Activity 3-3

Activity 3-3:
What Do the
Children Do?
Purpose: In this activity, participants will discuss and reflect on the role of routines and transitions that encourage children's growth and development. Participants will generate lists of routines and transitions that apply to their programs and plan child-development approaches to routines and transitions.
Outcomes:
Participants use a flexible approach to routines and transitions that reflects a child's skills and needs and is altered when necessary to respond to changing needs and growing skills.
Participants adapt the schedule, routines, and transitions to meet a child's individual needs.
Materials:
Chart paper, markers, tape
Handout 11: A Child Development Approach to Planning Routines and Transitions
Handout 12: Ongoing Child Study (Part E)
1. Explain to participants that this activity will focus on using routines and transitions as opportunities to promote children's development. In the early childhood field, routines are activities that take place each day (for example, lunch time, nap, going to the bathroom), and transitions are in-between times, when children move from one activity to the next (for example, when they are getting ready to go outdoors).
2. Record the following statements on four pieces of chart paper:
It is best to complete routines and transitions as quickly as possible so children can get back to their educational activities.
Children get bored when routines and transitions are handled in the same way, day after day.
Children should not do things for themselves. They will just make a mess and feel bad.
It does not matter if some children finish before others. They need to learn how to wait patiently.
Post the chart paper and provide markers. Ask each participant to work with a partner and discuss whether they agree or disagree with each statement, recording their comments on how the statement relates to child development. Each pair will rotate from one piece of chart paper to the next. Allow two to three minutes for each pair to record comments on a chart. Pairs can also comment on each other's responses. Examples of comments follow:

It is best to complete routines and transitions as quickly as possible so children can get back to their educational activities.

Comment: Young children learn from every experience, including routines and transitions. Children can develop skills by participating in routines and transitions.

Children get bored when routines and transitions are handled in the same way, day after day.

Comment: Children learn trust and security when routines and transitions are handled consistently. They feel competent when they master the steps in a routine such as getting ready for lunch.

Children should not do things for themselves. They will just make a mess and feel bad.

Comment: Children want to do things for themselves and can learn many self-help skills. If they do make messes, adults can let them know that mistakes are a normal part of learning something new. Adults can then provide what children need (brooms, sponges, paper towels) to clean up.

It does not matter whether some children finish before others. They need to learn how to wait patiently.

Comment: Most young children find it difficult to wait. When they do not have anything to do, they get bored and may misbehave if they must wait too long.
3. Ask for four volunteers to lead a discussion of each statement and the comments offered by participants.
4. Summarize the discussion and make the following points:

Consistent, predictable routines and transitions help children develop a sense of trust and security because they know what is going to happen and when.

When children master routines, they feel competent, which contributes to a positive self-concept.

Children can participate in routines at their own skill levels (for example, an infant can hold a clean diaper while being changed; a preschooler can use the toilet independently).

Children should be allowed to perform personal routines, such as going to the bathroom, according to individual body schedules.

Children learn during routines and transitions, just as they learn through other activities.

Transitions will go more smoothly when they are planned so that children who are ready before the others have something to do.

Transitions are changes. Some children handle change easily; others need more time and adult assistance to cope with change.

Children can participate in routines and transitions at home.
Trainer Preparation Notes:
Although routines and transitions are part of the early childhood professional vocabulary, the concepts discussed in this activity are also applicable to a child's home experiences. Staff can work with parents to identify daily and weekly activities at home and discuss ways in which a child can participate. For example, staff can suggest that parents involve their young children in helping to put away groceries, fold laundry, pull weeds in the family's plot at the community garden, and set the table.
5. Ask participants to help you generate a master list of routines and transitions that apply to their Head Start programs. Record their suggestions on chart paper.
6. Have participants form small groups of four to six individuals. Distribute Handout 11: A Child Development Approach to Planning Routines and Transitions. Assign a routine or transition from the master list developed in Step 5 to each group. Explain that each group should use the questions on the handout to focus its discussion of how the assigned routine or transition supports children's development.
7. Distribute Handout 12: Ongoing Child Study (Part E). Ask participants to consider how the children who are the focus of their ongoing studies use self-help skills during routines and transitions. Participants can record their thoughts and proposed changes on the handout. (Reminder: Parts A, B, and C of the Ongoing Child Study were provided in previous modules, and Part D is found in Handout 9.)
8. Ask for a few volunteers to share examples of what they might change in their approach to carrying out routines and transitions in home, center, and group socialization settings. Have each volunteer:(1) describe what happens now during the routine or transition, (2) present the proposed change, and (3) explain why the change supports the development of the focus child and others. Encourage participants to share their suggested changes with colleagues and parents and to implement them, as appropriate.

Activity 3-2 | Activity 3-4 | Module 3 | Index