Young children need to understand the social fabric in order to be more at ease in their environment. When we teach explicit lessons in good manners to children, they learn vocabulary, actions, and steps that they would need in order to deal with other people. Learning about manners also helps them to understand the social structure and expectations and encourages them to use courtesies and grace when real moments arise.
So what do you do as a parent or a teacher?
Well, displaying and practicing good manners yourself is the best way to teach. Children are always observing the adults around them, so if you greet your colleagues , your friends , your students, your elders, children will want to ape that. If you say thank you, please and you're welcome in your daily conversations, children will want to try that too. You are the role model and nothing can beat that.
But how do we take this role modeling a step further? Listed below are few effective and proven ways to get your children to use their manners.
1) Thank you and Please Jar!
Who says teaching children to say thank you and please have to be repetitive and boring? Create a cute jar and name it as the 'Please and Thank You' Jar. Write different scenario's on slips of paper. Example: Your mom helped you clean up after you played. What will you say to her?
Ask children to sit in a circle, play some music and pass the jar. When the music stops, ask the child holding the jar to pick up a slip from the jar. Read it to them and let them decide whether the question asks them to say 'thank you' or 'please'. Continue till the question slips finish. If you are doing this at home, simply ask the child to open up the jar, choose any scenario strip and discuss what the slips asks them to do. Keep adding more scenario strips as and when new situations arise and use them often.
2) Yes, please! No, thank you!
This is a super fun way to get children to use please and thank you and also learn about healthy and unhealthy food. Print a variety of food pictures. Show one food picture at a time to the child and ask if he/she would like to eat it? The child should say yes, please!, if it’s healthy and no, thank you!, if it’s unhealthy. Alternately, you could even use a paddle board and write please and thank you on each side. The child can show the appropriate side of the board after looking at the picture.
3) Mr Alligator, Manners Please!
We play this game, after reading the book "May I Please Have a Cookie?" by Jennifer E. Morris but you can skip reading it and straight away jump to playing. Create an alligator head band by printing and laminating it. Use an elastic band and attach it at the back. Let one child be the alligator and encourage other children to sit in the circle. The whole class will chant and ask the alligator for the cookie. The alligator will decide to give the cookie to one child. The whole class will chant thank you.
( Note: While the chant is going on, the child with the cookie will go around the circle and put the cookie behind a child, the alligator has to close his eyes and guess which child has the cookie. The child with the cookie becomes the next alligator.)
We played this at home, and used our dolls and teddy bears as pretend children. My little one became the alligator and chanted with me while I moved around and placed the cookie behind different dolls.
Feeling pressured to try these out at home? Don't Fret! I have your back.
You can print all these activities for free from our teacher resource page:
Try these different activities with children and see them use their manners effortlessly. The idea is to use these activities, vocabulary and language often with young children until it becomes habitual.
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