Guest Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Does anybody have any strategies we can use to stop our lunchtimes degenerating into a chimps tea party? Some of the children who stay with us for lunch have awful table manners. Yesterday one was throwing food and the others were talking with their mouths full and shouting at one another. I am going to use small group time to talk about how we should behave but wondered if there was anything else we could do? Thanks Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 don't know how many children you have but we have small groups with an adult having lunch with them for lunch club, seems to help with modelling correct behaviour, if necessary we make smaller groups, but so far no problems with behaviour. We only have 6-8 children though so may be different with more Inge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosepetal Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Hello Linda, When i have new children to my room i always speak about our expectations of the children with them, (i have 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 yr olds) when it is lunch time as with snack time, the children help to set the table, we have table cloths and little flowers to make it look pretty, the children also have their own placemats which they made. There is an adult at each table, and we use this opportunity to talk about manners and praise those children who are displaying good manners, we also use this time to talk with our quieter voices. I also have photos on display showing the children eating at the table and displaying good manners. The children also help to clear the table and sweep the floor with a small floor brush and dust pan, they love this. You could also set up a tea party with dolls and teddies in role play or set up a restaurant and ask the children how should the dolls etc behave at the dinner table etc. I hope this helps you a little bit. Rosepetal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Thanks Inge and Rosepetal for those replies. We have between 6 and 10 children each day with an adult supervising. I can see that if the adult is actually eating with them it may make a difference. Will have to try that. I also like the idea of having the children set up their places. They all bring a packed lunch so it may be a good idea if they actually took it out of the fridge themselves and put it onto a plate. How did you make the placemats Rosepetal? I could let them draw on a piece of A4 and then laminate them. I just feel we need to make it a better experience for them and for staff. At the moment it is so stressful, with one of my staff in tears a couple of weeks ago because they were so awful. Thanks again-I now have some ideas to go back with. Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 we used to have place mats made by laminating a picture they had done or by sticking pictures of foods on them , just make sure that when you clean them they are completely dry before stacking and putting them away, we found that even if slightly damp they began to smell , so eventually gave up on this idea. we found them quite hard to get dry enough to stop this happening. Also make sure that the picture is well inside the size of the pockets with a good surround to seal, when they were constantly cleaned tended to open as well if not enough 'seal' around the picture Inge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Thanks Inge. As we are not open in the afternoons we could leave them out to dry until the next day before putting them away. Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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