With the holidays upon us, “giving” is one word that comes to ones mind. In the mind of a preschooler, “giving” can often be interpreted as, “give that toy to ME!”. To guide and teach young children about giving and caring about others, and as many other topics alike, there is a story, or two…
Over the last few weeks, preschoolers have been discussing and exploring various concepts of thankfulness, giving, kindness, and caring. These lessons began by reading both The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein and The Gift of Nothing, by Patrick McDonnell. Egocentricism, defined by Jean Piaget as, “self- centeredness; capable of contemplating the world only from their personal perspective”, is an entirely natural stage of child development. With that knowledge, children were provided with the opportunity to participate in numerous hands-on activities related to the above topics.
Here is a glimpse of some of the discussions that construed.
What preschoolers are thankful for:
“I’m thankful for my birthday last night…and cake.”
“I’m thankful that I have onions to eat.”
“I’m thankful for bean bags to play with.”
What a preschooler believes a person needs:
“A friend.”
“Popcorn.”
“A pumpkin toy.”
“A snowman.”
“A monkey.”
After reading both of the above stories, exploring the concepts of the stories, and having multiple discussions about those topics, the preschoolers took to the idea of having a food drive; giving to others. The chosen recipient was The OUR Center, located in Longmont, CO. The children then created a “giving box”, and made daily observations of what had been placed inside.
With the help of our entire Bixby community, we are happy to share that we collected over 80 items to donate; all of which were categorized, graphed, and counted by the preschoolers! Thank you to all who participated! We are most certain that The OUR Center will be immensely grateful!