🌱 Preschool the Finnish Way: Everyday Life Skills — Learning Independence through Routine

vanessa speigle
Nov 5, 2025
2 min read

A preschool teacher kneels to help a child tie their shoes while other children wait in line, illustrating Finland’s gentle approach to teaching independence through patience and guidance in everyday routines.”

“Teacher, can you help me?”

It’s the question preschool teachers hear a hundred times a day: tying shoes, pouring juice, zipping jackets, cleaning up blocks.

For many teachers, these small requests add up to exhaustion. Between guiding lessons, managing emotions, and keeping routines on track, helping with every tiny task can feel like there’s no space left for learning.

But in Finland, those “tiny tasks” are the learning.

Instead of doing things for children, teachers design routines that let children do things for themselves. Each moment, dressing for outdoor play, serving lunch, or tidying the classroom, becomes a chance to build confidence, coordination, and care.

🌿 The Rekla Lens: Routine as Curriculum

In Finnish early childhood education, the day isn’t divided between “learning time” and “routine time.” The routines are the curriculum.

Children are trusted to manage real responsibilities. They hang their coats, pour their drinks, wipe tables, and pack up materials independently. Adults model and guide but they do not rush in to fix or finish the task.

The Finnish National Core Curriculum for Early Childhood Education and Care states:

“Independence and responsibility develop through participation in everyday routines.”

This approach grows something deeper than neatness or efficiency. It builds self-efficacy, the belief that “I can.”

💚 Trust the Child

In Finland, teachers operate from a foundation of trust.They trust children to try.They trust that mistakes are part of learning.They trust that effort matters more than perfection.

As Finnish educator Pasi Sahlberg explains, “Trusting the child is the starting point of Finnish education.”

When a child struggles to zip their jacket or pour their water, the adult doesn’t rush in. They wait. They smile. They encourage. This patient confidence communicates, “You are capable.”

Over time, that trust transforms into pride. A child who learns to serve their own lunch also learns to take ownership of their choices, their actions, and their community.

Preschool children in a calm, light-filled classroom serve themselves food and work together with their teacher at a wooden table, reflecting Finnish early childhood education’s focus on independence, cooperation, and care through daily routines.”

🌼 Rekla Reflection: Turning Daily Routines into Learning

Here are three simple ways to bring the Finnish spirit of independence into any preschool classroom even without new materials or extra time.

1️⃣ Step Back to Step Forward

Before stepping in to help, take a breath and wait. Give the child time to try. Independence grows in the space between effort and success.

2️⃣ Involve Children in Care Tasks

Turn everyday routines into learning moments. Let children set tables, wipe surfaces, water plants, or organize shelves. Every act of participation builds responsibility and belonging.

3️⃣ Celebrate Effort, Not Perfection

Praise persistence: “You kept trying,” or “You found your own way.” Confidence grows from being seen, not just from getting it right.

🌱 Rekla Reflection Question

How might you create more independence in your daily classroom routines?Could children serve their own snacks? Dress for outdoor play? Take turns being “helping hands”?

Independence isn’t about doing things perfectly, it’s about giving children the chance to try, to fail, and to feel capable.

Because every time a child says, “I did it myself,” they are learning the most important lesson of all: I can.