A New School Year Begins: A Journey of Discovery, Experience, and Learning
With the beginning of the new school year, Pardis Solaleh Kindergarten once again came alive with the energy of play, discovery, and learning. The children’s return to the kindergarten provided an opportunity to begin the new year with a variety of experiences and activities tailored to the needs and interests of each group. These experiences are designed not only to introduce children to new concepts, but also to encourage them to discover, ask questions, experiment, and see the world around them from new perspectives.
To welcome the new school year, the Pish 1 group began with a painting workshop, bringing color and creativity into their first experiences of the year. During the workshop, the children had the opportunity to use different colors and tools to express their ideas and emotions through art and create their own work in a free and creative environment.
For children, painting is much more than an artistic activity; it is a way of expressing their thoughts, emotions, and perceptions of the world around them. In this workshop, the Pish 1 children were given the freedom to create without being restricted by a specific model or predetermined outcome. They discovered that through colors and lines, they could tell stories and express the worlds within their imaginations. Alongside the joy of creating, artistic activities also help strengthen children’s concentration, hand-eye coordination, creativity, and self-confidence.
Meanwhile, the Pish 2 group began the school year with a different kind of journey: an imaginative and cultural journey to different parts of the world. Through this program, the children were introduced to the cultures, customs, clothing, foods, and unique characteristics of different countries, exploring the diversity of cultures through a range of engaging activities.
One of the destinations on this cultural journey was India. The children learned about aspects of Indian clothing and culture and also took part in age-appropriate mindfulness activities. These exercises gave them an opportunity to pause for a moment, pay attention to their bodies and feelings, and participate in activities with greater focus. Experiences like these help children begin developing, from an early age, the ability to pay attention, calm themselves, and better recognize their emotions through simple activities suited to their age group.
The journey then continued to Iran, a land with a rich cultural heritage and artistic traditions passed down through generations. Here, the children were introduced to Persian carpet weaving and its place in Iranian culture. Learning about the patterns and designs found in carpets, as well as the concept of weaving and bringing warp and weft threads together, gave the children an opportunity to explore an important part of their cultural heritage and connect with one of Iran’s traditional art forms.
The Pish 2 cultural journey then continued to China, a country with distinctive cultural and culinary traditions. The children explored aspects of Chinese food and culinary culture and talked about the similarities and differences between foods in various countries. This experience helped them discover that food, like language, clothing, and art, is an important part of every culture and can tell stories about people and their ways of life.
The purpose of these activities is not simply to introduce children to the names of different countries. More importantly, they provide an opportunity to help children understand the cultural diversity of the world and develop a curious and open-minded perspective. Along the way, children learn that people in different parts of the world may wear different clothes, eat different foods, and have different artistic traditions, while sharing many of the same human emotions and needs.
The beginning of the new school year at Pardis Solaleh Kindergarten marks the start of a journey of experience and discovery—a journey that took shape through painting and color in the Pish 1 group and through an exploration of cultures around the world in the Pish 2 group. These activities are part of the kindergarten’s ongoing effort to provide children with a rich and dynamic environment where learning takes place through play, art, experience, conversation, and discovery.
The new school year has begun with these small yet meaningful experiences—experiences that can lay the foundation for the development of creativity, curiosity, self-awareness, an understanding of the world, and a broader and deeper perspective on the environment around them. We hope that, as this journey continues, the children will experience many more days filled with discovery, learning, creativity, and new experiences.