All My Children

Shannon will sit happily at a craft table in the book corner. She will play in the home corner and enjoys playdough. Shannon does not ever choose the sit- on toys and has never been seen to push teddy or dolly in the pushchair. Her mum says that Shannon still sits in a buggy when they go out.

Possible reasons for this behaviour Continue Reading »

Victoria loves dressing up and playing in the home corner. She likes to choose the children who play with her and she always has to be the ‘mum‘. In fact, whenever she plays this she insists on being in charge and dominates the play. If another child attempts to exert any control, Victoria becomes upset and cannot accept the situation. She has, on occasion, used physical means like pushing the child away in order to make her feelings clear. Continue Reading »

Andrew is happy to play with other children and has three boys with whom he particularly likes to play. As soon as the game becomes involved enough to warrant rules, e.g. ‘You are not allowed to get me when I go behind this tree’, Andrew seems to deliberately ignore the rules. Games almost always end in arguments. When an adult is setting out the rules of a table-top game, Andrew often ignores these, deliberately moving his counter in any way he sees fit. Although the adults end up barring Andrew from the games, he always makes a fuss about it. Continue Reading »

Samantha is four years old and loves to play with the younger children in the pre-school and almost always chooses activities and toys associated with very young children or even babies. Whenever there is a free play session she will invariably choose from the box containing things like stacking toys and shape posting boxes. Continue Reading »

The event of a new birth is a time for celebration and thanksgiving in most parts of the world. Family and friends visit the mother and the new baby to wish them good luck and happiness. Gifts are offered, usually food, clothes, toys or money, and religious prayers or custom-led domestic rituals are enacted for the infant. An orthodox Jewishfamily may pin a red ribbon to the crib to ward off the ‘evil eye’; in Bali, the placenta is taken and solemnly buried; in the ancient world it was a custom to place the new-born immediately upon the ground. ‘Man alone at the very moment of his birth‘, wrote the learned Roman, Pliny the Elder, ‘cast naked upon the naked earth…’ Continue Reading »

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. Continue Reading »

Week Three

If all the children got on well in the second week and all seemed to benefit from playing together, it may be a good idea to keep the same grouping for the rest of the programme. On the other hand, if the adult feels that introducing a different child, either as well as or instead of the original friends, would be a good idea then this would be an ideal opportunity to do so.

By the end of Week Three it will probably become apparent if this input is having any effect. A short, formal observation using the same chart as before may be helpful to see if there are any pockets of major improvement or a noticeable lack of it. Continue Reading »

This speaks for itself but is a good idea, for instance, on a new housing estate.

For very small children the ‘friend’ could be a Teddy or doll, with a warm welcome for each.

A Pirate Party

Tell your friends to come dressed as pirates. This needs nothing elaborate: a black patch fixed over one eye with elastic or sticking plaster, a coloured scarf tied rakishly on the head, huge rings dangling from ears, T-shirt and jeans, with another scarf round the waist — and cardboard or wooden swords and cutlasses painted silver, or covered in silver paper. Continue Reading »

An Ice-cream Party

Invitation cards could be in the shape of an ice-cream cornet. Colour them in pale ice-cream shades, and write your invitations on them.

Even at an Ice-Cream Party though, you need a foundation of something more solid.

When your guests have eaten their first course, take the ice- cream from the freezer and tip it into bowls at the last minute. Hand each guest a small bowl, and let them all create their own individual mixtures by Continue Reading »

Most adults find it easier to involve themselves directly in complex and adult games, like chess or baseball, than in play on simpler levels, such as stacking blocks or riding a hobbyhorse or toy car. Although the terms “play” and “game” are often used interchangeably, they are not identical in meaning. Rather, they refer to broadly distinguishable stages of development, with “play” relating to an earlier stage, “game” to a more mature one. Generally speaking, “play” refers to the young child’s activities characterized by freedom from all but personally imposed rules (which, unless the child is compulsive, can be changed at will); by freewheeling fantasy involvement; and by the absence of any goals outside the activity itself. Continue Reading »