Preschool Classroom Activities

The following is a list of activities appropriate to the age group with which you work. They are meant to be vehicles for expression and discussion for you and your students. They can be used to stimulate your own ideas and can be adapted to meet your students 'needs and your teaching style. You may find that many of the activities are appropriate in fall and winter as our community continues to recover from the disaster, as well as relevant in the case of future, different types of disasters.

Availability of toys that encourage play reenactment of children's experiences and observations during the disaster can be helpful to them in integrating these experiences. These might include fire trucks, dump trucks, rescue tracks, ambulances, and building blocks. However, this type of reenactment play must be supervised closely to ensure that the child's own experience is represented, and that no additional trauma is created. For example, in the case of terrorism, while it might be helpful for a child to recreate the rescue efforts, recreation of the terrorist events could create additional trauma Playing with puppets or dolls can also help children express their feelings about what has occurred.
Children need lots of physical contact during these times of stress to help them reestablish ego boundaries and a sense of security Games that involve physical touching among children within a structure are helpful in this regard. Some examples might be London Bridge or Duck Duck Goose.
Providing extra amounts of finger foods and fluid is a concrete way of supplying the physical nourishment children need in times of stress. The "specialness" of the attention, rather than the foods themselves, is the important therapeutic factor at work here.
Having the children do a mural on butcher paper with topics such as what happened in your house (school or neighborhood) when the disaster occurred. This is recommended for small groups with facilitated discussion afterward.
Short stories dictated to an adult on a one-to-one basis on such topics as, "What I do and don't like about disasters." This activity can help the child verbalize his/her fears.
Have the children draw pictures about the disaster and then discuss the pictures in small groups. This activity allows them to vent their experiences and discover how others share their fears.
Do a group collage.

For more information on responding to mental health needs in times of crises, or to find out about local mental health services, contact 1-800-789-2647.

KEN01-0102
11/02

Order Here!