“A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside.” – Winnie the Pooh.
Childhood friendships are the seeds that bloom into lifelong connections. At Busy Bees, we understand the importance of fostering a nurturing and inclusive environment where children can develop meaningful relationships.
By creating a welcoming atmosphere, facilitating group activities, encouraging peer learning and celebrating diversity; we provide an environment for children to form friendships that not only bring joy in the present but also lay the foundation for valuable social skills — sharing, taking turns, co-operating, listening, empathising, and celebrating one another’s achievements — and resilience in the future.
Enjoyable collaborative experiences help children to learn about their responsibilities to others and to appreciate their connectedness and interdependence as learners. They learn to balance their own needs and wants with those of other children.
How to Support Your Child in Building Friendships
Raising Children provide some ideas for helping preschool children be a good friend and learn how to make friends. Some of these include:
- Explaining different situations and why they are happening
- Talking and listening
- Winning and losing graciously
- Talking with your child about who to play with
- Setting up playdates at home or at a local park
- Giving your child and their friends different options for play
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How Busy Bees Educators Encourage Friendship
By nurturing respectful and reciprocal relationships among children, Busy Bees Educators support children to value collaboration and teamwork. We follow the National Quality Framework which guides all Busy Bees centres to support children to develop relationships under Quality Area 5.
At Busy Bees, our Educators will:
- Support children’s progress through different stages of play to help them gain confidence in interacting with their peers
- Plan experiences that encourage children to work together to achieve success
- Allocate time for relaxed, unhurried experiences that enable children to collaborate and direct their own learning together
- Ask follow-up questions to extend children’s learning in group situations
- Provide opportunities and resources for children to assume leadership roles and direct play experiences
- Acknowledge older children’s complex relationships and sensitively intervene in ways that promote social inclusion
Our Busy Bees centres look forward to further acknowledging friendships by celebrating International Day of Friendship on 31 July 2023. By encouraging a child’s friendship skills through their play with others, toddlers and pre-schoolers can build skills that will help them with friendships and socialising both now and well into the future.
Busy Bees welcomes your family to tour every day of the year. Find your nearest centre and give us a Buzz or book a tour online.
Are you passionate about encouraging friendships and making a big difference in little lives? Whether you’re an experienced Educator or looking to start or change your career, we’d love to talk to you about joining our Hive.
