This is a different post from those I would usually write. However, I thought that “tales from a teacher” may be interesting to write about from time to time. As teachers, there are sometimes events that stick in our minds, and this is one that has been stuck in my mind this week.

Following a conversation with my former co-worker last week, today I’d like to look at the importance and necessity of giving children the skills to speak up for themselves. It’s so important for us, as adults, to help children feel confident and comfortable expressing their opinion about what they like and what they don’t like.

The story

So as not to make this post too long or too preachy, here is the gist of it: my co-worker was approached by a parent last week who was, in her words, visibly upset about something. The parent explained that their child didn’t want to go to summer camp anymore because they were constantly hearing a playful word: “silly”.

This word is used by children and teachers at the school and the connotations of it are nothing but playful and, in my opinion, much better than other words.

A tangent

As we live and work in an international environment, it is common for us as teachers to have to explain some of the words that we use as they are very specific to where we come from.

For example, I say “oopsie daisy” when tripping, dropping something, or knocking into something. “Oopsie daisy” is what we said when I was a child, when I worked in England, and I’ve continued to use it throughout my time in Prague.

I cannot count how many parents have come to me and said, “my child keeps saying ‘oopsie daisy’, what does it mean?”.

Back to the story

The parent, after hearing my co-worker’s explanation as to why that word was used and what it means, was still quite upset. They reiterated that their child now did not want to be at summer camp because of the use of the word. This parent believed my co-worker should have seen this word upset the child and immediately stopped using it, while also telling other children not to use it as well.

It was, in the parent’s opinion, part of a teacher’s role to intervene in this – and indeed any – situation where a child may be upset, regardless of the reason. Due to the lack of intervention, this child was no longer going to attend summer camp at this school.

I do understand this parent’s point of view. I am sure that I wouldn’t be pleased if my child kept saying they didn’t want to go to school. The parent wanted, as I would have, an explanation. 

Reaction

My co-worker was extremely shocked by this conversation and explained the reason behind the use of the word. She also explained that the child had never seemed upset, often used the word herself, and had never expressed negative feelings towards it.

The child in question is very talkative and comfortable at school and my co-worker was surprised that she didn’t speak up about not liking something.

When we discussed this in more detail it led to a conversation about the importance of children speaking up. Not only this, but adults giving them the tools to do so.

Why is this important?

You may ask, why should a child speak up when their parents can do so for them? And this is a fair point. My answer to this would be that parents (or teachers) aren’t always going to be there to do it for them.

Let’s put it this way: if a child were behaving inappropriately in class, would you expect the teacher to wait till you, as a parent, arrived to speak to the child? (I hope your answer to this is no).

Don’t get me wrong, parents must be able to speak with their child’s teacher and this relationship is very important. Should it come to it, it may be good to also speak with the school’s management.

Parents and teachers can and should show children that their opinion is important and how to express it.

In teaching independence, independent thinking, creativity, and all the important social skills that children should learn at preschool, teaching them how to speak up is of equal importance.

This helps children feel confident enough to say “I don’t want to play mummies and daddies again” to their peers.

It helps them feel secure enough to play in the sand when they have forgotten to bring their wellies to school and they can’t play in puddles.

They can say “stop trying to scribble on my picture” when their friends are not playing nicely.

They are confident enough to go to the teacher if someone is physically hurting them or not using nice words.

Of course, it is the job of a teacher to pay attention and make sure that the children in their care are happy and safe! Of course! However, teachers are (though we don’t seem like it) only human! We can’t always do everything so we must teach children these skills.

So how do we teach said skills?

Modelling behaviour

I believe that one of the best ways to teach something is to model it, to show the desired behaviour in a real setting. This works with how you’d like your child to speak with you – “Would you close the door for me please?” vs “shut the door!” – how you would like the children in the class to sit during circle time, and many other situations.

So how do we model this? Firstly, make sure that your behaviour is the same as what you’d like children to learn.

If I am sitting sprawled on the floor with my phone on my lap, children see this and they will copy me and, most probably, want to see my phone. If this is fine for you, then okay. However, in circle time, I sit with my legs crossed, my listening ears turned on, and my good-looking eyes looking at whoever is talking.

This is because I expect the same behaviour from the children in my class.

Explaining behaviour

After the behaviour has been modelled, it is necessary to explain the reasons why we do these things.

In the past, I have had children in my classes who played poorly with their friends and this caused them to be alienated by their peers. Although a hard lesson, this was a perfect example for the children as they had an actual experience of how their behaviour affected others and how it, in turn, affected them.

Keep in mind, however, that if you would like for a child to behave in a certain way, you must do so yourself. The phrase “do as I say and not as I do” keeps popping into my mind while writing this.

Result

The conversation with my co-worker ended with us agreeing that it was sad for a child to have left and for them and their parent to have felt unhappy as a result of this situation.

In a perfect world, we would have wanted the child to stay and for her to learn how to speak up and for her to do so. However, all we can do is endeavour to understand, adapt, and continue to teach these skills so that we help raise confident children.

What do you think?

Do you agree with our thoughts on this? Would you perhaps go about this another way? What are your thoughts on this topic in general?

Please do let me know if “tales from a teacher” is something you’d be interested in seeing more of.

Whether your child is at summer camp, child care, or at home during these hot summer days, it’s always good to have some inspiration for activities to keep them busy! There are so many great ideas on the internet to take inspiration from, but the following activities involve things you can find in your house (for the most part, anyway).

Water balloon hunt/fight

This one is going to have to take place outside, so I hope that you have the facilities to do this or don’t mind your home getting flooded!

A quick disclaimer: I know that water balloons aren’t good for the environment, but why not talk to your little ones about this and make sure that all the balloons are collected once your activity is finished? It’s a good “cool down” activity and teaches children the importance of looking after the environment and being responsible.

