Day Care Activities: Encouraginc Pro-social Behavior

By Author: Amanda Bernard
Total Articles: 17
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Preschool teachers can help children learn which behaviors are socially acceptable by initiating day care activities that include the following elements:

Modeling positive conflict resolution and non-physical problem solving
Encouraging and praising children’s attempts to use good conflict resolution and problem solving
Helping children develop vocabulary necessary to describe feelings, Redirecting children away from inappropriate choices and toward appropriate choices
Offering opportunities in the program to practice social skills such as problem solving, cooperation, turn taking, and sharing

In addition, many accidents, child behavior challenges, and inappropriate guidance issues can be avoided by providing day care for kids that is rich in engaging and interesting activities. Here are some questions to determine if your child care center encourages pro-social behavior in your child.

Day Care Interactions

Do the staff engage the children in positive ...
... and supportive conversations?
Are gentle interactions used to redirect children to good choices?
Are teachers at children’s eye level and using children’s names when addressing them?

Day Care Daily Schedule

Are there a variety of things for children to do throughout the day?
Is there a balance of active and quiet activities?
Are there large group, small group, and individual activities?
Are transitions well managed, with enough time allowed for transitions between activities so that children do not feel either rushed or bored?

Day Care Environment

Is there variety in the equipment in the classroom?
Are there enough things in the classroom for children to make choices?
Are there duplicates of extremely popular toys?
Does the room arrangement allow for large- and small-group play?
Does the room arrangement allow for quiet and active areas?
Are materials within children's reach, and easy for them to put away?

Day Care Activities

Are the planned activities implemented? Are activities presented in a way that engages the children?
Do the teachers appear to enjoy the activities alongside the children?
Are the activities challenging but not frustrating?
Do the activities allow for a variety of developmental levels?

Positive guidance, one of the major components of respectful practice, begins long before any challenging behaviors arise. In fact, the work day care providers do to prevent challenging behaviors is an important part of the guidance strategy.