This week’s activities

Focus on emotional regulation and behaviour

You may have noticed that your once placid, compliant toddler has suddenly turned into a rebellious pre-schooler.  This is perfectly normal.  Children go through a stage around the age of 4 where they begin to push the boundaries.  They are testing what they can do; they might engage in more risky behaviour, they might not listen to you or other adults like they used to.  Whilst this can be frustrating for the adult, the child is looking for guidance.  They want to know that you will keep them safe, that you will allow them independence but, at the end of the day, there are rules that need to be followed.  They need to learn that not only they, but others have needs that need to be met and that how they feel might not be how someone else feels.  We are going to be working on this aspect of development over the coming weeks to support our children with these difficult issues that they all face at some point.

We have a group of children who are experimenting with throwing.  Whilst throwing in itself is not a problem, what items and where they are throwing can be.  To support their enjoyment of throwing (which can also be a schema – trajectory. If you are interested in schemas please ask Sam and Donna) but in an appropriate way, one of the teachers created an activity that could be carried out safely inside.  Details below:

The teacher used cardboard boxes to create a ‘track’ and ‘target’ for the children to aim balls at.  Initially, the children took it in turns to aim the balls at the targets, which were holes cut into a cardboard box.  However, there was a problem with the balls fitting through the holes.  One child commented “the holes are too small”. They discussed how they could solve the problem and decided that the teacher could use scissors to make the holes bigger.  This proved more successful.  Some of the children went on to colour the track and others drew lines on the cardboard “I will start from this line” one child said. When they were happy with their design, they took it in turns to aim the balls at the targets.  They decided they could have 3 goes each, and worked together to count each turn.  Once they had all had a go, some of the children used their own ideas to create their own ball track.  This simple activity allowed the children to engage in something they enjoy in a positive way, whilst developing social and co-operative play.  Lovely.

There are photos on our Facebook page

Thank you.

The Pre-school Team