Don’t fear, my environmentally-conscious friends! There are other ways to counter this too. I have seen a lot of biodegradable water balloons on sale which don’t need to be collected once the water fun has finished. You could also use water pistols or sponges rather than balloons. For example: firing, scrunching, and soaking sponges is also a great activity to strengthen those fine motor skills.

Active games are always a lot of fun but not always a great idea when the weather is super-hot. To combat the heat, just add some water! I’ve rarely met a child who didn’t love games with water and getting messy 😊

Educational games

Sensory obstacle courses might need a little more planning, but they can provide a lot of fun for children of all ages. 

What is a sensory obstacle course, you ask? This is a trail where children walk over/on different materials barefoot. This is more fun to do outside and when children are barefoot so they can experience the different textures and feelings of each sensory item.

Some ideas of things to use are; ice (again, let’s be careful), warm water, cold water, water with bubbles, grass, pebbles, scrunched up paper, and more! There can be areas where children have to walk or where they need to use their hands to feel the different materials.

This is a fun activity for all children and helps teach them to follow instructions, but it is especially good for children who have sensory difficulties as this can help them to experience textures in a fun way.

Melting ice

Melting ice is always a favourite amongst children, in my experience. Experimenting, making a mess, trial and error, all these factors make this a fun and educational activity for preschoolers.

It’s necessary to pre-freeze your water into shapes and colours that you want and then prepare – or not – the different materials you’re going to use to melt the ice. If the children are older or more independent, you may not need to provide the materials for them as they can decide what to use themselves. 

Some good things to have on hand are warm water, salt, or a fan. I once had a child who insisted on blowing on their ice to see how long it took it to melt (it took a long time).

Making homemade boats

Making homemade boats is a good activity for children to understand the concept of float vs sink. In the home or child care facility, numerous items can be used to make boats. For the creative among us; toilet roll tubes, empty boxes, and a lick of paint can make great – albeit perishable – boats. Otherwise, why not use a yoghurt pot or a milk carton, or maybe a plastic bottle? Inspiration below:

Not only does this activity pass time and entertain our young friends at home, outside, or at preschool, it also is a great creative outlet and problem-solving activities stem from it (what floats v what doesn’t).

Bingo

Bingo is quite possibly my favourite outdoor educational game and it is really easy to make yourself. Our small friends can even help with the preparation. All you need is a square of paper or card to make a grid on and an idea of the environment you’d like to use. I’ve made bingo cards for indoor and outdoor activities and have always had a lot of fun with them.

If you’re inside (depending on the age of the child/children that you’re with) you could put hard to find items on the bingo card which adds a “hide and seek” element to the activity.

Depending on your outside environment, it’s important to make sure that the items on the bingo card aren’t too difficult to find and you can even have rewards ready when all the items have been ticked off.

I always make one each for the children, but they often work together to find different items.

Summer science

Magic milk experiments are really easy to do and children can get fully involved as there are no harmful materials. All you need for this one is some food colouring, milk, and dish soap.

More summer science

Skittles Is another fun and simple summer science activity for all ages. This one just requires a packet of skittles, warm water, and a container to pour water from.

I actually tried this one with Smarties/Lentilky as well but the results weren’t quite as pleasing for the eyes:

Fun summer activities

What did you think of these summer activities? Let me know if you tried them out and what success you had. I’d love to hear your results and if you’ve any other fun and easy summer activities!

Previously I looked at what outdoor learning is and some of the benefits that this type of program has for preschool children. Today I’d like to look at a few more benefits and how to use them in a preschool daily routine. Who knows? This could end up being a three-parter!

Physical health

This may be the first thing one thinks of when talking about outdoor learning, as the health benefits of stepping outside the classroom are numerous. Children’s exposure to fresh air and the time spent outside can help them burn off energy which isn’t possible in the classroom.

“Teacher talks”

I was recently speaking to my friend and former co-worker about her rather lively class. We talked about the days – which I am sure every parent, guardian, and childcare worker knows very well – when preschoolers are full to the brim with energy. It was agreed that, on these days, there is little to no point in staying in the classroom and expecting children to carry out the day’s activities that you’ve prepared.

The two of us also remarked that we’ve worked alongside teachers in the past who would still try to continue their lesson even though their class – or even just a few members of the class – were restless. Not only, I believe, is the teacher setting themselves up for failure and a sore throat from repeating the same things, but this is so unfair on the children! Let’s remember that we’re not studying for PhDs here…this is preschool!

Always be ready to adjust

Instead of staying in the classroom, what I have done on days like this is go through a quick circle time and then head off outside to burn off some energy. Depending on the theme of the week or that day’s topic, it is possible to adjust the lesson to take place outside.

For example, there have been occasions when a class has been full of energy (which is totally normal and natural for preschoolers) and they weren’t able to concentrate. We have begun to sing some silly songs, or play some games, but the most effective use of their energy was to go outside. If there is a classroom assistant, then they or the teacher can quickly prepare a treasure hunt or print off a game of outdoor bingo, so the children still have some teacher-led time for the day.

Mental health

Being stuck inside (again I will reference Covid19), is hard for everyone. For me during the lockdown here in the Czech Republic, I was less motivated than usual, and a lot more tired.

As an adult, we can rationalise things and this helps us to understand and cope with situations which are as unprecedented as a lockdown, but we must think about how hard this is for children. Without there being something tangible to understand, an abstract situation like “we have to stay inside for the foreseeable future”, can be very difficult for children to comprehend.

With Covid19, we had to stay inside. In preschool, it should not be the same! As I wrote last week, there are not a lot of preschools here in Prague that have private outdoor space. Having only worked in schools with outdoor space, this is hard for me to get my head around.

