Isolation with young children

German International School Sydney’s Head of Preschool and Pedagogue, Silke Bethke shares tips for being isolated with young children.

Being in isolation with young children can be challenging. It might be helpful to keep in mind that young children do not need to be entertained the whole time. Once engrossed in meaningful play, children can be engaged on their own and be in the flow for an extensive period of time. Therefore consider providing them with open-ended materials that encourage creativity and play, such as blocks, boxes, craft materials, paint, puzzles and books.

Be mindful about screen time as, whilst children will be quietly watching (perhaps even for an extensive period of time), once the screen will be switched off, they usually will be restless and very active afterwards, often finding it harder to get into play. Letting them endure a little boredom is nothing to worry about as it is actually a necessity which triggers the need to gradually find a strategy towards developing meaningful activity. Instead of giving in to nagging, show your child that you trust in their ability to cope.

Perhaps find ways to engage your child with daily chores such as cleaning, emptying the dishwasher, vacuuming, folding the washing and similar house work. This helps the children develop practical skills, self-esteem and independence. It also aids with forming good habits.

Young children need plenty of sensory stimulation, so will enjoy anything that involves engaging all senses (cuddling, rough and tumble play, making goop or playdough, games during which they can be physically active, sand and mud play, music and dancing, gardening…). Cooking together with your child falls into this category and also provides opportunities to learn about nutrition and measurement. Board games are fun and are great for developing literacy and numeracy skills.

Reading stories is invaluable when it comes to literacy development and are a nice way to bond and start conversations. Afterwards you can encourage your child to draw a picture from the story. It might be nice to read a longer story that can be stretched out over a number of days, which gives your child something familiar to look forward to.  Also, creating a drawing diary or a journal with visual representations of activities that the child did during the day might be a nice project to do with your child as it helps with reflecting on experiences and learning.

Generally, it will be of help to establish some kind of daily routine as this makes the day more predictable and will result in less unsettledness or challenging behaviours.   Trying to make the best of a bad situation will help your child develop a positive outlook on life and become resilient even when faced with challenges. Should you have specific ideas that worked well for you and your child please share these with the other families. Hopefully stressful times like these will bring us together as a community despite the social distancing which is currently required.