enhancements that make compliments you can
see and wear, Amy Jackson explains
Some of the enhancements that we have added to the environment have had a special focus on promoting and valuing kindness. Development Matters states that children aged 3-4 years should ‘understand gradually how others might be feeling.’ Our kindness enhancements support this and encourage children to think about how their acts of kindness can make an impact on other’s feelings.
COMPLIMENT LANYARDS
The children had been enjoying a book called ABCs of Kindness by Samantha Berger. We read a little of it each day and it sparked conversation about how we could be kind in the ways that the book suggests.
The nursery classes took part in an adult-guided activity to make a ‘compliment lanyard’ for a friend. We talked about what a compliment was and how it might make the receiver of one feel. The lanyards were made from wool and a cardboard tag with a single hole punched in. After having the adults model some compliments to each other the children came up with some kind things to say about their friends including ‘I like you because you share with me’, ‘I like you because you are a kind friend.’ The children did their own writing on one side of the tag and the adults scribed what they had said on the other side.
Following on from this activity, an enhancement was added to the environment that contained a small cable reel table on a pallet crate with a light curtain running down the back of it, adding a feeling of specialness. A sign that said ‘We are Kind’ was on the curtain, along with some photographs of children’s acts of kindness that we had witnessed in the nursery. Some blank tags and pencils were on the table along with the kindness book we had been sharing. The children straight away recognised the tags from their activity the day before. They made new tags for their friends with their own writing on, telling them proudly what the tag said. Some children took some of the tags into the home corner and made compliment lanyards for the babies and cuddly toys. As well as the PSED aspects, the enhancement gave new opportunities for purposeful mark-making and name writing attempts.
The children responded with interest and joy to this activity. In the environment children would look at each other’s tags and tell each other what they said. They would take pleasure in reminding each other ‘I made that for you’ or vice versa. The lanyards were treasured and despite taking them home several children came back into nursery with them around their necks for days after the activity. Others told us that their lanyard was hanging up in their bedroom.
PROUD WALL
Kindness has also been promoted in the nursery through our ‘proud wall’ enhancement which was mentioned earlier in the series in the ‘D is for Display’ article. We not only put children’s pictures and paintings on the wall but photographs of them being kind or helpful. When the photos are added we praise the children at our ‘together time’, which is what we call it when the whole class comes together on the carpet. We would say why the photo has gone on the wall and what act of kindness had taken place. This raises the profile of being kind at nursery and helps others to think about how they could be kind too.
BABY BEAR'S CHAIR
Many books that we read show examples of characters being kind, and sometimes being unkind, which is important to talk about too. In the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the children had strong opinions about what Goldilocks did to the bear family by eating their porridge and breaking Baby Bear’s seat. We talked about how Goldilocks made Baby Bear feel and what she could do to be kinder because if someone has done something unkind, they should apologise and try to make things better. One thing that we all agreed would be a kind idea was to fix Baby Bear’s chair or get him a new one. A ‘chair workshop’ enhancement was added to the environment with some wooden toy tools in real toolboxes, and some builders’ helmets. A copy of the storybook was placed on the side and pictures of Baby Bear looking very sad finding his broken chair were added to the wall. A selection of large construction sets were placed in the area: hollow blocks, oversized building bricks, wooden planks with stands, and junk modelling. Various-sized teddy bears were placed in a row along the side. When the children saw the enhancement, they set to work to make a new chair. They placed a teddy in the amazing new chairs and were heard saying ‘Baby Bear is happy now because he has a new chair’ acknowledging that their act of kindness had had an impact on Baby Bear’s feelings.
