When deciding on a preschool for their children, parents consider a number of factors, including location, curriculum, and academic goals. Of these characteristics, the type of preschool curriculum is the most crucial in the decision-making process since it aligns with the values and educational philosophy that parents seek. Check out BusyKidd‘s Guide to find the finest preschool curriculum in Singapore for you and your child!
Types Of Preschool Curriculum In Singapore
Whether you’re looking for daycare or playgroups in Singapore, parents have a lot of options for their children’s preschool education. Examine the many types of preschool curricula and choose which is most suited to your child’s temperament and learning style.
Montessori

Image Credit: House on the Hill Montessori Preschool via Facebook
Montessori education is named after Maria Tecla Artemesia Montessori, a well-known Italian physician and educator. It emphasizes “independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natural psychological, physical, and social development.
True-blue Montessori preschools use classrooms with pupils of varying ages to help them develop socially, cognitively, and emotionally. Your youngster works with materials independently while being supervised by a trained adult.
Singapore parents who find this technique too flexible might search for preschools that combine Montessori and other educational approaches.
- House on the Hill Montessori Website
- Montessori for Children Website
- Kiddiwinkie Schoolhouse Website
Reggio Emilia

Image Credit: EtonHouse International School via Instagram
The Reggio Emilia Approach is a unique and exciting approach to early childhood education. The Reggio Emilia principles view the kid as strong, competent, and resilient, full of curiosity and wisdom.
A Reggio-inspired curriculum strives to instill in children a lifelong love of learning and discovery, and it is adaptable in implementation to reflect the ideas, thoughts, and observations of the children themselves.
- EtonHouse International School Website
- Blue House Nursery & International Preschool Website
- Odyssey The Global Preschool Website
Waldorf Steiner

Image Credit: Waldorf Steiner Education Association Singapore via Facebook
Waldorf Steiner education is a child-centered method that seeks to teach the mind, body, and spirit at the right developmental levels. The Waldorf (Steiner) curriculum is intended to address the intellectual, emotional, and physical phases of development throughout childhood.
Academic brilliance and innovative thinking are fostered in a supportive atmosphere. Learning in a Waldorf Steiner preschool is a dynamic process that involves the child’s creativity and initiative, with art, dance, and music integrated into everyday academic subjects.
Whole Brain Learning Approach

Image Credit: Kinderland Preschool via Facebook
To keep students engaged in lessons, this learning paradigm demands them to use both regions of their brains.
This technique assumes that the brain is most active (and hence ideal for learning) between the ages of a newborn and 16 years, which is why the Whole Brain Learning approach should be introduced at a young age.
Educators employ games and motivating tactics to inspire pupils to express themselves and use high energy and hyper-focus to improve attentiveness and engagement. Some parents enjoy this program because it prepares young children to make better, more balanced judgments.
The High Scope

Image Credit: Brighton Montessori via Facebook
The High Scope curriculum employs a carefully crafted technique known as “active participatory learning” to instill in students a wide variety of abilities such as problem-solving, interpersonal, and communication skills required for successful living in a fast-changing world.
This curriculum promotes student initiative by giving students resources, equipment, and time to explore their preferred interests. Teachers are also given a framework to lead children’s individual activities toward sequenced learning objectives, allowing them to produce powerful, positive results.
Play-Based Curriculum

Image Credit: Little Footprints Preschool via Facebook
Play is the most natural method for young children to learn. This curriculum includes a variety of art and craft activities, music, storytelling, puppetry, drama, dance, playtime, cookery, physical games, nature exploration, sand and water play, sensory and inquiry-based learning.
Instead of a challenging curriculum, the emphasis is always on having fun and developing essential life skills such as sharing, caring, and independence. Little footprints. Preschool focuses on play-based learning for the youngest age groups (Playgroup and Pre-Nursery, 18 months to 3 years old), then transitions to hands-on, experiential learning from Nursery to K2 (4 to 6 years old).
Simply simply, this program believes in allowing students to be themselves!
Art-Based Learning

Image Credit: Chiltern House Preschool Kuala Lumpur via Facebook
Preschools that provide arts-based learning make deliberate use of artistic abilities, processes, and experiences as educational instruments to promote learning in non-artistic fields and subjects.
This curriculum includes a variety of art-based activities such as narrative, artifact creation, sketching, and drama to promote learning in music, art, and dance, such as piano and violin, languages, speech and drama, positive focus, and visual arts performance.
Theory Of Multiple Intelligences

Image Credit: Littleskoolhouse.com
Singapore childcare facilities that use this curriculum believe that everyone learns in their own unique way. This style of learning stems from Howard Gardner’s hypothesis that every person has eight intelligences that influence how they learn and interact with the world around them.
The eight most important categories of intelligence in children are spatial, kinesthetic, logical, linguistic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, musical, and naturalistic. As a result, this curriculum recognizes the uniqueness of each child and seeks to strengthen and foster the kid’s inherent learning abilities.
Mandarin Focused
Many playgroups and childcare institutions include full or 70% Mandarin immersion programs in their curricula to introduce youngsters to the language. However, other preschools emphasize complete immersion and cultural awareness, encouraging experiences in China’s rich and beautiful culture.
Children are exposed to enjoyable activities such as Chinese painting or calligraphy, witnessing or practicing traditional music and dance performances, and commemorating important Chinese holidays.
Collaborative Preschools
If you want to enroll your child in a preschool that provides a variety of disciplines, collaborative preschools might be the answer. This sort of preschool blends British and Singaporean curriculum and offers children a variety of learning techniques.
The National Curriculum
This is the most frequent curriculum used in Singapore’s Ministry of Education (MOE) Kindergartens, and it serves as a guideline for childcare facilities’ curriculum programs.
The Nurturing Early Learners (NEL) framework seeks to provide comprehensive, accessible, and inexpensive early childhood education to children aged four to six years. The aim is to foster children’s curiosity to explore and discover the world while also encouraging learning via experimentation and the development of thinking and reasoning abilities.
Theme-Based, Experiential Learning
This method encourages youngsters to take ownership of their own learning.
These centres use the I.D.E.A. for children ages 18 months to six years. This includes an integrated approach to theme-based learning that provides our students with progressive learning and development via experiential and active learning.
The experts use this system to gradually provide your kid with the abilities necessary for formal education. Some of the events include having kids listen to invited guest speakers and encouraging them to ask questions and learn more. Other activities include bringing children on field trips to help them learn, as well as performing research through books and interviews with adults.
Featured Image Credit: Littleskoolhouse.com