Above, I speak about the physical health benefits of outdoor learning, but what about the mental benefits? As well as boosting cognitive development – with the use of different materials, tools, and resources only found outside the classroom, outdoor learning helps preschoolers feel more free and more confident in their abilities as they are allowed to explore and create without being told what to do by a teacher or adult.

Confidence and problem solving

On one occasion, a few children were making an “ice cream stand” in the sandpit while a lot more were running around. Some other children came and knocked all the “ice cream” off the shelf the children were serving from and one was very upset. My small friend went over to the runners and explained to them that they had made another friend sad because they had knocked the sand over and that they should be more careful next time. The runners took this and apologised while myself and my co-workers looked on, very impressed to see the confidence of this child as she stood up for her friend.

As the children were not inside and under the strict watchful eye of a teacher, this child found the confidence to become the teacher herself.

Fine motor skills

Outdoor learning can help develop both fine and gross motor skills in preschoolers and, once again, this is in a way that is not possible within the classroom. Children develop some of their motor skills at different speeds and different ages depending on a variety of factors. Outside learning allows children to develop these skills while not even realising they are doing so.

In the classroom

Concerning the development of fine motor skills, it can often be seen that some preschoolers are loath to practise in the classroom. Playing with puzzles, sensory tables, and colouring pictures are great fine motor activities but only if the child has an interest in them. 

Outside the classroom

When outside, children develop their fine motor skills without even realising it! The children who love to run and explore may find a beetle or a spider and then try to pick it up, understanding that they should use “soft hands” to handle creatures. A child who doesn’t really enjoy puzzles may see flowers and pick them to make a daisy chain or just to collect them as a present for their parents.

There are endless opportunities for developing fine motor skills with outdoor learning and activities to do so are easy to add to a lesson plan. Park bingo needs children to circle the item they have found or to stick a sticker onto their bingo card, collecting flowers to make a witch’s brew needs dexterous fingers, and making mud pies in mud kitchens needs well-developed hand and arm strength.

Gross motor skills

I’m sure you saw this one coming, but let me ask you a question: how much can children run around, climb, cycle, or dance when they’re confined to a classroom? Even if they can, it can be dangerous to take part in such activities indoors, with a lack of space just being one of the factors.

When a preschool or childcare centre has an outside area, I think it is such a waste to not use it as much as possible! My dad always used to say: “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing”. I have met a lot of international families who are not used to children going outside during the cold winters here in Prague but are sold once they see their children’s red cheeks and hear the stories about their outdoor learning that day.

When left to their own devices outside, children run. They race, they play tag, they play cops and robbers (or whichever variant it is that day). I love to see the children involved in some form of competition where they organise races by themselves, whether it be on foot, scooter, or bicycle.

While inside, children cannot race, in fact, we speak about this a lot with children: it is much safer to walk while inside. Inside, activities like running, climbing, or learning to ride a bike are either impractical, impossible, or dangerous. Outside, however, there are endless opportunities for these activities.

A real life example

I have a friend who works in a school with a large tree in the garden. This tree has branches that are low enough for the children to climb up independently. He told me that many teachers had requested the tree be cut down or the branches removed so that children could not climb it, so that there would be no danger of them falling. Understandable, of course. But what about teaching children how to climb the tree safely? What about giving them the freedom to explore by themselves? What about helping strengthen their gross motor skills by teaching them how to support their own weight while climbing a tree?

My friend, fortunately, won the argument about the tree and it still stands in the school playground, where children love climbing and exploring by themselves.

I mention above that learning in different environments can be more interesting for children and they do things outside that they wouldn’t be interested in in the classroom. It’s the same for gross motor skills!

(One more) real life example

I’ve had a few children over the years who hated walking. They would complain about having to walk while going to the playground, request to be carried when going on trips (aged five!), and sometimes just stop in their tracks when they’d walked just a few meters. With those children – some of whom still came to school in their prams at four years old – we took it slowly. We’d have activities to keep us occupied while walking: like “I-Spy”. We’d have races to the top of the hills so the children wouldn’t be as aware of the different inclines. We’d play “we’re going on a bear hunt” and have the children who didn’t like walking take the lead! 

All these activities encouraged those children to unconsciously develop their gross motor skills, have a greater interest in running, jumping, and climbing, and, in some cases, really helped their physical fitness – which is something we’ll discuss soon.

Part three

As suspected, this is another long post. It looks like part three will be coming next week, then, when I’ll look at independence, creativity, inquisitiveness, and focus with regard to outdoor learning.

I hope you all can spend lots of time outside between now and then and are inspired by some of the ideas in these posts. Enjoy your outdoor learning!

Telling stories and reading are invaluable assets in the classroom and at home. I am lucky enough to have come from a family that encouraged reading from a very young age and some of my earliest memories are of going to the library.

I believe we are all aware of the importance of reading with children, especially those learning a second language, as it develops connections between the reader and listener, stimulates imagination, and increases the use, development, and understanding of vocabulary and language.

In a preschool classroom, reading and telling stories can be used to introduce a theme or topic, teach social and emotional lessons, to help children relax and focus, or for general entertainment.

What I’d like to talk about is telling stories to encourage different skills. The specific experience I have with this topic is with children aged 3-6 with a variety of language skills. I am sure, however, this could work with younger age groups too, to a certain extent.

“What did you do this weekend?”

One of the first activities in circle time on a Monday morning – after having gotten those wiggles out – is discussing our weekend activities as a class.

I began including the question “what did you do this weekend?” in circle time to encourage recalling events, listening skills, and social skills.

Beginning with this question, those who wish to share put their hands up and then take it in turns to talk about their weekend.

As teachers, we elicit information and encourage the children to talk and share more.

Encouraging language

This is especially important for children who are learning an additional language. By telling stories, speaking, and playing, children can use and hone their language skills in a relaxed way. As teachers, we can ask leading questions to help them continue their stories and their peers do so as well.

