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by Ivan Radic
Education Dive
Educators find strategies fostering SEL, play for youngest students as coronavirus continues
Lauren Barack
Sept. 16, 2020
Dive Brief:
As preschools open this fall, educators are looking at new ways to
support playtime and foster sharing even amid social distancing, writes
Edutopia.
Some choices schools are making permit students to be physically closer
when they’re outside, and even shift activities, like sensory tables,
to outdoor spaces. And while indoors, one preschool assigns students
their own activity spaces, to help them stay physically apart while
still playing.
Schools are also focusing on students’ emotional needs. So while
children may need to wear a protective T-shirt daily, the students get
to decorate it to make it their own. Teacher needs are also addressed,
with one preschool center providing educators free, continuing mental
health support.
Dive Insight:
From preschool to early elementary school, play-based learning
continues to be an important part of every young child’s day. It’s how
students physically express themselves, while simultaneously learning
how to develop crucial social skills. Yet COVID-19 has affected this
important childhood activity.
Still, educators are determined to support social and emotional
learning skills (SEL), even amidst the continuing pandemic. And as some
schools physically open this fall, some of these lessons are starting
to shift back to traditional in-person activities, even with social
distancing requirements in place.
Non-profit Asphalt Green, for example, has published an extensive list
of active games broken down by grades that allow students to maintain
physically distant from each other. All the games dovetail as playtime,
and each one has a conflict resolution tip, a core SEL skill, built-in
to help students strengthen that social skill as well.
Not every child, though, is heading back to the classroom this fall.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
links to play and child development suggestions from a preschool
teacher in China who had been working with students through digital
learning avenues. She shares videos of yoga and mindfulness activities,
all of which she encourages students do at home, and then suggests they
upload videos and photos of themselves taking part in these physical
interactions. She also set up video tutorials for families, so they can
create Zoom playdates for their children.
Changes to playtime and the development of social skills are ongoing as
the coronavirus pandemic continues. But educators are finding ways to
foster and support these activities whether they’re working with
students remotely, or in a social distanced classroom.
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