Self-regulation is high on our list when we think about helping children to manage their behaviour. When they are tiny, we need to make all the decisions for them, but very soon they can begin to make their own choices and find their own way of navigating the world one step at a time. One step at a time is something we can often miss out on.
I went to the most amazing conference in Romania last year, where I was privileged to hear Martin Bailey, founder of Educate2Animate.
In my presentation, I spoke about 'Sticky Learning' and making connections in maths. His presentation talked about programming and de-bugging, which inspired me to make connections in my learning that will change my practice. These connections are those between programming and persistence.
In self-regulation, we need to have persistence - staying power. In my November course “The Journey from Stickers to Self-Regulation - Successful Strategies for Managing Behaviour”, we look at ways we can understand and support children's developing self-regulation while they are with us in Early Years and Key Stage One.
Programming is probably not something you leap to introduce in Early Years, but as Martin says, programming is simply 'instructions plus'. In best practice, with young children I see a lot of cooking and a lot of woodworking, using fantastic products such as those available from Community Playthings.
In both of these activities, the children investigate the materials they have, then they put them together in an orderly sequence to make a result. As they become developmentally ready, they then share or record these instructions in simple but accurate pictorial ways - Instructions Plus.
Making a sandwich or a simple peg board takes trial and error. Do you butter the bread first or put it on a plate? Do you hammer nails first or do you choose your board? In cooking, woodworking and construction activities, children have to make decisions. They have to be persistent, work out where they have gone wrong and make changes. Martin told us that this is called ‘de-bugging’. From a 'navigating the world' point of view, it is also working out what works and what doesn't by trial and error and learning from our mistakes.
Who would have thought it? Instead of condemning technology for damaging our children's social skills, we can actually use it to support self-regulation.
Of course I am not advocating that we glue our children to screens rather than play and practical activities - far from it. But if the children know that the skills to have the staying power to build a boat with blocks, make and cook a simple vegetable wrap or make a peg board are exactly those skills they will need to become the next great software developer, they might be keener to stick at the task!
If you’re looking for help with self-regulation, I’m here to help! Reach out to our team here: Contact Us.