Did you know? Sweden’s preschool curriculum was revised in 2025 to give greater emphasis to read-alouds, language, play and movement, with learning tools primarily analogue. For a parent, that brings a familiar world into focus: a book, a conversation, a shared game and something a child can explore directly.
eduKateSG · Early years around the world · Parents of children aged 0–6
Find your next learning step
Understand the setting, see how learning works, then choose a small next step for your family.
Understanding förskola and the next stage
Sweden’s National Agency for Education describes förskola as preschool for children aged one to six. It is intended to be enjoyable, safe and educational, supporting children’s development while helping parents combine family life with work or study.
The agency separately describes förskoleklass, the preschool class that most children begin at six. It combines approaches from preschool and school. These terms describe connected but distinct parts of the Swedish system.
For Singapore parents, this distinction is useful when comparing what a six-year-old’s programme means. Similar ages and familiar English translations do not make national stages identical. Look at the purpose of the stage as well as its name.
What changed in the preschool curriculum
Skolverket’s guide to the revised Lpfö 18 curriculum gives an effective date of 1 July 2025. It explains that learning tools should primarily be analogue and that there is no requirement to use digital tools. It also strengthens the emphasis on language, read-alouds, play and physical activity.
“Primarily analogue” should be read accurately. It describes a curriculum emphasis; this guide does not turn that wording into a blanket claim that every digital use is forbidden.
Our parent interpretation is practical: before buying another learning tool, consider the experience you want to create. Can your child handle materials, listen closely, move, explain or work with another person? The value lies in what the activity makes possible.
Why an ordinary story can open a bigger world
eduKateSG family example: read, move and retell
Choose a short picture book your child enjoys. Read it together without requiring an answer on every page. Pause at one interesting moment and invite a comment. Afterwards, let your child act out a character’s movement or arrange large play figures to represent a scene.
Each step offers another way into the meaning. The picture gives something to notice. Your spoken words offer language. Movement makes an action concrete. Retelling invites the child to organise what happened.
If your child cannot retell the whole story, return to one picture. Ask, “What is happening here?” Accept a gesture or a short response and add a useful phrase. “Running” might become “The rabbit is running home.”
This is a family example inspired by the curriculum’s emphases. It is not a prescribed Swedish lesson or a test of whether a child has reached a particular standard.
Notice progress through participation and transfer
Start by noticing how your child joins in. They may choose the book, point to a detail, repeat a phrase or act out a movement. Those are different forms of participation, and each gives you a possible next step.
On another day, see whether an idea reappears somewhere new. A child who heard “under the bridge” in a story might use under while building with blocks. That gives you a small example of transfer from language in a book to language in play.
Keep the response warm and specific: “You put the bus under the bridge.” If the word is still unfamiliar, demonstrate it with the toy. The next move is a clearer experience, not a judgement about the child.
A simple observation note can record the context, the child’s action and your support. Compare several moments rather than treating one tired afternoon as a complete picture. Share recurring concerns with the preschool teacher.
A bridge into school that keeps relationships visible
Skolverket’s description of preschool class includes play, creativity, exploration and group belonging, alongside communication and mathematical problem solving. The transition at six therefore gives parents several areas to ask about.
- How will my child get to know the adults and other children?
- Which familiar play experiences continue into the new setting?
- How can my child ask for help?
- What information from preschool would help the receiving teacher?
At home, practise one useful transition action: telling an adult that something is confusing, looking after a familiar belonging or explaining a simple plan. Let a child rehearse through a pretend scene before expecting the action in a busy new place.
For a Singapore family, everyday words such as beside, across, waiting, turn and help can connect stories with a neighbourhood walk. The longer aim is a child who can participate, communicate and gradually manage more of their day.
Questions parents often ask
Does the Swedish curriculum require screens?
The revised preschool guidance says there is no requirement to use digital tools and that tools should primarily be analogue. That is the precise distinction to preserve.
Is preschool class the same as preschool?
They are distinct stages in the agency’s guidance. Most children begin preschool class at six; ask the relevant setting about your child’s circumstances.
Should every activity produce something to display?
Our family examples invite you to observe participation, talk and exploration. A conversation or a shared game can give you useful evidence even when there is no finished craft or worksheet.
Continue through eduKate’s early years guides
- School of Childhood: the broad childhood journey
- Singapore’s whole-child preschool approach
- Teaching vocabulary to a five-year-old
- Birth to three: responsive care and the first learning world
Sources and further reading
Official sources checked on 5 October 2026. The eduKateSG family examples are suggested applications, rather than official national lessons, developmental assessments or promises of results.