Recalling

Recalling information is an important tool in child development as it helps children increase their memory. This is very useful later in children’s academic careers when new information needs to be learnt, remembered, and used, for example, in maths.

Storytelling enhances and encourages recalling and memory in a fun and relaxed way – I’m sure you’ve noticed a theme here with the best ways for children to learn.

I had two girls in my class last year who had the most amazing social lives. I’m not kidding. Every Monday they would tell us the stories of their weekend, much of which they spent together, and all the fun things they did. Most notably, one morning we were discussing transport and travel and got onto the topic of hot air balloons. One child raised her hand and said “Hayley, I want to say something about my weekend”, I asked “does it have something to do with transport?”, to which she answered yes.

Her story was about a hot air balloon ride that she had taken with her parents! I was so jealous! It transpired that this hot air balloon ride had not taken place at the weekend, but she connected recalling this story with our question “what did you do at the weekend?”.

Confidence

One of the big things that I work on with my preschoolers is confidence and I have found that telling stories is such a good way to encourage and work on confidence with children.

I’m sure, as adults, that not all of us are comfortable speaking in front of big groups or standing up to say something in front of our peers. However, I have found that sharing stories and sharing events has helped some of my shyer students immensely.

Time for another story. I once taught a child who could be very shy, and her mum initiated many conversations with me about her confidence. It’s true, the child was very shy with new people – especially adults – but really thrived being in the company of her friends and this is where her confidence was able to blossom. I was lucky enough to have her in my class for three years and, to my astonishment, one day when she was five, she asked if she could stand up in circle time and talk to her friends about her holiday.

You may think me overdramatic, but I was genuinely brought to tears by the child presenting shells from her trip to the beach. She took each one out of her bag, explained who found each shell, where they found them, and then encouraged her classmates to hold the shells to their ears to hear the sea. The cherry on the cake was when she began to engage more with the class and ask them if they had any questions for her! This particular child always told me that she would like to be a mummy when she grows up, but after this, she said she’d like to be a mummy and a teacher 😊

Listening

Listening and concentrating are not always easy things to do for children and this is something we, as teachers, work on throughout children’s school careers. However, children do get used to listening to their teachers as they see them as an authority.

I like to work on children’s listening skills concerning one another. We work on this while teaching independence by encouraging children to talk and listen to each other to solve problems.

Encouraging listening skills further, once children are used to recalling their stories, weekends, or holidays, I encourage children to ask their own questions.

It’s great to see, as a teacher, children taking control of their learning based on what interests them and I have sometimes completely foregone much of a lesson as the children were having interesting group discussions.

How it works is that a child would recall their story, ask “does anyone have any questions?”, then choose a peer to ask a question. In all honesty, when I have done this most recently, the children often ask about food! “Did you have ice cream?”, “did you eat pizza?”, “did you go to a restaurant?” were frequently asked questions!

Social skills

This ties in with listening skills but I include this as a separate section to talk about how simple activities like telling stories can help with social skills. Not only does telling stories encourage children to speak and listen to each other, but it also encourages them to practice social behaviours like eye contact, asking relevant questions, and giving everyone time and a chance to speak.

Remember my small friend that I mentioned in a previous post, the one who went to see Frozen 2 every weekend? Though he always shared the same story, some of his classmates asked him different questions about it every week: “did you have popcorn?”, “What kind of popcorn did you have?”. Clearly, food is a very important topic for me and my preschoolers!

Cheeky Monkey

I will again refer to a previous post where I speak about “The Cheeky Monkey”. This was my most recent class and we managed to keep the story going for six months. The story of the cheeky monkey wasn’t told every day, but we used to do it at least once a week.

How it works is: I introduce a character to the children and tell a short story about some events that happen. They can be small things, or they can be silly and over the top. The key is, however, to offer the children choices about what can happen next, for example:

“Cheeky Monkey was wandering around the zoo looking for friends to talk to when he saw that one of the lion cages was wide open…what do you think happened?”

The children would then, with encouragement, try and add parts to the story. The Cheeky Monkey’s trials and tribulations sometimes got quite out of hand, but this aided the children in remembering the story for next time.

The story often ended on a cliff-hanger and we would leave it for another day. When it came to telling stories about cheeky monkey again, I would ask the children to remind me where we left off. Though it had been a few days or even a week, the children were very often able to remember the key details of the story and were eager to continue.

As much as themes, topics, and milestones are important in preschool, I believe that the skills encouraged and practiced by telling stories should be included in every classroom and not overlooked.

Here’s to the next generation of storytellers!

Mornings, whether you are getting ready for work or your child for school, can always be stressful. Today I’d like to talk about the importance of a morning routine.

A solid morning routine will help you as parents to get your children ready and to school on time, and also to prepare you and your child for the day.

I don’t have children at home, but I do have experience with morning routines. Having been a nanny and from welcoming children into my classroom as a teacher, I have seen what works well and what to avoid doing.

When I worked as a nanny, the children were 4 years and 15 months, respectively. It wasn’t easy getting them ready and out the door but, when our routine was worked out, it became a lot easier.

I must also acknowledge that it probably was easier for me to enforce this routine than it would be for a parent. As an outside caregiver, they weren’t initially as comfortable with me as they were with their mum.

This meant and means that they didn’t feel as confident questioning and challenging rules as much as they would with a parent.

I’ll also point out that I am a huge believer in rules and boundaries, so I had and have the advantage of experience and putting in the leg work. As teachers, we often also find ourselves impervious to complaints while routines are established, and boundaries set.

How do we prepare?

Now I don’t mean prepare in the way that you may think – like preparing breakfast and packed lunch the night before – but prepare your routine that you want to follow. 

This may take some work to get it how you want but having a prepared routine that you stick to will be endlessly helpful for you and your preschoolers.

