Week 6 Lesson Tips & Sharing Helps

This week's lesson is pretty simple. A few ideas to help the story come alive are:

• Bring a stick or cane or umbrella. Let the kids take turns pretending to be Mephibosheth.
• Bring a stuffed animal. Explain to the kids that they are going to take turns holding the bear as you tell the story. Their job is to sit quietly and listen to the story. When they are holding the stuffed animal they are to be kind to it (hugs, kisses, high fives, etc.). When you point to them they are to "share" the stuffed animal with the person next to them and give it to them.
• With the help of the other leader(s) in your room act out some scenarios for the kids and ask them to tell you how they should share. Examples: Bring water bottle and pretend to be very hot - should you share with the other leader who is very hot? Bring a snack and the other leader is very hungry - what should you do? Bring some coloring pages and have the other leader have the crayons - what should the both of you do? Fight with your leader over the same chair - what should you do?

Here are some good ideas/tips that we can use to help our kids learn to share:

• Remind kids when they are not sharing that this might make his friends not want to share with him or play with him.
• Take the toys in question away; if the kids won't share then neither of them can play with the toys.
• When you see a child sharing, thank her for sharing her toys with others.
• When a child becomes upset because he has to share, point out other toys that they can play with as well.
• When a child becomes upset because she has to share, point out what she can now do together that she couldn't do before by herself.
• When kids are fighting over toys, have them take turns playing with the item. Be sure to put a time limit on the turn that is fair and reasonable for the child.
• Many times when a preschooler is upset about sharing it isn't about sharing exactly but about the idea of fairness/justice. Perhaps another child simply took something without asking. Perhaps another child pushed them over to get to their spot. In this situation help the other child learn to ask to play with the toy or play in the same spot. Many times this simple act of respect can cause a child to want to share.