The best time for educating an individual is when it first comprehends words and actions, and for the next six to eight years s/he should not be neglected in any way because these are the years during which children blossom socially, physically, emotionally and intellectually.

Education throughout ones young life is considered essential, and should not suffer lapses for any reasons, as this time never comes back. Pre-school, junior school, high school, etc. are all important in their respective ways, but all of these depend on the foundation years that an individual spends being educated and preparing for the latter stages. During these early years, such as preschool, teachers and parents have to play their roles so that children learn the most through preschool curriculum, and develop better, socially, physically, emotionally and intellectually (Collins and Matthey 2001).

Analysis: Early childhood education forms the basis for the future education of an individual. It is these first years that may well determine the interests that a child takes as s/he moves on to higher levels of education. It is therefore vital for teachers to take keen interest in their students so that they can help them to develop interest in whatever they are taught. It is this interest in these early years that initiates the process of individuals fancying subjects. The curriculum of preschool plays a vital role regarding this (Abbot, 1998).

Modern means of education have demonstrated that there are various ways to keep children interested in their studies. This kind of focus has developed essentially due to the realization that the preschool curriculum aids better understanding what is to be followed in kindergarten.

While teaching early learners, the chief aim is to arouse the interest of the child, and the way to do this is by making his or her education as entertaining as possible. This is something that a teacher is directly responsible for. The teacher’s job is to create or use activities that are stimulating enough to enthrall children into what they are being taught. It is for this reason that one will often find the classrooms of younger children brightly lit and very colorful. It is an enthralling environment like this that makes the children want to visit their classrooms everyday (Chen, 1998).

In order to approach any student appropriately, it must be asserted that one has to have adequate knowledge of all the implications. Teaching particular subjects for instance is a task that requires calculated efforts on the part of a teacher. This is because of the fact that an intended effect is desired, and in order to achieve this effect, one must be aware of the hurdles s/he may confront.

The field of teaching is one that is noble, and requires ones total dedication towards students. This is especially the case as far as preschoolers are concerned because of the fact that they are the kinds of students that require the most attention. Though they may in fact require the greatest of attention and care, it also must be asserted that they are individuals who may be provided guidelines along which they can work. Some of them even excel at working independently, after being provided stimuli. Thus, teaching these individuals a subject like science can be an experience that both, the teacher as well as the students, enjoy.
Teach a subject like science can be regarded as experiential learning. This is because of the fact that one learns this subject through experience the physical world. This is done through the five senses that each individual has, and they may demonstrate varied levels of learning based on these senses.

Early learners are perhaps the most suitable individuals for one to teach science too. Being young and having the natural ability to adapt to situations, early learners are easily interested in science learning. This is because of the fact that they are keen on situational-based learning. Also, since teaching science to early learners is mostly activity-based, children are keen to learn. In the course of experimenting with what they are presented with, they tend to learn a lot more and pick up most of the objectives out of their own interest. Interest-driven lesson plans are reasonably considered to be the best possible means on teaching early learners.

Particularly, in the case of teaching science to early learners, a learning environment would have to cater to the subject. Depending on the theme of the science class, teachers would have to prepare themselves. In this preparation, one would need to be well aware of developing the classroom environment. A class with props and particular books, charts and even games would be ideal. The games are essential as they provide a healthy entertainment experience along with familiarizing children with characters in the subject. For instance, in a science class, teachers may want to teach their students about animals. For this, they would have to introduce games/activities making use of animal characters.

