B a r b a r a s h e r I l L u s t r a t I o n s b y r a L p h

T
Y P E S O F
A
T T E N T I O N
E
N C O U R A G E D
Open and focused
M
A T E R I A L S
Paper and pen (optional)
D
I R E C T I O N S
At the end of the day, encourage your child to tell you the story of his day.
What happened first? What happened next? Was there a highlight? What
were the various feelings that he felt at different points? Help your child
tell the story by asking leading questions when appropriate, such as “What
was the first thing you did when you woke up today?” “What happened
next?” “Did you see anything unusual when you drove [walked] to school
today?” “What was the first thing that happened when class started?” “How
did that make you feel?”
V
A R I A T I O N S
⽧ Ask your child to write the story down. If it seems hard to motivate
your child, remind him that when he is old he will be delighted to read
these stories of his youth. You can suggest that these stories could be
Games for 3- to 6-Year-Olds
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done often and made into an autobiographical book. (Good opportu-
nity to enlarge vocabulary here!) Or maybe there is a grandma out of
town who would be thrilled to get a story about her grandson’s day.
⽧ Turn on the tape recorder or video camera and let your child elaborate
about his day for grandparents or for posterity.
W
H A T
’
S
B
E I N G
L
E A R N E D
Children are learning that stories have beginnings, middles, and ends. They
are seeing that there is a logical progression because they personally expe-
rienced the order of the events. When they decide which experiences to add
and which to omit, they are also gaining experience with editing skills.
Children are learning open attentive skills by being aware of all the
small things that happen and then focusing in on specific ones to include
in the story.
If they are also encouraged to include their feelings about the various
events in their day, they are learning to identify emotions.