the teach students about biodegradable and non-degradable items. They were taught about different kinds of waste and how simple steps can make us segregate the wastes at the source itself. The aim was to teach students about proper waste management, and help in fostering a sense of responsibility towards environment from a very young age.

Moving further, Sensorial Booth activity was also organized for the pre-primary kids, to teach them about all different senses and their use in our routine lives. They were taught in detail about all the 5 senses i.e. see, hear, smell, touch and taste. Children were made to see, touch, smell, and hear objects, explaining in detail about each and every concept discussed. All was learned and grasped in fun and frolic.

Math Week was conducted for tiny tots of GIIS Noida to promote their pre number and number concepts. This activity was conducted both inside and outside the classroom, where students were made to name the concepts drawn on the ground. Snakes Ladder’s game was taken as an option to demonstrate increasing and decreasing of numeral quantities. Students were engaged in a manner that the desired concept and its value in routine life is well understood.

Another activity named developing the power of observing and curiosity enhancing was organized to meet the requirements of inquisitives among children. Various concepts like Float and Sink (Light & heavy objects), Colour changing carnation (Process of diffusion), candle in a jar (Oxygen is required for burning), Soluble and Insoluble (immiscible liquids) were practically demonstrated to help them develop a scientific way of thinking and observing facts. 

Montessori week was celebrated in the school premises to teach tiny tots about pillars of Montessori. The idea was to allow students to interact with their surroundings. They were made to exercise concepts using real lab materials in the Montessori lab. They were taught in a way that each concept they learnt was directly related to the ongoing class lessons. The motive was to make students self-motivated, disciplined and confident, apart from sharpening their sensorial, numeracy, cultural and language skills altogether.

Animal Kingdom Week was also celebrated for our little GIISians with a motive of expanding learning beyond the four walls of the classrooms. Children were taken to the zoo for picnic, where they got a chance to see animals and experience the natural surroundings. It was a great experience for them as they learned something new while being outside in the greens.

All of these and many other activities were a part of the session gone by. Students came unaware but by the end of the year tremendous change in their personalities were observed. They now are more informed, confident and positive towards learning new things and inculcating them in their daily lives.