Friendships - Fine Arts and Science ~ M/W/F - AM Class

Hello families,

I have been asked by many parents/caretakers if their child is making friends in class. I realize this is a very important skill for children to develop.  Socializing is a major part of life and we all want our children to have friends.  At this age the children’s friendship are very different from how we perceive it to be.  A child’s definition of a friend is someone they spend time with which I can say that all our children in our class definitely have friends then.

Children in our class play alongside each other (known as parallel play) which is age appropriate.  It is still in the realm of making friends.  I see the children playing with one another but they usually only play for a brief time then they move on to another activity that catches their interest.  This happens during the time they are with us but they are using their social skills and developing skills to promote friendships.  The exciting part of what I see in our classroom is that the children play with different peers all the time and are very inclusive of each other.  They will usually gravitate to an activity they are interested in and then start engaging with the child that is also at the same activity.

We do provide many opportunities for children to make friends by building their social skills to help them form friendships.   Activities like circle time, art, dramatic play, sensory play, outdoor play along with all the activities that we set up, do encourage children to play together, communicate, problem solve and to share with one another.  It is important to remember that that it takes time and practice to build friendships at this age.

Until next time
Deanna