As sun streams in through the window, bouncing off the colorful walls of a brand new classroom, a group of children clap joyfully along to nursery rhymes.
This is the scene upon entering Al Rahma Preschool in Jabalia, a town just north of Gaza City.
After an animated sing-a-long, the band of little ones leaves the music center: it’s time for art. First, they gather around a long sheet of white paper draped across the floor. Their teacher helps them mix paints so they have a vast array of colors to work with. Each child takes up a brush and contributes to the mural. Then they sit in colorful, child-sized chairs around circular tables. They use items like dried pasta and leaves to creatively craft their next masterpiece.
Finally, the children walk contentedly to the greenery, where they end the day with well-deserved rest.
Children develop when they build experiences, which include using their five senses— hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch.
Finally, the children walk contentedly to the greenery, where they end the day with well-deserved rest.
“We support our children in discovering and learning in the outside world,” says teacher Shadiya Saqer. “Children develop when they build experiences, which include using their five senses— hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch.”
To strengthen her classes’ experiences outside the classroom, Shadiya embraces learning about the five senses in her daily interactions with the children. “I encourage them to use their five senses by smelling the flowers, listening to cars, tasting a yummy cake, or feeling the texture of leaves in their hands.”
Gaza Teacher Training Emphasizes Sensory Development
Shadiya developed her knowledge of these methodologies and activities through Anera’s teacher training course along with 30 other Gaza preschool teachers. Their trainer, Suad Lubad, emphasized that engaging the five senses is an integral part of a holistic and integrated approach to early childhood development. This approach is based on child rights, the developmental psychology of children, and active learning through carefully designed activities that allow children to express themselves.
“We communicated to all participants how pivotal it is to arrange the preschools into activity centers through which children can learn through play and trial and error. They should do experiments and discover the meanings of things around them at home, at preschool, in their community and in nature,” Suad says.
Children need to use their five senses to learn and discover because, unlike adults, they don’t yet have experiences to recount. Suad gives an example:
“When we tell a child what ‘vanilla’ is, he may memorize what we tell him, but he will not truly understand. He will probably forget. However, if we bring vanilla to the science activity center and ask him to smell it, taste it, touch it and see it, we’re activating his senses. How could he ever forget what ‘vanilla’ means after that?”
Renovation Inspires Active Learning for Children in Gaza
The children at Al Rahma Preschool are now inspired to learn and explore in their stimulating classrooms and play areas, but this wasn’t always the case. Before Anera rehabilitated the preschool, it was a gray and dingy space.
“The preschool lacked so many essentials; the backyard was dirty, the worn out sunroof dripped water during the winter, and conditions were unhealthy and unsafe for the children,” explains Marwan Tobail, the head of Al Rahma preschool. He adds, “The classrooms were dark and had plastic ceilings, which made life miserable for all of us.”
Life at the preschool changed when Anera chose this school for renovation as part of an ongoing early childhood development program in Palestine. Anera built a new classroom, painted all the rooms in child-friendly colors, fixed the old bathrooms, placed tiles in the outdoor play areas, and installed a new sunroof over the playground to protect the children from the scorching sun. To the kids’ delight, new playground equipment was also provided.
Marwan says the colors are a crucial component of a child’s development of emotions. They also help with classroom productivity and communication. The new preschool is an environment conducive to learning and development. As for the children, they’re excited to learn the names of the new colors and discover all their new learning materials, like books and paints.
Marwan smiles while describing the changes. “We want to give children in Gaza a healthy beginning at a very young age, because healthy children mean a healthy community and a healthy future.”