At preschool, we always stick to our daily routines as it is well known that children respond well to knowing what comes next.

This is especially true in an environment where they are learning another language. If your child cannot understand what is being said, they understand the routine that is stuck to every day and this is very reassuring for them.

Your child may be learning sequencing and “what comes next?” as part of their preschool curriculum and routines such as this can be great models for that, putting what your child has learnt into practice. 

Sleep

It’s very easy to say that getting a good night’s sleep is key to having a good morning, but we all know that this is not always within our control. Especially with preschoolers.

However, this can be helped by establishing night-time and day-time routines too. Night-time routines like shutting screens off early and agreeing on the number of bedtime stories can help your child feel relaxed, not stressed, and ready for a good night’s sleep.

Wake-up time

Be sure to give yourself and your child enough time to go through the morning routine. If you sleep in, you’re limiting the time to complete each step which will leave you and your preschooler feeling rushed and stressed. This is not at all conducive to a swift and successful drop-off at preschool.

When I was a nanny, I arrived when the children were just waking up and they were excited to see me, which helped them get out of bed, so I don’t have much real-life advice with getting children up.

However, if your child has enough sleep and feels well-rested, I do believe that they’re keen and ready to start the day. Some children like to play when they get up, if so, leave time for this in your morning routine.

Breakfast

As you must know by now, I love teaching children how to be independent and all the positive effects that independence has on them.

Independence in this respect is allowing your child to choose what they’d like for breakfast. When I say choose, however, I mean choose from the options you’ve laid out. I am endlessly impressed with you if you’ve the time and patience to take breakfast orders from your household!

If you have the choice of cereals, as my small friend had – let’s call her Lucy –, then teach and allow your preschooler to pour their own cereal, pour their own milk, and put their bowl on the counter when they’re finished.

Lucy, who was four years old, loved showing me how independent she was and this allowed me to go and get her 15-month-old sister ready.

Getting dressed

You may have received advice that a preschooler should have their clothes prepared the night before. In my experience, this can lead to unnecessary disruptions to the morning routine.

If I cast my mind back, I remember a very adamant “no” that the clothes chosen the night before by Lucy, just weren’t acceptable that day.

While your preschooler is having breakfast, set out two or three options and allow your child to choose from them.

By giving them independence and autonomy over this, though still having an element of order, your child will feel listened to, understood, and autonomous which is great for building confidence! 

Remember that, when children get upset and have tantrums, it is often because they feel they are not being listened to. So listen to them. When your child is confident, they can then start choosing for themselves. 

Leaving the house

I really like using “X” minute warnings in the classroom, in the playground, and in the house too. A simple “five more minutes” can be very effective, in my experience and it doesn’t leave the child rushed or shocked by their lack of time.

You may think that a preschooler has no concept of time but, if you give them something to compare time with, you will help them develop that concept. Perhaps you’ll say “five minutes…. now three minutes…” etc. and have your child get used to a countdown this way.

Don’t be late!

Now I’m going to put my teacher’s hat on. Please try your utmost to have your child at preschool on time; their lateness can offset the daily routine, other children’s attention, and can make your child reluctant to enter the classroom.

There was a child in a school I worked at who was constantly late. And when I say late I mean that they would arrive an hour late each day, coinciding with circle time.

This child was also very sociable and loved to speak with their friends but, because it was circle time, they were asked to come in quietly and sit down without being able to socialise.

Imagine being asked to be quiet when you just want to say hello to your friends!

From a teacher’s point of view, I understand why this was done, and from a child’s point of view, I can imagine how much this would upset me. So the child would then not want to come into the classroom – unsurprisingly, because they weren’t allowed to socialise in the way they wanted to. 

I tried to explain to the child’s parents that the reason we have a window of time between dropping children off and the daily routine starting is for this exact reason: children want to socialise! 

As the family didn’t adust, a new “step” came into their morning routine: their child didn’t want to go into the classroom and would cry every morning.

This time, when speaking with the parents, they were much more responsive and respectful to our timetable and their child’s social needs.

The story has a happy and successful end to it as, after this, the child was very rarely late for school again – success!

On the way to preschool

It may be that you drive, walk, or take public transport to your child’s preschool and all of these modes of transport can be met with things that offset your routine.

There are things like traffic or weather that cannot be controlled, my advice here is to just stay calm. 

Maybe your child will be late for preschool. As I write above, this is not ideal and can lead to extra challenges. However, if it’s a rare occurrence, what is the point of getting yourself and your child stressed over things you cannot control?

Have some fun, talk about what could have made your journey better, have your child suggest a different way of getting to school tomorrow. If you’re stressed and rushed, your preschooler is going to feel this too and will be less likely to go into their classroom and say goodbye to you without a fuss.

Arrival at school

You’ve done your whole morning routine – congrats! Now it’s the time to drop your child off in their cloakroom or classroom and this is often met with drawn-out goodbyes and discussions.

I suggest that, to the best of your ability, you keep your goodbye quick and easy. The longer you wait and say numerous goodbyes, the harder it can be for your child when you leave.

It can happen, of course, that your child is just in a bad mood that morning and your goodbye is very hard on them. This is fine! You’re not a terrible parent for leaving while they’re crying.

Just be sure to speak with your child’s teacher, give your preschooler a big hug and share some nice words, and then make your way out of the building.

I am certain that any teacher will tell you that children calm down very quickly after parents have left. The teacher will have a thousand tricks up their sleeve to help calm, relax and reassure your child.

There’s also no problem with asking for them to have a short text or email sent to you so you know your child has calmed down.

What if “goodbye” is still hard?

Sometimes, when you have done all these steps and kept to your morning routine, your child is still reluctant to go into the classroom. Maybe they cry or are visibly upset when you drop them off.

I know this is hard.

There was a child in my school that just didn’t like coming to preschool and myself and his parents discussed at great length the reasons why.

