Government of Manitoba
Manitoba
Children play with Lego on a colourful alphabet rug. A boy who is visually impaired reads a book with raised dots, a precursor to learning to read in Braille. Sand running through the hourglasses fascinates a curious boy. A boy building with blocks greets the class bunny who has hopped over for a visit. A boy gives a thumbs up. A girl plays with colourful shapes on the classroom light-table. A girl counts and orders buttons by size. Two girls balance on a pipe as they look for frogs in a swampy area. Children create their own book illustrations using the “still life” technique. Two girls are paired during a large group activity. A boy builds with interlocking cubes. A girl illustrates her “story”. Three girls practice their letters on individual whiteboards. A boy holds alphabet blocks that spell out PLAY. Young boys explore classroom science materials. A girl using a walker smiles. Three children share a book together." An educator and 4 preschoolers enjoy a small group interaction.

The Council of Ministers of Education Canada (CMEC) "believes that purposeful play-based early learning sets the stage for future learning, health, and well-being."

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Early Childhood Education

Welcome

Welcome to Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning’s Early Childhood Education (ECE) website. This page provides supports to early years teachers, early childhood educators and parents. We focus on the young child, birth to age 8 since this is the most rapid period of development in human life. Through a collaborative approach, we partner with school divisions, other government departments (provincial, federal), Early Learning and Child Care, educational stakeholder groups, and parents to promote developmentally appropriate programming and services that help to prepare children for successful school entry and optimal learning in the early years.

What do we do?

  • share expertise in the area of early childhood development and early learning
  • promote and facilitate strong and equitable partnerships between school divisions and other community-based early learning and child care organizations
  • monitor early childhood development research and connect evidence-based research to practice and policy decisions
  • encourage research on early childhood learning through partnerships with researchers, other government departments and school divisions
  • offer resources and assistance on early childhood education topics, including early literacy and numeracy, social and emotional development, support to Newcomer and Indigenous children and families and developmentally appropriate practices
  • collaborate with government and community partners to support early childhood programming in schools and community settings
  • promote the use of Manitoba’s Early Development Instrument (EDI) to inform decisions and actions that optimize the development of young children
  • promote the role of parents* as their children’s first teachers

* The term parents includes guardians, caregivers and other family members who can help young children learn.

What's New

Learning and Joy in the Pandemic: Manitoba Kindergarten Practice ResourceNew!

Manitoba’s Kindergartens offer our youngest students (who are only four and five years old) a joyful introduction to school. Kindergarten gives these students the opportunity for intentional, play-based, developmentally appropriate learning experiences that enable them to become capable, motivated, confident learners. It fosters their health across all developmental domains’ even during pandemic times.

Learning and Joy in the Pandemic: Manitoba Kindergarten Practice Resource ( 244 KB)

Newcomer Parent GuideNew!

This parent guide provides information on what families can expect in Manitoba Kindergartens and information on how to register for school. The guide also provides helpful tools such as checklists and questions that can be used to communicate with teachers and administrators for various purposes.

Kindergarten: What can my child expect in Kindergarten? ( 1.1 MB)