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Taking Toys Home-strategy


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Hi

I have a child who gets very distressed during his session as he wants to take the toys home that he plays with. We have tried a variety of strategies but none seem to work very well- I would love to hear some of your ideas!

Thanks, in advance... :o

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What age is the child?

Is he distressed during or at the end of session, (or both)?

What strategies have you tried?

How does parent respond to his distress?

 

Do you refer to preschool toys as the childrens? I used to refer to them as mine (owner/supervisor), ie: "Please be careful with my toys, I like sharing my toys with you, lets all help tidy up my toys etc

 

Could parent bring a favourite toy of his on collection, maybe?

 

Peggy

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Does he want to take just one home or everything he's played with?

 

From time to time I have allowed a child to take home a toy they have really enjoyed playing with, on the strict understanding that it must come back for the other children to play with. It can help during the settling-in period - almost taking the pre-school home with them.

 

Mind you I don't make a habit of it and I try not to let it be known widely amongst the children - otherwise we'd soon have an empty pre-school!

 

We've also used the "well if you take it home the other children won't be able to play with it" line, and that usually deters them. What have you tried so far?

 

Maz

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Hi Peggy

 

He is 3.

 

He gets distressed during the session and generally at the end- although this is for another reason- he does not want to go home!

 

Yes, I call the toys either 'school's or mine.

 

We have tried-

involving him in tasks/actvities/games to distract him,

explained that if he took them home there would be nothing left for the other children to play with, showed him the toy he brought in from home and the toys other children have (discussed how these come from and go back home).

Mother staed that she thought he was '...coming down with something' as he had been '...playing her up at home'- but this is repeated behaviour over the last two weeks (he only attends in the mornings).

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I have allowed children to take home my personal books if i've read a story thats been particularly enjoyed by a child. Because its always a special treat and I explain the books importance to me I have never had a problem.I would be tempted to allow the occasional borrowing and treat it like a toy library loan.

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Reading between the lines, is it that he actually really loves preschool and that by taking a toy home it represents taking a bit of what he loves with him, to 'keep in mind' where he would rather be?

 

Would you consider a toy lending scheme? If you do have systems in place to record what goes homw, clear understanding of parent responsibility for losses etc.

 

Maybe once it is not an issue, this 'phase' will pass. He might just be 'testing boundaries', what he can get away with, if this proves to be the case then maybe lending toys is not the answer and he just needs to learn to accept that what is said goes, preschool toys stay at preschool. Mind you if children bring in toys, is this maybe giving a mixed message? Toys from home can come into preschool but preschool toys can't go home :o

 

How about introducing just one toy that goes home, taken in turns with all the children, ie: A visiting teddy, have a diary, a page per visit, where children can draw a picture of what teddy did at their house, parents can comment on what teddy had for tea, what time he went to bed, what bedtime story he enjoyed (with their child) xD. I used to do this at my preschool, I made a book with pre-written prompts such as Teddy visited ..............Today, ............(date). He enjoyed playing....................then he had........................for tea, he liked the bedtime story, title.............................and went to sleep at................time.

At the bottom of the page I wrote Teddy say's "Thank you very much for having me, it's been great fun". All the children and parents loved having teddy to stay, the parents included photo's ie: Teddy at the dinner table, reading a book etc, and some of the children added drawings. We would talk about what teddy had done on the next day the child bought him back to preschool. :(

 

Sorry gone off track a bit there, but may be a 'distracting' type of activity for your young boy.

 

Peggy

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Thanks for your ideas.

I used to do a Ted bag that went home a few years ago, it's funny how you forget things that work well. I love the idea of having a pre printed sheet.

I am now off to make one- thanks again!

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