Playschool is operated and administered by The Friends of Playschool Society.

We are a non profit organization. Funding is provided through membership fees, fundraising activities and donations. Programming is centered around the Child Care Licensing Regulation of Alberta.

 The aims of Playschool are to:

• Integrate all aspects of its program into a meaningful whole;
• Utilize parents, school and community resources;
• Create a total learning environment for each child
• Provide opportunities for which parents gain useful information towards understanding their child's social, intellectual, physical, cultural, and emotional development.

Playschool is a bridge between the home and the school, and a place where the child can have experiences that will help develop good attitudes, habits and skills. These abilities will help the child meet new situations with confidence. The aim of the program in St. Paul is to provide an environment that promotes the growth of the whole child - socially, physically, intellectually, creatively, culturally and emotionally. Our philosophy of learning through play is accomplished through the use of activity centers.

1. Social Development

- Co-operation and sharing
- Sensitive to the feelings of others
- Adapts easily to different situations
- Participates freely in small/large group settings
- Makes decisions and is developing individuality
- Has responsibility towards groups requirements/routines
- Uses courteous habits and is developing manners
 

2. Physical Development

- large motor skills (jumping, skipping, balancing)
- small motor skills (drawing, tracing, cutting, pasting)
- coordination (hand-eye, eye-foot, etc.), throwing, catching, kicking balls, threading
- awareness of body parts and their uses
- awareness of body's physical needs (rest, exercise, bathing, grooming, nutrition, dress to suit weather conditions)
- awareness of space and direction

3. Intellectual Development

General skills achieved through the integration of Mathematics, Science, Language, Physical Education, Art, Drama, Music, Library, Nutrition, Kinder Cooking, Carpentry, Field Trips

- develops curiosity and a desire to learn
- learns to acquire information through observation, ordering, classification, measurement, investigation
- transfers skills and information from one situation to another
- compares facts and inferences to acquire understanding

Opportunities will be provided for the development and practice of:

- auditory skills
- visual skills
- comprehension skills
- listening skills
- speaking skills
- pre-reading skills (classifying, likeness, differences)
- numbering skills
- science and health skills

4. Cultural Development

- broadening of interest and involvement in the cultural arts, i.e. literature, music, drama, movement and dance, and the visual arts
- learning to understand and appreciate a diversity of cultural backgrounds

5. Emotional Development

- self confidence
- self discipline
- self motivation
- self direction
- self worth and dignity
- develop trust and value in themselves and others
- meets new experiences and settings with confidence