Self regulation is one of the most difficult struggles for most preschoolers.
How many times have you told your preschooler to “stop whining” or said, “you have to listen!”
Many of our youngsters will spit out words they don’t mean in the heat of the moment. More than one parent has endured that horrible “I hate you.”
Parents, we aren’t always perfect in our portrayal of how we should act by God’s design. Fortunately, our failures are examples we can use to help our children learn to overcome their own struggles with self regulation.
The key is to talk about those failures and help children realize how powerful words and actions can be. The following activities from the Experience God curriculum, “God Asks Me to Listen,” are wonderful opportunities for preschoolers and their families to discuss the impact words, both good and bad, can have on others.
“Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”
The following are three simple and inexpensive activities that can help us remember to speak only when we have kind things to say. Two of these can easily be done with little expense and minimal preparation time in either a home environment or in a Sunday school class. The third activity works best if completed as a family, although could be modified to fit a preschool class if needed.
Activity One: Out Forever
What happens if you say something mean?
- Share stories about a time when someone said something mean. How did it make you feel?
- Show children a tube of toothpaste. Imagine that our words are the toothpaste.
- Take turns squeezing the toothpaste tube and watching our words come out.
- Then, ask children to imagine that the words we said were mean, hurtful and angry. Work together to try and put the words back in the toothpaste tube.
In the same way it is impossible to put the toothpaste back in the tube, it is impossible to take back words we have said. Therefore, we should think first and be slow to speak.
Activity Two: Cover Your Mouth
What should you say when you are angry?
- Draw two faces, one angry and one happy.
- Show children the happy face and encourage them to say their own names.
- Show children the angry face and encourage them to cover their mouths with their hands.
- Show the different faces and encourage children to respond by either saying their names or covering their mouths.
- Take turns having each child be the leader and hold up the faces.
God wants us to be silent when we are angry. If we speak in anger we might say hurtful things.
Activity Three: Love Dove
pencil, markers, or crayons
Try this together
- Cut out the doves.
- Write the name of each family member on a dove card.
- Put the doves in a bowl or jar.
- Pull out one dove per day during mealtime. Take turns saying encouraging things to this person.
- We should think first and be slow to speak.
- God wants us to be silent when we are angry. If we speak in anger, we might say hurtful things.
- God loves us when we are good listeners.
- We can use our words to build up others by encouraging them.
I hope your family benefits from these activities and that more kind words are shared!
As always, this month’s Experience God also came with simple and fun craft activities to reinforce God’s message. Here’s a sneak peek at the crafts included for this month to go along with the story of Noah and the Ark!