Integrated Learning Studio, the foundation years lab
A lab for ages 3 to 8, Preschool to Grade 2, built around sensory learning and creativity: six zones, from a Life Skills Hub and a Curiosity Lab to a People and Places corner, designed, equipped and set up by us.
What is the Integrated Learning Studio?
We at S2S believe that young children learn through their senses and through play, with real materials in their hands, and that the environment itself is one of a child's teachers. For a three to eight year old, that environment is one with things of real texture and weight, corners that suggest an activity without prescribing it, and enough room to leave something half-finished.
The Integrated Learning Studio is our Foundation Years Lab for Preschool to Grade 2, ages 3 to 8. It focuses on sensory learning and fostering creativity; activities encourage exploration through play, building strong foundational skills for lifelong learning. The studio is built as six zones rather than one room with one function, so that small groups can be doing different things at once.
Why a lab for the foundation years?
Young children think with their hands. Inquiry begins in the foundation years, and a lab for the youngest children builds the habits of observing, questioning, predicting and comparing that everything later rests on.
The National Education Policy asks for a foundational stage that is play-based, activity-based and discovery-based.
How it works
Six zones, each with its own materials and 15 detailed activities across grade bands.
Life Skills Hub
Children practise real-life tasks: pouring, folding, sorting, arranging, cleaning, threading, weaving, stitching, dressing, plant care and food prep.
- Preschool: sorting, threading, watering plants
- Grade 1: weaving mats, stitching cards, packing bags
- Grade 2: running stitch, organising stations, repairing books
Curiosity Lab
Natural and physical phenomena through water and sand play, magnets, shadows, ramps, nature trays and simple experiments.
- Preschool: float and sink, shadow play
- Grade 1: ramps, melting and freezing
- Grade 2: circuits, plant observations
People and Places
Neighbourhoods, maps, seasons, community helpers, cultures and early histories, using models, artefacts, surveys and role-play.
- Preschool: community helper role-play
- Grade 1: a neighbourhood map built from blocks
- Grade 2: tracing a family timeline on a map
Count and Play
Number sense, shapes, patterns, measurement and data, explored through manipulatives, games and movement.
- Preschool: sorting, counting, shape hunts
- Grade 1: pattern building, hand-span measurement
- Grade 2: tallies, bar graphs, 3D shape building
Language Explorers
Sounds, letters, stories, rhymes, puppetry, conversations, a reading corner and early writing materials.
- Preschool: sound baskets, rhyme play, role-play corners
- Grade 1: story sequencing, shadow theatre
- Grade 2: word-building, story cubes, story prompts
Art and Expression Studio
Art, clay, collage, colour mixing, music, rhythm, movement, dramatic play and creative construction.
- Preschool: finger painting, clay play
- Grade 1: nature collage, colour mixing
- Grade 2: weaving, puppet-making, short drama
Where the space allows, a Digital Discovery corner adds age-appropriate digital play with pre-coding tools, projections and audio tools, to build comfort with technology and early computational skills. Around the zones sit the studio's own curiosities: spinning tops, balancing toys, a stable truss bridge, cranky contraptions, glow clothes, light and shadow play, and art-integrated projects.
Where the Early Years curriculum is also ours, the lesson plans are written into the studio, so the weekly plan and the room refer to each other. Where it is not, the studio comes with its own activity plans and teacher support documents for every zone.
What your school receives
Seed2Sapling provides
- Lab space design, zoning and layout, and full set-up of all six zones, done by S2S
- All the materials and kits for the six zones: pouring and sorting sets, dressing frames, weaving and stitching kits, child-safe knives and a plant-care set; observation trays, magnets, mirrors, ramps, balance scales, a weather kit, a simple circuits kit, magnifiers, droppers and measuring cylinders; floor map grids, landform models, community helper props, timeline strips and a toy fossil kit; counters, ten-frames, linking cubes, tangrams, geoboards and pan balances; story objects, puppets, a shadow theatre, sand trays and a magnetic language wall; paints, clay, natural materials, weaving frames and percussion
- Activity plans: 15 detailed activities for each zone across grade bands, with teacher support documents for each (set-up guides, activity cards, a life-skills pathway, a science progression, role-play and survey templates, numeracy cards, a maths games handbook and an art provocations book)
- Worksheet and journal templates for students
- Teacher training on facilitating in the space: an orientation, then 2 online meetings and day-long sessions through the year
- Implementation support with regular follow-up for teachers: 2 offline visits for audits, with round-the-year support
- Lesson plan integration, where the Early Years curriculum is also S2S
The school provides
- A room of about 1200 sq ft, with an open floor area and natural light
- Child-height shelves and storage, and a lockable cabinet
- Easy-to-clean flooring and a sink
- 2 to 3 low island tables, floor mats or cushions, and a small reading or movement corner
- Display boards: one soft board and one magnetic
- Power points and Wi-Fi, and basic ventilation
- A first-aid kit and safe edges
Putting it in place
The studio is scoped to the room and the number of zones. Schools that take the Early Years curriculum usually take the studio in the same year or the following one. We design the layout with the school, source and place the materials for each zone, and then orient the teachers who will work in the studio.
Schools with primary and middle classes usually pair the studio with the STEM Discovery Lab, our Primary Years Lab for Grades 3 to 8. A Garden Learning Lab gives the Curiosity Lab and the Life Skills Hub a living outdoor extension.
Let's talk about what your school needs
Partner with usAlso worth looking at: Early Years curriculum · Garden Learning Lab