Sharing???

Question

The kids in my class are not very good at sharing with eachother ,especially my girls at home living center during centers time. Does anyone know of a good way to reinforce sharing? What about a picture book or video about sharing? Any ideas would help!! Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You didn't say how old they were? Are they in the toddlers to 4's stage? if so, sorry, but you need to buy more than one of everything. Duplicate it all. Young children are very egocentric and they really can't grasp the concept of sharing until a later time. This helped me a lot and a lot of girls got to be play mommies. And more than one little boy was a fireman in my class. Hope this helps!

Answer 2

All of the previous advice is worth listening too.  You might also try two books in the Sweet Pickles series.  Lion is Down in the Dumps and The Secret Club.  Both of these, like the rest of the series, are loved by all children.  They were printed in the 70's and 80's, but many libraries still have them on the shelf.  Neither of these answer questions, they simply ask them that is where you step in a talk about how it would feel to be one of the characters in the story. Talking about the "golden rule" is also beneficial.  Treat others as you would have them treat you, treat others the way you want to be treated.  Ask how this applies "Susie when you have a toy do you want Tommy to take it away and push you down" This is an ongoing problem.  But make all the adjustment you can about room arrangement, limiting the children in the center and buying multiple toys and then just keep talking about it and talking about it, and talking about it.  Any time they are sitting and have you attention talk about it.  At lunch, "would you like it is Suzie took your apple"  when a child sits with you during playtime, they will eventually be able to tell you what the golden rule is and how it applies easily, which is not the same as them always making a good choice, but it is as far as you can get with some children.

Answer 3

Positive reinforcement is what works best.  Try to give them a reward for sharing.  Of course, tell the children the importance of sharing and that this is what you will be working on for a while.  Let them know that you will be watching them and keeping track of how well they do and when you see improvement the children that have had difficulty in this area.  Let them know that there will be a reward once you see this improvement over a period of time.  The reward can be something as simple as extra outside play time, a movie, treats or anything that would be a little different for their day.  Also, let them know that if you don't see improvement or if things go back to the way they were before making changes, that privileges will be taken away.

Answer 4

Sometimes an egg timer helps, but let's face it, kids aren't programmed to share, and sometimes what is really needed is a lot of identical toys. If a certain toy causes the most fights, it might need to be taken away for a while. I've never actually found a book or video to make a lasting impression.

Answer 5

Sometimes I have the kids "teach their dolls about sharing" This has worked great with most ages. They are good Mommy helping the babies learn.