Preschoolers – Learning to Get Along with Others

The social skills children learn today will will be used throughout their life.  Making and keeping friends is an important challenge for preschoolers.  As providers and parents we play an important role in encouraging and teaching children how to get along with others.

Typically, preschoolers prefer to play with other children, rather than alone.  You can encourage cooperative play by allowing children lots of chances to choose playmates and decide how they will play.  It is more fun to play doctor if you have a patient.  With the teacher’s help, they have to figure out how to find everyone a turn and a fair share.

When conflicts come up, we encourage children to come up with solutions.  You might say, “Hmm, there is only one green crayon and tow children who want to use it.  What can we do?”  Let them help in making decisions as problem solving will an important skill they learn while young.

Try to engage children in cooperative games more than competitive ones.  They are much too young to worry about winning and losing, so play games in which everyone contributes.

We encourage children to identify the feelings of others by pointing out how they have hurt another child and how they might fix things to make them better.  A teacher might say, “Katie said she’s very angry.  Remember when Darius broke your toy? What do you think you can do to help Katie rebuild the tower you knocked over?”  Helping children learn empathy gives them the opportunity to right the wrong.

There are many ways you can encourage children to help others.  They might make cards for a sick teacher or child, take water to the workers outside, or help with a task.  It is important for children to experience how good it feels to just be a friend!

 

Baby/Toddlers – What are they learning from ART?

Creative people are often resourceful and thoughtful. If a baby feels safe and trusts her/his caregiver and the surroundings, they are more eager to explore and find out more.  Creativity is invaluable and should be encouraged in children.  A secure relationship with caregivers can provide a strong foundation for creativity.

There are a variety of art experience you can provide for children.  Babies have opportunities to use their senses to explore and create.  The process of squishing finger paint in their hands, tearing paper or scribbling with crayons is satisfying for babies and toddlers.  They are developing eye-hand coordination, and are making choices to change the way a drawing looks.  You can provide crayons, chalk, play dough and other materials for creativity and pre-writing skills.

At this age, children’s creations do not usually represent real objects unless we, as adults, label them so.  As they grow, children will attempt to create what they see in real life.  For now, they are simply enjoying the pleasure of creating and exploring the materials.

Teachers should use descriptive language as we discuss a child’s creations (“This painting has circular stokes:, “This color is bright!”)  By encouraging discussion about what has been made, we support children’s language development.  We focus on specific aspects (“How did you make this line so squiggly?”)  We strive to help them feel their work is respected and valued.  We often post the children’s creations for everyone to enjoy.

Teachers often encourage children to explore different art media. We might hang some sticky paper on the wall and have children enjoy sticking items to it to make collages. W e might have children paint with their bare feet.  These experiences let children explore real materials with their senses.  This is how babies and toddlers learn best.

Learning About Science for Baby/Toddler

Science is knowledge that comes from observation, study and experimentation.  We are always encouraging children to study and experiment with real objects to discover answers, and inspire their curiosity for future learning.

Even babies are budding scientists.  They learn by using their five senses.  You can provide materials of different textures, sounds and colors so babies can discover differences in objects.  Round balls, soft blankets, prickly plastic squish toys, large plastic beads, jingle toys or bells, rattles, brights scarves, wooden spoons or toy cars are a few examples.  Babies put objects into their mouths.  This is one of the ways babies learns.  Of course, another reason to thoroughly clean and sanitize all baby toys daily.

As they get older, babies and toddlers love to stack and dump things to see what happens.  Dropping an item from the high chair gives a toddler a great thrill.  To a toddler, dropping objects is a lesson in the forces of gravity, sounds and cause and effect.  It is a good idea to provide toddlers opportunities to stack and dump using buckets, containers, measuring cups and spoons.

Encouraging children to discover the properties of water and sand.  These activities help them learn about sinking and floating, temperature, and how water changes things.  Us lots of words to describe what is happening. (“That sponge is soaking wet,” or “The cold water will feel good on your bump.”)

Playing outdoors provides experiences in a natural environment.  During outdoor play they can see insects, trees, flowers, rain, animals, and soil.  These experiences enhance their interest in and knowledge of the natural world.

Look for future blogs on more science activities.