It’s not new to see preschools and other early childhood centers worldwide using smart gadgets in fun and educational activities, but many educators say that playtime is still the best to develop the many essential skills of young children.

ABC News in Australia recently reported that the “iPad generation,” or toddlers using touchscreen devices, is not ready to write, citing concerns from kindergarten teachers who have blamed these gadgets for the declining motor skills of young students.

Aside from that, exposing children to this style of learning affects the way they interact with others, says Sanni Heinzmann, co-founder of Dibi Academy, the first preschool in Beijing to offer the Finnish early childhood education system that focuses on playtime.

“Finland has been in the front line of using technology and our children have used mobile phones for so long. We have seen the back side of that. There’s no use of doing something via an app or implementing a technology if it doesn’t give a benefit to the teaching [and learning experience],” she said.

In Heinzmann’s home country, “school” – or the usual concepts in learning such as rigorous lessons and homework – doesn’t start until the age of 7. She says playtime awaken the interests of young children, and that it enhances their soft skills like the ability to learn, be creative, and innovate.

“Dibi Academy chose a system in which we teach live: from people to people, in a group, and with real things. Our advantage is that we use ‘familial’ group activities in which parents and their kids work together. This way, the children build their social skills in a highly social environment,” Heinzmann said, adding that the school doesn’t want to waste classroom time using peripherals.

Parents and kids work together in what Dibi Academy calls as a highly “social learning environment.”

“The students come to class to be with people. You cannot learn social skills with a machine, and we don’t see technology as essential for the learning of children aged 15 months.”

But in a society now dominated by highly mobile millennials, will this kind of education work? Heinzmann believes so, saying that it is still important to “go back to our roots” and have children learn the essential and social skills of cooperation and collaboration at an early age.

“Children can learn the use of technology later just as how we, the pre-millennial generation, have adapted to the changing times. What’s more, what the children of today will face in the future is [a constant stream of]change. So how do we prepare them? They need to be adaptable, innovative, and creative, and if they learn these basic 21st-century skills at a young age, they can easily learn math, languages, science, or anything,” Heinzmann explained.

Dibi Academy says playtime “awakens” the child to discover the world around them.

Heinzmann said a Chinese friend brought up the idea of bringing the Finnish early childhood education system to China. Her team launched Dibi Academy in late 2017 after observing that millennial Chinese parents had begun “looking for something else,” explaining that these locals had experienced the rigorous test-based education system in the country. “Not all of them are happy in that performance-oriented lifestyle and we found out that many young parents want to give their children the ‘broadest’ possibilities in life through international education.”

Despite having a focus on local Chinese toddlers, Dibi Academy is also open for foreign-passport holders. Heinzmann said the team welcomes parents to visit their first preschool in Beijing at Solana Lifestyle Park or to inquire via their website at www.dibiacademy.com. She added that Dibi Academy would expand in the future, with another Beijing campus in the plan.

For more information about Dibi Academy’s curriculum style, visit the link below.

Finnish Early Childhood Education to Open in Beijing

Photos: Courtesy of Dibi Academy

A taste of the Finnish education system is coming to China this year for those aged two months to five years, as Dibi Academy China opens its doors in both Beijing and Shanghai. Dibi Academy is a one-stop shop for parents who want their child to gain a deeper understanding of specific educational content through studying that content from different vantage points. Dibi Academy asks, “Why take your child first to sports lessons, then to art classes and finally to music lessons, when you can get everything in one place?”

Based on the “top-ranked pedagogy from Finland,” Dibi Academy focuses on heightening communication skills and social group skills among children as well as between parent and child. The teaching methods emphasize play, innovation, and environmental awareness.

The Academy claims to use green technology and ergonomic solutions to ensure that children are learning in the most environmentally responsible, non-toxic, and safe environment. The teaching also integrates five cartoon canines called “Dibidogs” which represent the group’s five subjects. The Dibidogs are used to keep children engaged and help in the educational process.

Dibi Academy China’s early education centers will provide weekly classes for children based on two age groups: Babies’ Curriculum (2-23 months) and the Kids’ Curriculum (2-5 years old). The group will have both Finnish and Chinese instructors who will teach based on Finnish educational models, and the programs will encompass music, art, sports, math, and nature studies. Classes will be taught in English and translated into the local language. The Dibi Academy website states that both their concept and curriculum are “non-political and non-religious.”

Dibi Academy’s Babies’ Curriculum consists of arts, music, communication, and gym which all help to support the “baby’s development as a social being and the parent’s closer contact with the baby.” The Babies’ Curriculum is further broken down into three groups for babies aged 2 to 7 months, 8-14 months, and 15-23 months. Each lesson lasts 45 minutes twice a week with both babies and their guardians participating.

The Kids’ Curriculum has four separate groups, for two, three, four, and five-year old toddlers respectively. Children two and three years old participate in lessons with their guardians twice a week, while four and five year old kids participate on their own once a week. Just as with the Babies’ Curriculum, each lesson lasts 45 minutes. Lessons are broader than in the Babies Curriculum, including five subjects: art, music, sport, nature, and math. With regard to the curriculum, Dibi Academy states that the five subjects build on each other in order to enable “wide-spanning creative thinking which is strengthened with multiple, changing themes throughout the year.”

As the Dibi Academy China location has yet to open, the best way to contact them is to visit their website at https://www.dibiacademy.com/ or email them at peter.storgard@dibigreenglobal.com.

Photos: Annie Wang, courtesy of Dibi Academy