We worked through a lot of reasons that it could be, and, in this case, it turned out that it was actually the parents’ feelings that had manifested themselves into their child.

They shared with me that they talk about feeling guilty for sending their child to preschool (the child was four at the time) and they discussed this in front of their child.

There is nothing wrong with feeling guilty although I personally don’t believe that parents have to. Sending your child to preschool is very good for their mental, social, physical, and developmental progress.

If you do have such feelings, however, please don’t discuss them in front of your child. Children are far more aware than some give them credit for and will feel many things that you do. 

Have a good day!

If all has worked out, try and stick to the morning routine you’ve created. Perhaps you’ll use one like I layout above, perhaps you’ll have more or fewer steps.

What are your tricks for a good morning routine? Did it take you long to establish a routine? Be sure to let me know and pass along any tips and tricks you have!

Are you ready for another long post? This is going to be all about the word “no”. The inspiration for this post comes from my friend after I asked her what she finds most difficult as a parent. Without delay, her reply was that she wishes she could say no to her son and have him accept it without any “drama”.

I think that this is such an interesting topic and it is important that children are told and understand what “no” means. Of course there are differences between a teacher or care giver saying no to a child versus a parent, but understanding the reasons why we need to say no to children and using some of the techniques I’ll lay out, I hope I can help you in the same way that I helped my friend.

Should we say “no” to children?

To start with, I truly believe that there is nothing wrong with saying no to children. In fact, I believe that it is something that we must do, and I have seen the repercussions of not saying no to children on a few occasions. Have you ever met an adult and immediately thought: “I bet their parents never said no to them”? Me too…I may have even met more than one. 

I won’t use this time to debunk theories on why it isn’t a good idea to say “no”. (Some believe this limits children’s autonomy and doesn’t encourage creative thinking and initiative.) I would rather show you some techniques that I have had success with.

Children, by nature, are inquisitive and constantly learning about the world around them. Children need to challenge things in order to learn how to do things correctly and learn what is right and what is wrong.

That isn’t to say thatI have no feedback from a child after they’re told “no” and that they go on with their day happily – far from it! I have, however, learned from experience that children appreciate authority and boundaries. Don’t forget that learning boundaries is an important part of a child’s development.

Saying “no” at school and at home

When do I just say no? In the classroom, it is rare that I would need to merely say “no” to a child. It’s very important to me to have an open dialogue with my preschoolers; I talk to them about what is acceptable versus not acceptable and they understand, to the best of their ability, the reasons behind my saying “no”. However, there are occasions when a child needs to just hear this word in order to keep them safe. 

Accepting a “no” at home is always going to be more difficult for your child than at school for many reasons; children are more comfortable and feel they can challenge you, your rules are different than those at school, boundaries aren’t as clear, etc.

Tips and tricks no make “no” stick

These tips have proved very successful for me in the classroom and I’d like to share them with you; remember that some of these tricks will work better with different ages but why not give them all a try? 

• Set clear boundaries and be consistent:

I know this sounds obvious but it’s so important: if your child knows they cannot do something because they have tried and tried and consistently been told no (hopefully with some justification) then they will start to make the connection between what they can and cannot do. It is so important to give your child explanations, which leads me on to my next tip:

• Explain why:

If you’re saying “no” to your child, I assume you have a good reason for it. It could be that they want some sweeties before dinner, to watch another video on YouTube or to draw on the walls with a permanent marker.

If your child has copied this behaviour or come up with it themselves, they may not know that it isn’t okay. Your “no” will not suffice as your child doesn’t understand why they’re being not allowed to do such things. This can lead to children continuing undesirable behaviour in the future or to have a tantrum.

Preschool age children aren’t yet able to understand the permanence of things and don’t understand that you are saying “no, you can’t draw on the walls” and not “you can never draw again”. This can lead to tantrums and the continuing of this behaviour.

Instead, try saying “No. We draw on paper, why don’t you show me what you can draw on this piece of paper? If we draw on the walls instead of paper, I won’t be able to send your lovely picture to grandma”.

• Give choices: 

This is maybe my least favourite; I don’t believe that every child understands and responds to this method. However, I’ve included it as I’ve had some success in the past.

If your child is nagging you that they want ice cream and won’t accept your answer of “no”, then try offering them an alternative (like yoghurt). This way they will not have the issue we addressed above (thinking you’re saying “you can never have ice cream again”) and can avoid tantrums.

• Ignoring their response:

One for the brave parents out there who can cope with a tantrum or two (or maybe twelve).

If you say “no, you cannot watch another YouTube video” and your child has a meltdown (excessive crying, screaming, shouting), just walk away from them. Make sure they are safe, in a space where they can’t hurt themselves or anyone else and just let them cry it out.

Your preschooler doesn’t yet know how to deal with their emotions and crying is a natural response. Trying to explain your decision to them while they’re crying will not be effective. It is very hard for children to process information when they are highly emotional.

By walking away, you allow them to unleash their frustration and also show them that their response is not acceptable. Once your child has calmed down, talk to them and explain why they cannot watch that other YouTube video. Suggest other activities such as this one

• Listen to your child:

If you find yourself constantly saying “no”, it may be that your child has entered a period of defiance (where a child learns how to oppose you) or that they are looking for attention. Try to understand why your child is consistently doing things that you’ve asked them not to. Work with your child and help them understand what behaviour is correct.

Use in real life

I once worked with a child who consistently did things that warranted myself and my teaching assistant to say “no”. When I say consistently, I really mean that we said it all day long. My teaching assistant and I sat and talked about why she was behaving this way and what we could do to help her.

Eventually we saw that the child was doing things to elicit a “no” when she were feeling left out or not getting enough attention. This child came from a large family and was having a hard time finding her place in it. Our solution was to speak with the parents and encourage some quality one-on-one time with their child. At school, while keeping clear boundaries, we saw great progress.