As an alternative to teaching science in the classroom, outdoor activities are also very important. This is because of the fact that adventure for children is highly stimulating, and early learners are keen to move beyond the four walls of their classrooms.
As a result of the success that fieldtrips, activities and the like have had on early learners, it must be asserted that Activity-based learning is now a regular practice at preschool, as it brings out the best in early learners. Since a subject like science is one that is certainly not short of matter around one, science can be taught almost everywhere to early learners. For example, on fieldtrips, teachers may teach their young learners about the advantages of a safe environment; they may teach the children about keeping the environment clean when they go for picnics or evening for shopping. Children can be shown that the environment can be protected through not littering the place for instance. This helps children to also grow consciously, and realize how they must protect an already vulnerable planet.
In addition to teaching children about the environment on a fieldtrip, they may also be taught about other things in nature, for instance, they may be explained the natural processes through which the earth’s air is protected. This of course, they should be taught with a very general view, otherwise they would get confused. In addition to this, they can be shown what kinds of living things depend on others for survival in the environment. They can be shown particular animals that rely on trees for survival. Also, they must be taught about how human beings need the environment, in particular, trees and other forms of vegetation. One would be amazed if they were to experience for the first time, early learning of science in this manner. This is because of the manner in which children manage to absorb a great deal in quick time.

It must be remembered that these early learners manage to absorb knowledge at a tender age in this way due to the fact that there have been educationalists that have discovered and propagated unique methods. To mention just two of these individuals, Jean Piaget and Maria Montessori come to mind immediately.

Due to her in depth studies and observations Montessori deduced that the early years of a person’s life was the best time for him or her to learn. This was because of the fact that she had seen how difficult it was to train full-grown human beings skills that a child could pick more easily. This is just the way human beings are created, and there is a short period for them during the early part of their lives during which they can develop and master skills.

According to the Biologist and Psychologist, Piaget, development takes place in children in four stages, and these are as follows:
• Sensorimotor stage (birth - 2 years old): At this stage, a child only realizes the existence of an object as long as it is in front of him or her. A this stage, it must be noted that children already begin to notice the way that nature acts. An example of this is the way that they always watch objects head straight for the floor and no other direction, once knocked off balance.
• Preoperational stage (ages 2-7): At this stage a child can only grasp concepts when they are associated with objects. This is the reason why the counting of numbers is always accompanied by objects. For example: 1 apple, 2 apples, 3 apples and so on. The presence of apples or pictures of them are included in this process. Counting with an abacus is also good to teach students how to count. However, when teaching a subject like science, it must be realized that this second stage is of immense importance to early childhood teachers. This is because between the ages of two and seven, teachers can teach children a great deal through activities and other experiential learning techniques.
• Concrete operations (ages 7-11): At this stage a child begins to grasp ideas without the use of objects. They are able to make calculations using equations. This is because of the accumulation of physical experience.
• Formal operations (beginning at ages 11-15): At this stage, they are almost like adults and can calculate effectively with numbers and their reasoning is mature too (Piaget, 2001).

Of course, the age groups that this paper is concerned with are the first two. In the first two stages, one can see that it is compulsory for children to learn through situations and objects place before them. This is the reason why schools focus a lot on activity-based learning at preschool level (Piaget, 2001).
Few of the principles applied in teaching young learners in accordance with the above principles are as follows:

• Children learn best when their physical needs are met and they feel psychologically safe and secure. Teachers are supposed to provide students of this age group wit the best possible environment to stimulate learning (Conner, 1999).

• Children construct knowledge. Using this principle, students are not pressurized at all when they perform a task incorrectly. They are allowed to learn from their mistakes but are urged to be careful when they try again. At a tender age they are not supposed to be pressurized because it can be very discouraging to most children. But when they find that by making a mistake, they are allowed to try again and at the same time are urged to be careful, they feel free to strive for better results in the next attempts. Ideally, young learners are simply shown what science is; they learn as they discover or as they are shown. Whatever is revealed to them, they absorb, and in this way they are not pressurized (Conner, 1999).
• Children learn through social interaction with other adults and other children. Early Childhood Education is the beginning of social life for children. Therefore it is vital importance that a healthy social environment is maintained (Stipek, 2001).
• Children's interests and “need to know” motivate learning. When children are taught through play/activity, they grow intellectually; they become more aware and creative because their minds turn innovative. They learn to act according to situations in which they are placed, and are encouraged to work their way out of it all. These games may also include number games that initiate them to think numerically. For teaching these games would have to be ones that include topics relating to their level, such as the natural world, animals, materials around them, etc. (Piaget, 2001)