Today was my first class of Drama for Early Childhood Education with Helen, as I entered the room, I felt very nervous and overwhelmed as I didn’t know everyone and there were so many new faces. We gathered around in a circle and said our names and where we were from, as I sat listening to each person talking, I got more nervous because it was getting closer to me!
My favorite game was the ‘Name Game’ to get to know each other more, we would throw a ball to a person and would have to call their name this was very fun because we added a new ball each time, our class started to interact with each other more as names were being shouted across the room. We used different balls some were soft, and some were hard, this game would be very suitable for working with children as they are exercising mentally by thinking of the name and where they are going to receive the ball next. This would be an icebreaker game for children who are nervous about making new friends and starting a Creche or school without their parents. I felt this game helped me to feel more comfortable in the class as I enjoyed myself and stopped worrying. After the ‘Name Game,’ we decided to play more games such as Where you’re from, what your age is, and When your birthday is. These games involved working as a team to get into the right position and helped us to communicate more with each other. After this game I found out a lot about my class and where they are from, these games would also be helpful for getting to know your class and it also makes you feel like you belong in this class as a family. Aistear highlights the importance of play as it ‘allows us to build relationships and helps the development of the child’(Aistear,2009). Therefore, many games are brought into early childhood to help with their overall development.
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After all our games we wrote down on a piece of paper our fears and our objectives, most of the classes fears were speaking out loud and most of our objectives were to make friends and be happy, I felt after my first week that I was going to enjoy myself each week even though it might be challenging and nerve-racking but I will push myself. I felt most comfortable playing games and getting to know each other but I also struggled with trying to talk to people I didn’t really know. Each week I will become more confident and make new friends!
My other favorite game was the ‘Stop’ and ‘Go’ game, ‘Stop’ meant ‘Go’ and ‘Go’ meant ‘Stop’, this game helped our class interact with each other more, and after a while, Helen decided to pick some people to say ‘Stop’ or ‘Go’. It was quite nerve-racking as I didn’t want to talk out loud, so I ran away from the person who was talking in case they picked me! But overall, I really enjoyed it. After a few warm-up games Helen gave us a piece of paper with a number of questions on it to ask each person in our class, I found this game quite challenging as we had 3 minutes to get around to as many people in the class, this activity is very fun but also scary at the same time because you don’t know everyone in the class, I think this activity would be really helpful to bring to a group of children so they can find out their classmates likes and dislikes which will help with memory. This activity could help a child to develop confidence as they go outside their comfort zone asking new people about their interests, they will feel better about themselves when they are done as they’ve tried something different.
Our last activity of the day was the class had to paint their hands and put their handprint onto a poster which was a tree, this activity would be excellent to do with children as they now feel like a ‘Family’ in their class. Some children may not like the feel of paint so I would alternate and sketch a print of their hand on the tree and allow them to color it in, so they feel like they belong too. Aistear highlights that ‘each child will have a place and a right to belong to a group’(Aistear,2009). I will make sure each child feels like they belong to their class group by doing activities such as the handprints on the tree.
Overall this class helped me to pick up new ideas of what I could with children such as warm-up games to make them feel welcomed and happy in their class.
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