Learning to accept being told no is an especially important developmental stage for your child. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it! Keep going, parents, I believe in you!

What is your experience with saying “no” to your child? What methods worked for you? Please share, we can always do with some more tricks up our sleeves!  🙂

A message from a friend

While we’ve all been on lockdown, I’ve been deprived of the company of my small friends. Imagine my happiness when I received a message from a former student’s family. They told me that their daughter insists on playing “school” every day and she always gets the part of being the lead teacher.

Mummy and daddy are members of the class – along with her daughter’s stuffed toys – but are hoping for “promotions” after taking notes from their daughter’s teaching skills. 

“Home school”

So, after this message, I started to think about what a great idea this is to keep your preschooler entertained, and also learning, while they’re off school. Why not do as this family I mentioned above did and enjoy some indoor activities together? Allow your preschooler to be the teacher for a bit and see what fun can be had. 

I am a big fan of child-centered learning and truly believe (as I have experienced it many times) that children learn best when they take control of their learning. Dramatic play and imagination games are great tools to encourage your child’s confidence by letting them set the rules, decide on characters and by letting them lead their own learning. 

Time to be dramatic!

Dramatic play is such an easy indoor activity when have limited space, materials, resources, inspiration or even patience. This isn’t about you being a teacher, this is about keeping your preschooler occupied and stimulated, learning all the way.

Let’s start with the question “what is your preschooler interested in?” Perhaps put some toys out as cues and see which one they go to first, then start to ask them questions to coax out their enthusiasm for this topic, and soon they will be able to take the reins. Personally, I’ve never met a child who isn’t interested in dinosaurs so I’m going to use this topic as an example:

Firstly, I must ask, do you know many dinosaurs’ names? I really didn’t when I first started teaching this topic but, as they’re so interested, I find that children know loads of them already; the recent “Jurassic Park” films were a big help with this though I did have to break up a rather heated discussion between two four-year-olds about if Indoraptors were real or not…

Be silly!

Anyway, what’s great about this is that even if you don’t know the names of dinosaurs you can have loads of fun making up your own! Haylosauraus Rex has had many a preschooler of mine giggling away all morning. (My computer just tried to correct “Haylosaurus” to “allosaurus”, pfft!).

Have your preschooler make up their own names and then describe them. While doing this you are encouraging language skills by giving them the freedom and opportunity to talk, use descriptive words, form sentences, play with words and, importantly, make mistakes! (We’ll come back to this subject another time).

With this activity you have the chance to say “what a great, silly word/name”, “why not tell me more about that?” and your preschooler will be so excited to share their silliness with you! By making mistakes and playing with language and words, you build your child’s confidence and they’ll be keen to try more. 

“School skills” at home

Next ask “which dinosaur do you think was the smallest/biggest?” “do you think it was smaller/bigger than a dog/horse/elephant?”. Here you’re looking at early maths skills – comparing sizes – which is something that your preschooler would be doing in their classroom. Now let’s add some more imagination: “do you think a T-Rex would fit into our bathroom? What about a velociraptor?” Off you head to the bathroom with your preschooler to see what you both think. 

Beforehand you could have pushed any loose furniture (mirrors, washing basket etc.) to the side as if something has been squashed into your bathroom space. “What’s happened here? Why is everything pushed to the side? You don’t think…you don’t think that a dinosaur really tried to fit in here, do you?” Here you have opened up your child’s imagination which is a fantastic and endless thing.

See what organically happens next; perhaps you’ll move to your child’s bedroom, your bedroom, the living room, etc. Again you have the opportunity to compare: which space is better for the dinosaur? 

These initial indoor activities could lead to telling or writing a story together – practicing your child’s language and early literacy skills – using different art materials (should you have access to them) and encouraging your child’s creativity. Whilst building your own dinosaurs focuses on early maths and science skills.

Try your best to let your preschooler lead the discussion and come up with new ideas, there’s a good chance that they will come up with things that you’ve never even considered and – here we get a bit cliche – you’ll really learn a lot from them!

Time for independent play

Now, some of you may be sitting there saying “this all sounds very good, Hayley, but I’ve got home office/lots of chores to do/ would just like a glass of wine cup of tea, and can’t do all these activities with my child”. How does a bit of independent learning and play sound?

You could have already set your preschooler off with an arty dinosaur design activity – if they’re old enough or responsible enough to be left alone with scissors and coloured pens on your furniture – or you could set them a challenge. Preschoolers love a challenge or a race and are sure to be enthusiastic if you set them “an important task”.

Let’s say you’re making lunch, you wouldn’t want a dinosaur to be able to eat your food before you and your preschooler had a chance to, would you? Of course not! This calls for a dinosaur hunter – a job of great importance. Set your preschooler the task of keeping those dinosaurs out of the kitchen (and thus out from under your feet) while you do what needs to be done.

Without your input this may last for a few minutes or the whole time you’re occupied but you always have the phrase “look there’s a dinosaur trying to eat those biscuits” to get your child back on that dinosaur hunting track.

This can work with so many different topics and themes: vehicles, emergency services, fairy tales…the list is truly endless, as are your little one’s imaginations. 

Time to go and get those imaginations working – and don’t forget to send me pictures of those dinosaur hunts!

Are you ready for your next “imagination destination”? One of my favourite books is Michael Rosen and Helen Oxbury’s “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”, (if you haven’t read it, do so, it’ll change your life….well maybe not, but it is a lot of fun). If you don’t have the book, you can find the story online here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Waoa3iG3bZ4

Just remember all of these activities are for your child (as much fun as I’m sure you’ll also have) and they should be the ones to make suggestions and decisions. Of course you can facilitate them initially but then let them lead the way!

Destination: Imagination!

