I’m scared of thunder!

Two year old Heidi has been out in the garden with the nursery class when there was a sudden down pour and a thunder storm. They came inside to get out of the rain. Heidi becomes distressed and the practitioners and other children help to comfort her.

Good for looking at

• Social and emotional development
• Supporting children with their fears
• Developing empathy
• Sustained shared thinking
• Understanding the world

Notice

• How do we know how Heidi is feeling through out this clip? (Look out for non-verbal and body language as well as spoken language)
• How is she learning? Which areas of development, engagement and characteristics of learning can you observe?
• In what ways do the adults support the children’s learning?

Reflect

What are your thoughts about:

• What and how was Heidi communicating?
• The role of the adult in this interaction – how did she support Heidi to manage her strong feelings?
• What the other children learned through this experience?

Respond

What would you do to:

• Support Heidi’s understanding of her fears?
• Encourage other children to support Heidi?
• Extend Heidi’s learning – e.g. learning more about how the world works, weather, storms etc.?
• Model behaviours for young children and show how useful they are? Could you talk about your own fears and how you over came them?

What next:

• Do you know how to support children with their fears? Do you need to find out more about supporting and validating children’s emotions?
• Are  you good at supporting and listening to children with difficult emotions? Could you support other’s in your team and share your good practice?