Social interaction skills, Awareness of emotions
Toddlers participate in a book sharing about playing together and becoming friends.
Llama Llama Time to Share by Anna Dewdney
[Invite 3–4 toddlers to join you in reading a book. You may wish to sing a song as toddlers arrive, such as “The More We Get Together.” Welcome each child to the gathering by name.]
We like to read about Llama Llama. Our Llama Llama book today is about sharing.
[Display book cover and point to Llama Llama and the other llama as you describe each.]
Llama Llama is holding a lot of toys. Here is another llama in our picture with no toys.
Do you think Llama Llama will share some of his toys with the other llama?
[Pause for and acknowledge toddlers’ responses.]
Let’s open our book to find out!
[Read the book text and add your own words to describe pictures and key parts of the story, including the following:
Early in the story, emphasize Llama Llama’s reactions to someone else playing with his toys. Example: “Nelly Gnu is playing with Llama Llama’s blocks. Llama Llama is watching her play. Look at his face. Is Llama Llama happy? Why not?”
Point out how Llama Llama finds a way to play with Nelly Gnu and her block town by including a favorite toy, Fuzzy Llama.
Draw attention to Llama Llama’s reaction to Nelly Gnu using Fuzzy Llama to play with Baby Gnu. Examples: “Why did Llama Llama pull on Fuzzy Llama?” “What did Llama Llama and Nelly Gnu feel after Fuzzy Llama’s arm came off?”
Emphasize how Llama Llama and Nelly Gnu did different things when they made a cake together. Nelly Gnu mixed and Llama Llama baked. Also, Llama Llama wanted to share other things after making the cake with Nelly Gnu. He shared his toy Fuzzy Llama.
Point out how Llama Llama and Nelly Gnu became friends by playing together.]
Llama Llama did not want to share his toys with Nelly Gnu when she came to his house. He really did not want to share Fuzzy Llama. What happened? (pulled toy away from Nelly Gnu and the toy’s arm came off!) Then Llama Llama and Nelly Gnu had fun making a pretend cake together, and Llama Llama shared his toy, Fuzzy Llama, with Nelly Gnu. They became friends.
The themes of sharing and playing together will be of interest to most toddlers. Toddlers are likely to differ in what aspects of the story are of interest. Some may readily connect with the book characters’ reactions to events, whereas other toddlers may be most attentive to the drama surrounding Fuzzy Llama. Emotion knowledge is in an early point of development at this age and the several emotion questions suggested in the activity description may be challenging for some toddlers to think about. Recall questions will be easier for most toddlers to manage and can help toddlers appreciate the value of sharing toys and activities described in the book.
Extra support
Enrichment
Social interaction skills
Toddlers work with play dough, with opportunities to notice each other’s actions and share tools.
Share
Be Prepared: Form balls of dough about the size of a toddler’s hand. Secure one of each tool commonly used in your room for manipulating play dough. Consider adding one item not commonly used or provided. A novel tool can facilitate practice in sharing. Arrange the tools in the center of a low table within easy reach of toddlers.
Invite 3–4 toddlers to work with play dough at a low table. Give each child a ball of dough and explain that we can use one tool at a time with our play dough. We put a tool in the middle of the table after we are done using it. Someone else at our table may wish to use the tool. We share our tools by putting them in the middle of the table.
As the toddlers play, talk with them about their actions. Describe what you see each toddler doing with their play dough. Example: “Myatt is rolling his play dough.” Refrain from asking toddlers what they are making. The activity is intended as exploratory and toddlers may not have a product in mind.
Throughout the activity, gently encourage toddlers to put a tool in the middle of the table after they are done using it. Remind toddlers that someone else may wish to use the tool. We do not keep a tool after we are done using it. Describe instances of a toddler returning a tool to the middle of the table. Remind toddlers that this is one of the ways we can share our things.
Help toddlers develop peer social interaction skills with this activity by describing what each toddler is doing. Your comments may nudge toddlers to notice how a peer is working with play dough.
Toddlers differ considerably in their readiness to share items, and the practice of taking turns with a desired item takes time to develop. The current activity promotes the concept of sharing items through the practice of returning tools to the middle of the table after they are used, so others might also use them. Returning a tool to the middle of the table may be a challenging action for toddlers who prefer to keep or hoard materials in their own activity space.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: crayons, drawing paper
Arrange the crayons in the middle of a low table. Invite several toddlers to draw whatever each wishes to draw. Encourage toddlers to share the crayons by putting a crayon in the middle of the table when they are done using it (not keeping it). This is consistent with the Option 2 provision for sharing items. Be available to provide support if needed.
Materials Needed: variety of blocks
Invite an older toddler(s) and preschool-age child(ren) in your setting to build something together with blocks. One possibility is for each child to build one part of a larger arrangement. Example: one child uses blocks to build a house and another child uses blocks to make a road to the house or a garage next to the house. Another possibility is for children to build one structure together, deciding what they want to make and taking turns contributing to the building. The second possibility involves more advanced skills in sharing.
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