Preschool Centers: To Combine or Not to Combine?

If you’re overwhelmed by the sheer amount of educational preschool centers you’re supposed to have in your preschool classroom, then you’re not alone.

Many of us find ourselves facing a dilemma when setting up centers in our classroom: Should we have a separate area for each center? Or can some be combined?

Naturally, both options have their pros and cons, and because of that, it can be difficult to decide which way is best for you.

Lucky for you, I’m here to help you make that decision.

In today’s episode, I’ll be discussing how and when you can combine your preschool centers for maximum success.

Are you ready?

Let’s dive in!

Combining Preschool Centers: Yay or Nay?

If you’re wondering whether combining preschool centers is a good idea or not, then you’re not alone.

Getting your centers set up and not just running, but running well, is a really big job. And it’s not always an easy one either, especially if you have an odd-shaped classroom or a super small one. Even a classroom that’s too big or perfectly square can be a problem.

What I mean is that there’s always going to be challenges when it comes to setting up your classroom centers. So, it’s no surprise that many teachers would think about combining them.

I personally think that there is a time and place to combine your preschool centers. After all, it’s more important to have the right tools and materials than it is to worry about where these tools and materials are located in the classroom.

Preschool Centers You Can Combine

I’ve combined many centers in the various classrooms I had over the years. It all depended on the tools, the space, and the materials that I had available to me at that time. 

I’ve combined my art and my writing center before because you can use a lot of the tools and materials for both. For example, kids could use the alphabet stamps and stamp their names and then write them. Or they could use them to decorate their paintings or drawings. Children could also use paint to either paint a picture or to write their names.

I’ve also always combined my blocks center and my circle time area, because during free choice centers, I don’t use my circle time area.

Why Combining Preschool Centers Can Be a Good Idea

Research has proven that the more transitions children have in a school day, the more learning is disrupted. And this is the reason that some programs allow only a few centers at a time. 

If kids are always transitioning from center to center, they lose time, because there’s a lot of things that happen during these transitions. 

But that doesn’t mean that you can’t offer your students all of the wonderful experiences they need, you’ll just have to think differently and combine centers. 

I discuss this in more depth in the episode above, so make sure to give it a listen! 

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