Activity: Medal-riffic!

Make a fun medal to award your child (and/or a friend) to reinforce important social skills that will help your child interact more successfully with others at home, school, and playtime!

Materials:

• metal juice bottle tops; one for each medal
• approximately 1-2 yards of colorful ribbon (Option: braid narrow red, white, and blue ribbon into on strand; or material or yarn can also be used)
• glue (suggestion: hot glue or super strong, fast-drying glue)
• glitter and fabric pens; or permanent markers for writing on medal face and ribbon(s)

Directions:
Celebrate playing fair and being considerate to others with this medal-riffic award. Help your child make his/her own medal (or make a medal for someone else) when you observe fair play and consideration with other friends during playtime. Here's how: Begin by gluing a juice can top to the middle portion of a two-foot piece of ribbon. Use pens or markers to write messages and awards on the medal face and ribbon. When glue and writing is dry, the award medal is ready to present!

Talk about It: Ask your child to share personal ideas about playing fair and being considerate of others. Talk about ways that friends can get along when two or more friends are together and how important it is to include everyone at playtime.

Take it Further: Ask you child to name his/her favorite game and explain the game's rules. Role-play (act out) how friends can solve a dispute during playtime and share ideas that might help solve common challenges, like how to choose who goes first and who will be responsible for putting equipment up.

With a Group: Award-Winning Wind Dancers- Place children into small equal groups. Give each group a different color of crepe paper steamers. Begin by asking the entire group to move to simple commands like circling right and left, zig-zaging, skipping, walking, as well as other moves. Remind children to be considerate by being very still and quiet while others are trying to listen to their commands and dance. Then ask each color group to take turns responding to the commands. Create awards like: Best Circlers; Best Zig-Zaggers, etc. After wind dancing, have children work together to make their own award to take home. Take pictures during the dance and craft time. Use the photos afterwards to encourage children to share ideas about being considerate to others, especially during playtime.