All My Children

The adult asks the children to draw a picture of themselves in the middle circle and the people closest to them (i.e. those who live with them) in the second circle. In the third circle the children draw people they see most days (these could be neighbours, relatives, pre-school friends and staff etc.). The children draw people they sometimes see in the next circle (e.g. doctors, shopkeepers, the postman). A final outer circle could be added for the children to draw people who they rarely see (e.g. relatives living abroad). Children who find drawing too challenging can be provided with a jar of buttons to represent themselves, their famly and their friends.

This activity can generate a lot of discussion and information sharing.

Children who find drawing difficult (e.g. those with fine motor difficulties who cannot hold a crayon or pencil) may prefer to use the box of buttons to aid completion of the circles. It may be interesting to observe which buttons are used for different people. Using the ‘Teddy bear climbing frame’ activity is another way of encouraging the children to share opinions and listen to others. Even if some of the children appear to be using the activity as ‘just colouring the teddies’, the skills of sharing the crayons, letting others have their say, and commenting on their own experiences of climbing frames are important so the adult need not necessarily feel the need to ask probing questions or insist on children expressing an opinion.

During Week Five it is important that the adult prepares the group for the next and last session. Each child is asked to choose another child from the pre-school and invite them to join their group for a drink and biscuits or fruit during Week Six. Many children no longer ‘entertain’ at home and have little experience of invitation and acceptances. In the pre-school this may be done by getting the children to actually send an invitation card to their chosen friend. They need to be encouraged to think carefully about whom they are going to invite — it may be a child who is new to the setting and needs to be helped to settle in, it may be someone who often does not have anyone to play with, or it may be someone that they have played with many times. It is also useful if the adult also invites another adult to join them for refreshments. If it is appropriate the parents/carers of the children in the group could be asked to send in a contribution, such as a packet of biscuits, some fruit etc.

Week Six

In Week Six the first activity should be the children sorting themselves out and arranging the refreshments attractively and making sure there are enough seats, cups and plates. Some plain paper to colour and make placemats is a useful way of keeping all the group occupied and gives the adult a chance to explain that they are going to look after their guest and make sure they have a drink and something to eat. The guest need not stay long as it is not necessary for the occasion to turn into a full-scale party. The children just need to practise their politeness, sharing and listening skills. It is also important that the children tidy up afterwards.

It is also useful for the adult to feed back to the parents any successes and progress that their child has made during the programme and give them an opportunity to feed back any improvements in their child’s social skills that they have noticed at home. Keeping notes of strategies or games that have been particularly successful in developing social skills will be helpful if the pre-school decides to run a rolling programme of such interventions in the future and the comments of parents can aid the evaluation of this small- group work.

Teddy bear climbing activity – explanation

This is an activity to encourage discussion about feelings and to practise listening to others. This can be conducted as a one-to-one session with a child, or with a small group of children.

Materials needed:

A copy of the teddy bear climbing frame picture for each member of the group, including the adult(s)

Coloured crayons or pencils

Ask everyone to look carefully at the teddy bears and see what they are doing. Encourage the children to say whether the teddies look happy, sad, worried, lonely, naughty etc. Invite the children to offer explanations of why they think a particular bear is feeling the way it is looking.

Ask the children to choose a crayon and colour in the bear they would like to be, allowing the children to talk about their choice. Then ask them to choose a different colour crayon and colour in the bear that they would not like to be or the one they feel sorry for.

Invite discussion as not all the children will choose the same bear and allow the conversation to flow with the emphasis on listening to others and taking turns to talk. If time allows, let the children finish colouring the whole picture and put them on display for others to look at.

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