Enjoys Other Children, Interested in Other Children S Feelings

The Social Profile of the

3-5 Year-Old Child

· Cooperative play takes place of parallel play. Shows imagination, inventiveness, real capacity for play and pretend play-acting.

· Enjoys other children, interested in other children’s feelings

· Can use sharing or turn-taking techniques spontaneously

· Sense of humor starts to develop – laughs at the ridiculous, uses words in silly ways (e.g. Hey Lolly, Lolly), nonsense rhymes, clowns, wild, silly gross motor activities.

· Conforms easily and tries to please

· Enjoy his/her mother most of all

· Learning to share; understand the why of sharing

· Develop special friends, sometimes at exclusion of others. Friends are important. Some imaginary companions may arise.

· Enjoy gently competitive games and playing with others in a group

· May begin to show-off, may be cocky and noisy.

· Insist on fair play.

· Can get into “Nothing pleases me.” attitude

· Often complains that he/she “cannot see” when being read to in a group

· May want to be in charge of time and transition – overrule parent decisions (NOTE: Pre Age-8 experts would say for YOU to dictate what the child will be involved in (vs. the child choosing), which teaches them to then “figure out” how to be happy within your limits of what you have decided is good for them. Helping your child by giving 2 positive choices becomes extremely important at this age!)

· Routines give him/her the most trouble – mealtime and bedtime most difficult – again because they want to be in charge (vs. you).

Joining In Activities: Jing Jang, We Are Fine Musicians, Zum Gali Play-Along, The Broom man, On Our Way, Elevator and Escalator

All of the above activities your child is now enjoying, and these activities, as well as others, promote affiliation, or “joining in.” You can encourage your child to join in activities at home by asking for their suggestions. In other words, just start the Home Activity and then ask them for a specific suggestion. This is a much more effective technique then asking a broad, general question like “Do you want to do the Home Activity for Kindermusik?” or “What do you want to do for your story this week?” It works best to get your child “rolling” on an activity, and allow their natural imaginative tendencies to take over. Affiliation is very important to your child’s later social functioning. “It allows people to form and maintain relationships with others – to create something stronger, more adaptive, and more creative than the individual. Affiliation is one of six core strengths which children need to develop in order to become more humane.” (“Promoting Nonviolent Behavior in Children” by Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D., Scholastic Early childhood today, September 2001, pp. 26-29)

Cooperative learning is central to these activities. Children learn by watching others, mimicking their actions and integrating others’ ideas with their own. Through activities such as searching for lost dogs in On Our Way, and Tales of Eddie and Bandit, the children learn problem solving skills from each other, which they can later apply to situation in their own lives Other activities, such as the Broom man, in which children observe other interpretations of a sweeping motion, give children the opportunity to broaden their repertoire of movements as they try out different motions.

Storytelling: The Tales of Eddie and Bandit – Chasing Brooms

The children have enjoyed the stories about Eddie and his dog Bandit. In each story Bandit manages to get loose and run away, but Eddie always finds him. What makes this story so special, and invites your child to “join in?” The song Where Has My Little Dog Gone promotes affiliation. Today when we listened to the new story about Eddie & Bandit we joined in with this familiar song. This will be an important piece of extending your home play as well. Ask your child “what do we sing when we look for Bandit?”

Storytelling is important because it helps children learn about the world around them. For example, real stories that are shared in everyday conversation help children form conclusions about their community, social interactions with others and emotions that maybe attached to the related events.

Listening to stories also helps your budding young storytellers. In listening to stories, children learn to remember and solidify story Plots, characters, and sequences. Understanding story structure is necessary for children to be able to construct and tell their own stories, and it is fabulous COGNITIVE development as well.

2011 MUSICAL PATHWAYS FOUNDATION