Playing safe at ECD centres

Physical safety must go hand in hand with emotional security

Parents are worried about the unknown. Many are reconsidering their plans regarding their child’s education. If children are not able to share toys and learn through interactive play at school, is it even worth sending them back?

As a mom to a baby and a toddler, I am torn about whether to send our older child back once the ECD centres re-open.

On the one hand, I need to consider the risk of my daughter contacting Covid-19. Also, with all the new protocols in place, do I want to spoil her preconceived ideas of what going to school is? To my daughter, preschool represents spontaneity and fun with some learning happening along the way. Will she be able to experience this in an environment with strict restrictions in place? (ECD) centre is to develop learners’ cognitive, emotional, social and physical potential. Preschool is important at this stage of my daughter’s life – her first step away from home, and the basis of her future education. It is a time when children explore and discover in a safe environment, a time of running around, exploring, adventuring, singing songs and laughing with friends.

I know that my daughter is affected by having to stay home. When I ask her if she misses her friends, her answer is, “Terribly!” She is missing school, and as a parent, I am missing her going to school too!

Seeing people we know is a part of everyday life and it provides a sense of normality, even in this not-so-conventional time. Tovah Klein, a child development psychologist and researcher, states that “Social connection helps children feel less anxious. Connection is supportive; it is

calming. Friends provide companionship, which is particularly needed during times of change or stress.”

Smaller children often still play alongside one another with whatever appeals to them, but just that social interaction or watching the response of a friend is important for their growth and development.

At the beginning of lockdown, my daughter’s class tried meeting over Zoom. While toddlers with a short attention span zoomed around the room, my shy little one zoomed right out the door. This incident reminded me of the importance of hands-on learning for children – especially small children.

Adapting to the new normal

Ultimately, the decision to send children back to school or not is a personal one and each family must weigh up the pros and cons.

As parents or teachers of young children, we need to remember that if we do choose to send our children back to school now, they will not be enjoying the same experiences they had at the beginning of the year, before the pandemic hit. But that does not mean it cannot be a great experience.

It is amazing to see the way in which kids adapt to a new set of rules, or to the “new normal” as some may call it. I often find that if parents or teachers make a big deal out of change, kids will follow suit. My advice would be to stay as cool, calm and collected as you possibly can.

It’s important that kids understand why we are asking them to change certain practices. Talk to your children at home and at school to explain that there is a germ that is spreading from one person to the next and it is making some people sick. There are some fantastic resources available that can help you explain this to your children. One that I enjoyed was The Inside Book by Matthew Griffiths. This book is available in a few different languages (including Afrikaans, isiXhosa and isiZulu) and it can be downloaded for free. Written in consultation with an infectious diseases specialist and illustrated by Axel Scheffler of The Gruffalo, Coronavirus: a book for children is another fantastic resource, as is this short guide. There are also a number of great video lessons on YouTube, such as Teaching Kids about Germs using Glitter.

Making social distancing fun for small kids

To keep everyone safe, we all need to try to stay away from others so the virus cannot spread. Social distancing games can help our children to remember how to act when they are around other people:

Measure out 1,5m and let your child hop or jump that distance. Tell them that when someone comes close to them, they should remember that they need to stay so many “hops” away.

Older kids will enjoy it if you explain to them that they have a 1,5m forcefield around themselves. They must activate the forcefield when they pass someone or see a friend.

Pretend that you are a statue when there are many people who are trying to pass you in the passage. Do not try to push through. Freeze and wait until there are fewer children and then move along.

Besides disinfecting toys and furniture, the most important rule to teach your little ones is how to wash their hands – properly. Have pictures on the wall about washing hands, talk about it and show them how to wash their hands well (there are quite a few great resources available to help you with this). You can even sing a hand-washing song. Make it appealing and fun to wash hands.

Less “free play” and more structured outdoor play can help with keeping kids socially distanced. This will need careful planning and hands-on assistance. You could divide the class into colours and have them rotate to different stations (some on the playground, others throwing a ball in a bucket, skipping, riding motorbikes, some at sensory tables, etc.).

Indoors, a rotation system is of value too. Kids can play with clay on allocated seats, spread out. Paste photos of the kids on their chairs to remind them to use their own chair. Using coloured footprints on the floor to stand or sit on is also a fun way to maintain social distance without them even realising. They will be too excited trying to spot their footprints.

Putting physical safety and emotional security first

Re-opening preschools is a move that many people will feel differently about. During this time, it’s important to remember that both parents and teachers will always always have a child’s best interests at heart, and as ECDs and schools start up again, creating a safe environment – both physically safe as well as emotionally secure – must be the number one priority.

Author: Emme Scholtz Emme Scholtz is a Foundation Phase teacher who, after five years, has taken a break from teaching to focus on creating a love for learning in her two children. Her store on Teacha! is called Anna & I and is full of fantastic Foundation Phase resources!