Thursday, December 15, 2005

0-5 year old children, I need your help

Hello folks,
Well, I'm just in from what is called, "Squeels on Wheels" for the 0-5 year olds and I had to do the wee talky bit.
It was the first time I have ever taught/talked to/addressed this age group and I felt it was a bit of a disaster.
I had 5 minutes and did a simple talk with them.
The ladies who help said after that they have found it hard to address them because they just run around and the mums just talk.
A lot of non Christian mums come in and the talk was half aimed at them as well as the kids.
I just found it difficult and a bit discouraging.
There was one wee guy who helped opened the presents at the front as part of the talk and so I aimed a lot of it at him as he seemed to be the only one listening.
I want to open this up to you all, I need your help.
I was wondering if some of you who read this and have worked with that age group or know of other people who have worked/work with that age group could help me? Can I just have your ideas, thoughts, feelings, techniques, anything really that is remotely helpful on how to deal with this age group or how to teach them.
I feel God has gifted me in working with children and young people but I struggle so much with this age group. I don't particularly like working with that age group anyway and when it came to doing the talk today, it was something I did not enjoy at all.
Any body want to say anything on it all? Please post. Thank you

5 comments:

Béthany said...

well, ive been teaching 5 year olds for almost a whole school year now, and i find

a)once you know their names it gets easier

b)try and involve them as much as possible...it will get noisy at times, ut more of them will be listening to oyu. 5 minutes is an awfully long time to sit still and listen for a 5 year old (at least in Ecuador)

c)ask question. reinforce rules, such as riasing your hand when you want to answer or ask a quesiton.

i dont know. just basic classroom stuff.

kaylie said...

5 mins is a long time for kids that young. i would suggest acting it out. pick a story and be as animated as possible. find a classic bible story like daniel and the lion's den, and have the kids roar like lions and salute like a solider, and be brave like Daniel by beating their chests or something..i don't know just make up motions. make the story as simple as possible. and don't forget to definetly say something like God was the one that protected him and protects us too if we trust in Him, and that God can do anything.
if you want more ideas email me or something.

Anonymous said...

Johnny!
Good luck on the kids, I would echo Bethany, involve them as much as possible, have them do actions when you say a certain word, or something. Most of all... love them. Don't get so focused on telling the story that you forget why you're telling it? Good luck. I am sure you rock the house. And thanks for looking after the kid sis while she was at Capes, she mentioned meeting you.

Leslie Puiras said...

Hey Jonathan!! I'm a nanny-- kids are 2 (twins), 5 and 7.. When you want them to listen, maybe figure out what you want to say, and develope some actions.. make it into sort of a game.. example? "I'm going to talk about forgiveness. I'll be mentioning a person named ____, and whenever I say _____, i want you to __________ with your hands" or something..

Jonathan said...

Thanx guys,this is great stuff,i really appreciate you taking the time out to write and so on and share your tips and ideas,great stuff,thank you :)
please keep anymore ideas and thoughts coming,please do.thank you all once again