Transitions
Dear Subscribers:
If you have limited time to read through the entire blog, here are a few play-based activities to enjoy with your children and support them to handle transitions in the home (bedtime) or in the classroom (circle or clean-up time).
Read and Sing together 📚
Try to locate these books at your school or public library or click on the links below. If your children are transitioning into a new school or new country these books may be reassuring and acknowledge some of the feelings they are facing.
- Back to School: A Global Journey by Maya Ajmera invites children to share the exciting experience of learning with kids just like themselves all over the world. Whether they take a school bus, a boat, or a rickshaw to get there, kids from all nations are curious to learn and go to school every day.
- It’s Back to School We Go!; First Day Stories From Around the World by Ellen Jackson. This book shares that the first day of school is an event that brings mixed emotions to children everywhere. Children from eleven different countries share their experience of their first day back at school with their account enhanced by a fact box that says something about their culture. Children can compare and contrast the experiences of children from different parts of the world and realize how much they all have in common.
For younger children, songs can be an effective way to establish routines, such as wearing a mask, and they can also ease transitions. Making changes from one activity to another can be challenging for young children. When expectations are clear and when some choice is possible (e.g. 5 minutes until bedtime/clean-up time) whether at home or in the classroom, children feel more secure and invested in the process.
- Circle Time Transition (2:32 mins.)
- Clean-up Song (3:08 mins.)
- Why Do People Wear Masks? (2 mins.)
2. Create together: Observing, Drawing and Constructing 🧩
- Studying ants is a great way to explore nature and science in your backyard. Encourage children to observe and then draw what they see.
3. Explore together 🌍
- Be reminded of all the outdoor activities you can do in summer, fall, winter and spring.
4. Engage and Interact: 👭
Children may find it difficult to make transitions when asked to change their attention to different activities or places. Being asked to stop one thing and start another is a very common trigger for problem behavior, especially for kids who have emotional or developmental challenges.
- Transition breaks can be fun with these 20 movement poems.
5. Reflect: Thoughts of the Day about transitioning and preparations for back to school 💭
- Read more about why kids have trouble with transitions and some techniques to make transitions easier for them.