Proposal: Initial Thoughts

School demands a lot from kids these days. And I don’t mean us. I mean, from the get-go, in early education, kids are expected to enter the system already having an understanding of their shapes, colors, letters, etc. Children who attend daycares tend to be more prepared in this area. But as for at-home involvement, there’s often a lack of exposure to the academics that they are now expected to already know.

Children and early childhood development are things that I am particularly passionate about. That being said, I would like to take my senior thesis project as an opportunity to address the issue at hand.

The age I would like to work with is 3-5 year olds (and of course their parents). At this age, they are beginning to develop essential skills like fine and gross motor skills, letters, sounds, colors, shapes, and social acclamation. Through interviews with teachers and perhaps day-care workers, I could like to collect, refine, and catalog the best activities to help children be prepared when they get to school. I have also started collecting from the vast, but incredibly cluttered and confusing, list of early childhood development resources that are on the web.

I imagine this can be applied to many things graphically, which is another reason to be excited. Web and electronic devices are something that children become familiar with at a VERY early age. Also, more tangible items such as branding, books perhaps some packaging (for activities or toys) could be artifacts that I tackle graphically. Very exciting!