Chatter, Chatter, Chatter
Social Interactions
What is it?
We all need opportunities to interact and communicate with others, we are social beings much of the time and like to be with friends or family.
Why is it important?
During Covid many children had fewer opportunities for interaction with a variety of people; self-isolating, relatives needing to protect themselves or unable to travel or visit. Families were unable to visit nurseries and wearing masks made communication challenging. Language development may have been delayed; children may not be aware of the social convention of conversation.
Social interaction and communication are so important for building language skills and developing vocabulary as well as supporting their health and well-being. ‘it is good to talk’.
Families need to know what their children are doing, what they like to play with, how they interact with others and how they are progressing so they can support and help their children at home too.
How to bring it back
Can you re-establish Stay, Play and Learn sessions? Initially these could be in the garden. Can you have face to face sessions to discuss Being Me/Personal Care Plan forms?
Sharing with home
Ask families what they would like introduced or re-established to help interactions with staff. What do they miss? Share your ideas with families and see what works for them. Support any who are still hesitant.
This might be a good opportunity to remind staff and families of the key messages from Words Up.
This is one of a weekly series of posts highlighting different spaces, experiences and interactions that practitioners have told us are not all easy to get back after the pandemic restrictions.
It’s all about playing, talking, and having fun together – so we hope they are useful. If there are any ideas you’d like us to highlight, just get in touch with your link EYESO.
For ideas about family engagement, you will find a “home” version of this post on bumps2bairns.com