How to Help Kids Learn to Support Each Other
I teach pre-kindergarten. I have a room full of 4 year olds who are competitive with each other. My goal is always to create a class culture where kids love and support each other.
This is not easy.
One of my strategies is my bear jar. My bear jar is an old marinara sauce jar that I cleaned up and added a paper arrow with tape over it. Next to the jar is a bowl full of plastic bears. When the kids do something like share toys, support each other when one child is sad, or play nicely together, a bear goes in the jar. When the bears reach the arrow, the whole class gets a treat.
I love the bear jar. I can use it to reward the whole class when they have all worked hard and finished everything I asked them to do. I can reward an individual who has helped me, went above and beyond, or helped a friend during class. I can use it to reward a small group of kids who are being an excellent example of how I’d like kids to play in the class. Because 4 year olds are competitive the other kids try to do the same thing. And because everyone benefits from the bears going into the jar, kids are excited when their classmates are being recognized.
Another strategy I use is to make sure kids have the language they need to be supportive of each other. For example, when we paint at our easels, I only have one container of each color paint. This forces the kids to share. To make sure this is successful I teach the kids the language they need to share before we start. I model how to ask each other politely for a color and how to say yes and share. We learn about how to ask a friend if they are okay when they are hurt, how to express frustration with words and how to ask a friend if they can have a toy when the friend is done. And when they do it successfully, I put a bear in the jar!
I love my bear jar. It helps create a team atmosphere in the classroom and kids support each other. This idea can be done in a classroom or it can be done be done in the home. The key is picking something everyone would enjoy as the reward. It could be a family game, a favorite food or takeout which is great for Mom and Dad too!
