Social skills ┃ Rotation games to cultivate children’s most important social skills

Recently, when Pupu and the children were playing together, there was a very prominent phenomenon, that is, they always encountered setbacks when taking turns to play with things.

It is very common that sometimes the public toys are not willing to be shared and everyone takes turns to play with them, or one child gets the toy and plays with it wildly by himself, or he is unable to wait and is always anxious to take his turn. Wait for yourself.

Because their ages are between 3 and 3 and a half years old, this is also a normal phenomenon. They already have the concept of taking turns and sharing, but their abilities are not enough to support them in following the rules of the game. This is a critical time for learning to wait and take turns.

Of course, if a child has not mastered these social rules and skills by the time they are five or six years old, or even seven or eight years old, parents should let their children learn and master them, because it will affect their friendships. .

The most important thing to learn these social rules and skills is to experience and summarize them in practice. As long as the child is not particularly lacking in social skills, he will usually master it gradually. Today we will share some turn-taking games that children can play, which can help children master the social skills of taking turns.

For more analysis, we will write in detail next week and share the game today.

★Suitable age: 1.5 years old+

★ Preparation materials: thinkfun’s twisting and rolling fun, or a square box

★ Game process:

1. This is a toy from thinkfun. It is very simple, just throw the big cloth sieve and get a color. Then draw a card according to the color, do the actions on the card, and everyone takes turns throwing it.

2. This game is very suitable for babies to play with older children or parents. The older children or parents are there to ensure that the rules are followed, otherwise the baby will definitely throw things around as soon as he goes up.

3. A very simple game, but it can train children's ability to wait, obey game rules, take turns, gross motor movements, cognitive abilities, understanding emotions, etc.

The reason for gross motor movements and cognitive abilities is to recognize emotions, because there are various movements on those cards, such as playing guitar, dancing ballet, making faces with various expressions, etc.

4. Generally, parents do not need to buy these two toys, but they can learn from this idea. I bought the toys and my friends, both young and old, came to play with them at home and they all liked them. Then I made one for Pupu out of a cardboard box.

Extended version: Find a square box and label the six sides with numbers. Then it is specified that each number represents a different type: 1 represents the walking of various emotions or states, you can refer to previous game sharing, click here: 2 represents the walking of various animals; 3 represents the playing of various musical instruments; 4 represents classic animals postures, such as a gorilla beating its chest; 5 represents various dances; 6 represents various body movements, etc.

Take turns throwing the carton, and if the number is up, do an action in that category accordingly; then it is the next person's turn.

This game is relatively simple. Even if the baby follows along, it is easier to master the rules. It also allows even babies to have the awareness of waiting in turn and develop other abilities. Therefore, you can play this game with your children or other children.

★Suitable age: 2 years old+

★ Preparation materials: Handkerchief

★ Game process:

1. Throw the handkerchief game Everyone is very familiar with it, so I won’t write about the process. Mainly to introduce why such a simple and common game can cultivate children's multi-faceted abilities.

2. The handkerchief throwing game has rules and is very simple: the child holding the handkerchief in the outer circle throws the handkerchief to one of the children during the circle. The second child gets up to chase. If the child in front sits down first and is not caught, he wins.

Simple rules, easy for younger friends to understand.

3. This game has winning and losing, although it is not obvious: but it can bring the concept of winning and losing and how to face winning and losing, so that children can think and deal with such situations.

But since it's not obvious, it won't particularly hurt them. After all, preschool children are not very tolerant of winning or losing.

4. This game also requires waiting and taking turns: when they see other children running, the children definitely want to participate, but they have to wait until the handkerchief is thrown behind them. The better thing is that the chasing time is shorter and the process advances faster. Children can generally take their turn relatively quickly.

5. When they experience waiting and taking turns through this simple game, if they cannot wait and take turns in other games, they can give the example of losing the handkerchief to let them know, "Oh, I need to wait now, just like I did before.” Past successful experiences will help children cope with the difficulties at hand.

6. The universality of chasing games: Throwing a handkerchief has a certain chasing and running. If we observe carefully, we will find that one of children’s favorite outdoor games is chasing and running.

Often after school, I would see a few classmates of Pupu chasing each other all over the playground. There is a person in front, followed by several people chasing him, and there is no purpose. But I was really happy, often laughing heartily while running. After catching up, one person runs again and the others chase.

Children's chase and run games can be found all over the world, and they also include the concept of taking turns. Moreover, this game is mostly initiated by children spontaneously and is not a game accompanied by adults.

In other words, children independently initiate and complete games and abide by the rules. Especially when the children are only a little over three years old, it is a very valuable experience that they can master this kind of game at such a young age.

Another important point about these types of games is that they are not structured games. In our contemporary development, there is actually an increasing trend that structured activities are increasing. Adults will prescribe and arrange various activities, and children will not have that much autonomy.

However, the chasing and running game above is a game that is completely spontaneously initiated by children, operates independently, and plays freely. This may be why, even if it is so simple, you can often hear the kind of heartfelt laughter!

However, older children will add many elements to the chase, such as Superman, Ultraman, etc., to increase the fun.

★Suitable age: 2 years old+

★ Preparation materials: Various board games

★ Game process:

Last year I gave Puff, puff, I finished several set of board games of level-breaking type. The reason was that I was very excited after watching them, but the difficulty turned out to be too high and not suitable for her. Although she was very interested and often eager to start, but once she started, she would just "play around" based on her own understanding. Because according to the rules, she doesn't know it and can't understand it. However, playing around is also valuable.

She liked some of the interactive board games she bought, and they were suitable for her ability. There are also many that are suitable for cultivating children's ability to take turns and wait.

1. Various chess games: If the child is older, various chess games can be introduced, such as chess, chess, Go, etc. And there are many options in this category. Younger ones can start with backgammon.

Board games not only exercise the ability to wait for turns, but also help children predict the next development situation, plan ahead, think about multiple options and choose, solve problems, etc. It is a difficult mental training that will also help children improve their problem-solving abilities and their ability to face winning or losing.

2. Flying chess: A cute flying chess with a design. One thing about flying chess is that it involves luck, you can move forward or backward, etc. For children, in addition to taking turns to play, it takes time to understand the importance of luck and chance in games.

For example, when Pupu was able to move forward on her own, she didn’t understand it at first and would even object because she thought she was breaking the rules. Of course, it is easier to accept moving forward. If you step back, it will trigger her frustration. Because she hasn't understood what role luck plays in the game. She will think that it is her failure to do well that makes her retreat.

But these experiences will slowly make her realize luck.

Therefore, this type of game is still very suitable for children to play, but don’t be too serious with them.

3. You make gestures and I guess board games: There are different types of this board game. The baby can use actions to "gesture" and let the other party guess. If you are older, you can choose language description. If it's bigger, you can choose to ask questions to guess.

This kind of board game is also very interactive, and basically children will like it very much. There are also wins and losses in it. Therefore, we can write about it again next time, when children face the problem of winning and losing.

There are many board games of this type. The ones I listed above are the more common and cheap ones, as well as Jenga. If you are particularly interested in board games, you can also search for Orchard Toys, Smart Games, HABA, Milu, Martian Pig, Green Dragon Island, etc. There are many board games from brands ranging from expensive to cheap.

The games shared today are mainly aimed at slowly cultivating children’s ability to wait in turns in the game. As long as it is a rotation game, it should be possible to cultivate this ability in children. Therefore, you can also find more rotation games like this in your daily life with your children. Today’s examples are relatively simple.

Babies can’t do it because they are still learning. This is a normal process. We will share the theory about this part and how parents can guide their children when they are unwilling to take turns and wait.

Let’s do it today!