They Won't Play!!

[Hunni Bee]

The majority of the kids in my class seem not to know how to play together. I have a few that can go from one activity to another very successfully, without much assistance from me, except maybe a reminder here and there to clean up before they move to the next activity.

Most of them however, cannot play for 10 solid minutes without my intervening. Tattling, fighting/arguing, covering the floor with toys and then walking away, asking can i paint/go outside/watch tv/something they know we do at a certain time or that I'll probably say no to...

If I sit and try play with them, they still wont play....they just sit and talk to me all at once..."Go Play Toys" has no meaning for them.

I know they want my attention...and I hope I dont sound as if I dont want to give it to them...I just want them to be able to play and not constantly crave adult attention. Some of them will ask me to sit down so they can sit in my lap, and will sit there all day if I obliged....these are 3.5 - 4 year olds by the way.

Any ideas?

[daycare]

I tell them what they are playing and then let them run with it.

EX I pull out all of the large legos and blocks, I tell them lets build something great....first we brain storm and then when we all have our ideas, I let them at it solo. If they want they can work together or alone. If they are building a farm I will allow for them to bring in farm toys to play with it, but most of the time tell them to just do prentend play.

Once that is over I set the tone again and they take it from there. this way they are not looking for things to do.

[kendallina]

In High Scope philosophy they have children do something called 'plan-do-review'. Basically, you have the children plan what they want to play (this is during free play time, which seems is where you're having a problem). To plan, they can just tell you or they can draw their plan or you can make up a song asking them where they want to play, etc. For children that have a difficult time playing, I'd try to get specifics out of the children about their plan. So, when they say, 'I'm playing in the kitchen area', ask them questions about what they're going to do over there or offer suggestions if they have a difficult time deciding (or aren't very verbal).

Not sure if that would help, but when I did plan/do/review (I don't do it now, not really for any reason...), the children got very good making choices, thinking through things and really making a 'plan'. If you think about, planning is a very important life skill that some adults don't have, but really need (I think we all know adults that run out of money at the end of the month or go from job to job with no plan whatsoever).

And, I agree with daycare that you may have to get some things started during freeplay. Like, "let's play restaurant, I'll be the waiter first, then someone else can" or whatever. I'm not a big fan of directing children's play, but it sounds like they don't really know what to do...

After free play time, you can also have children 'review'- talk about what they did during free play. This is great for older kiddos like yours because it gives them an opportunity to discuss if things worked out during their play (ex "I tried using the triangle blocks to build a house, but maybe next time I should use the square ones," or whatever). It can also help them work out any disagreements or trouble that they had with other children during free play. And again, we have a lot of adults in our world that don't take the time to reflect and review how things went. It's a very important adult skill to learn.

Another thing, too is to make sure that you're not interrupting their play when they do play. A lot of times providers and teachers think that they need to ask children a million questions (what color is that?) while the kiddos are playing, when really it's okay to leave them alone and allow them to focus on what they're doing so that they don't always look to you for direction. Not sure if you're doing this, just thought I'd mention it.

Also, have you talked with any of the children's parents? What do they like to play at home? Do they watch a lot of tv/play a lot of video games? Maybe a talk or handout or something about the importance of play to the parents would be a good idea.

When they ask you if they can do x-y-z even though they know that it's not time for that, briefly remind them that now it's free play and we're not doing x-y-z and then ignore further questions about it from that child. Make yourself busy with something else if you have to. They'll stop it soon enough when they know you're not going to engage with them and you're not going to give in.

Have you asked them what they like to play? Do you have the toys and things they enjoy?

[Hunni Bee]

This group does watch a lot of tv at home. We have a computer, and that's one of the only areas they go to and play independently for a significant amount of time, and I think thats because it's so much like tv, only better. They are only allowed 8 minutes at a time, but some of them know how to turn the timer off and get more time...the past couple of days I've left it off because I want them to try other things...you would have thought I asked them to find water in the desert, I've never seen so much wandering...LOL.

And I think I will find a handout...thanks. One of our favorite activities to play together is the the miniature people/furniture/animals...I have played for hours with them with that stuff (One parent came in to drop her kiddo off from an appointment and saw us, and said "Is this what you do all day?" I said "Yep!!") The only problem with that is there arent enough for everyone to play at once, which usually ends up happening. Art is another fave...

I will try the planning and review with them...never thought about that...I really want them stop thinking they need something from me every second, and I want them to interact with each other more. Creative Curriculum says I should butt in as much as possible on their play, but I dont know how I feel about that either...it seems that would make them "need" my intervention more often.

But thanks so much.

[R&R]

Have you looked at your environment? Is it overstimulating? Are the colors too bright? The lighting flourescent? Is it crowded? Are the 'loud' areas next to quiet ones?
You may need to call your local r&r and have some free technical assistance. The TA will come in and observe and make suggestions. It's free and you will likely benefit from it. Some r&r's also have lending libraries. The new materials can help channel extra energy.

[kendallina]

Have you looked at your environment? Is it overstimulating? Are the colors too bright? The lighting flourescent? Is it crowded? Are the 'loud' areas next to quiet ones?
You may need to call your local r&r and have some free technical assistance. The TA will come in and observe and make suggestions. It's free and you will likely benefit from it. Some r&r's also have lending libraries. The new materials can help channel extra energy.

I think these are great points and good suggestion on calling your local R&R for support. Also, is it possible that you have too many toys available?? I've found this leads to more arguments, dumping toys and the children are much less able to focus on what they're playing.

How's it going this week?

[Hunni Bee]

Also, is it possible that you have too many toys available?? I've found this leads to more arguments, dumping toys and the children are much less able to focus on what they're playing.

I do think this probably has something to do with it. I have three small classrooms instead of one large one (they all lead into one another). We used to only use two, one was the "playroom" and the other was the "workroom". Recently we saw a surge in enrollment, and had to expand into an empty room we had been using as the "nap room".

The first classroom houses the science, fine motor, literacy, reading and computer centers. We also do circle time in that room. The second is where we eat and do art projects. The third has the block and housekeeping centers. When we spread out, the classrooms looked really empty...so I felt like more toys needed to be out...but its probably too much, there are no less than 15 different bins of manipulatives out right now for twelve kids...