Our imagination task is going to encompass a lot of different skills that your child is learning in preschool, and I’ll begin by talking about sensory skills: in the story, the family go on a bear hunt (could you tell that from the title?) and they encounter lots of obstacles.

First, read, watch or listen to the story and see how the author/narrator describes the obstacles (swishy-swashy, splodge-trudge, stumble-trip, etc.) and have fun with your child while making those different noises. Now your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find items in your house that may help you make these noises too.

Expand your child’s ideas and imagination by questioning them, and encouraging enquiry skills. The first obstacle is “grass, long, wavy grass” –  “what could you use to make the “swishy-swashy” noise?”. Experiment with different things, think and talk about why some worked and some didn’t.

If your child needs a bit of prompting, use leading phrases and ask ask leading questions:

“perhaps you can use a broom, how does that sound?” “What about some scarves?”

Next up is “a river, a deep cold river”, this one’s going to be simple, no? Get some water, perhaps in a bowl, experiment with making the water hot and cold and agree on how much water you need to make it “deep”, then it’s time for making those “splash, splosh” noises. 

And so on and so forth.

Let your child take the reins

Remember, this should be child-centered so let your preschooler come up with the bulk of the answers here. Do this for each of the “obstacles” and then go through the story once again, this time allowing your preschooler to make the different noises with their chosen items. 

What skills have we practiced here? *Auditory and retention skills, problem solving skills (in making choices and deciding which items to use), science skills, etc. and that’s just one activity! 

You can even take it further and make a video, a video call or just save it for others to see when they come home. You are continuing to build your child’s confidence in their abilities and decision making and also helping improve their speaking as well as listening skills. 

Independent play

“But Hayley, what about me? The parent who really needs to be on this conference call/put this load of washing on/have a five minute break before my head explodes?”. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about you (superhero theme plays in the background). You can set your preschooler off on their own bear hunt by making an easy map or printing one off like the one below:

If you don’t have a printer then maybe you could draw one with your preschooler before letting that brave adventurer go off to find a bear. 

You can also build on this by helping your child, or encouraging them to do so independently, to make binoculars out of toilet roll tubes (not quite as precious as the paper itself is, I’m sure), as it’s pretty hard to go on a bear hunt without some top-notch bear hunting equipment!

As always, don’t forget to send me pictures of your “Bear Hunt” theatre, maps, binoculars and your intrepid adventurer(s). Have fun, stay safe and watch out!…there are bears about!

You’ve done it, you’ve moved! All that planning and preparing, all that packing and repacking, coming to terms with the change, feeling excited, feeling nervous. And now here you are, your home for the foreseeable future and – when moving with children – it may be time to start thinking about preschool.

“Get on with it”

I’ve met countless families looking for preschools, those with relocation agents, whole families, one parent that comes alone, parents who take videos on the tour and those who come prepared with a list of questions. Consistently, one of the main questions I’m asked is “how do children manage when going to a new school in a new place?” This is such an important question and there is quite a simple answer for the most part: they just get on with it. 

Now when I say “get on with it”, I haven’t gone mad and think that all children just do what they’re told while gliding seamlessly from one task and on to the next. What I mean is children are resilient and are taking in so much information during their formative years that they are just able to, for want of a better phrase, get on with things. As adults, we often find ourselves projecting our feelings onto a situation and that is what this particular post is for: to help you with those feelings. 

Speak about the move

When I meet families moving with children and looking for a preschool, I always advise them to speak to their child about the move: don’t let it be a surprise, don’t try and “protect” them from it, don’t let the move come out of nowhere as this can be hard for them to deal with. Talk to your child – yes, even your little ones – and tell them about the changes in a way they can understand.

Of course, moving to a new place is totally abstract but, by discussing the upcoming change, you can try and turn it into something tangible. Involve your child in the moving process, let them help pack, show them pictures of their new house, cool stuff nearby, their new preschool’s website. This will begin to create an idea of what things will be like when they arrive in their new city. Talk about the things that you’re going to do when you get there: will you be visiting the local swimming pool or exploring different parks and playgrounds? Plan your “firsts” and look forward to them with your child.  

Ice cream in Singapore

A family I know recently relocated to Singapore and, though it was not their first move with their child, it was the first one when he was old enough to understand. As he loved his school, his friends and his life here in Prague, his parents knew that the upcoming change would not be easy. So what did they do? His parents convinced him that Singapore would be great in a very simple way: ice cream. You see, this child explained to me, there aren’t seasons in Singapore like there are in Prague so it’s always hot. If it’s hot, you can eat ice cream every day! “Hayley, you can visit me in Singapore and eat ice cream in the swimming pool” (pause for emotional tears…okay now we’re back on track).

Some of you may see this as a bribe; tempting the child with treats so they’ll be happy, but I totally disagree! Not only did his parents make this something to look forward to, they made it tangible! We know (well I hope we do anyway, what kind of life is one without ice cream?) what ice cream looks, feels and tastes like. By giving your child something tangible like this, you are helping them start to understand these changes.

Make new traditions

There are articles and other materials that will tell you to keep up with your current traditions and routines but I have to say that this doesn’t make much sense to me and I’ve never seen it have much success. By holding on to your tradition of getting sweeties on the way home from school every Friday like you did back home, for example, you are holding onto something that your child isn’t exposed to anymore.

Why not make a new memory, make a new experience and let the old ones be a nice treat when you visit home? This isn’t just for your child, now, this is also for you; if you spend your time trying to make things as they were in your old city, you’ll never grow to love your new city in its unique way. Let’s trade those trips to the sweet shop on a Friday for going to get a trdelnik (don’t hate me for suggesting it) on a Saturday afternoon walk in the city, instead.  

How did you find the transition? I’d love to hear how you powered through this tough time – especially if you found some good “treat” places!