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Art of Redirection
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The time I used redirection was when two students were arguing over a ball on the playground. I seen one student take the ball away from the other student, they started arguing and crying. I went up to the two and we set down and found a way where they could both play with them ball. To teach effective communication I had the student ask the other “can we please pass the ball?” and the other replied with “yes” so I began to show them how to pass the ball to one another.
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times the kids all want to play with the same toy. When that acures i have the kids draw straws and we keep doing it till everyone gets a chance to play with that toy.
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I noticed a situation where two kids were starting to get heated because they didn’t want to share a particular toy. I instead re directed by finding a toy that was very similar and having them switch with each other after 5 minutes. This helped avoid a physical altercation and then next day one of them came to me asking for help when they needed support in sharing with another student.
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I had two girls in my class that were wanting the same barbie one was 3 and the other 4, i was able to bring in another barbie and add to their story line so they were able to add her in and the 3yr old took over playing with the new barbie and they played as friends. They are at the age where they are starting to recognize the word sharing and telling other kids no when they try to take a toy they are playing with. I always encourage asking if they can have a turn and not just taking and if the other child says no then then i encourage them to just play together and find similar toys they could use.
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I had a three-year-old boy who was so attached to his mom and on the first day of school he wouldn’t let her leave. When she was able to leave, he started to scream as loud as he could. I stood by him quietly and calmly while I waited for him to calm down and reassured him that his mom would be back. I knelt down and talked to him in a gentle voice and said, would you like to paint a picture for your mom? When he calmed down, I was able to direct him to the paint easel. While he was painting, he notices that there was another boy painting on the other side and he began to talk to him and by the end of the day he had made a new friend. The next morning when he came to school, he gave his mom a long hug and happily looked for his new friend.
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I was taking a group of children outside when one student was upset with another student. The student started crying and did not want to do anything to help improve the situation such as finding a different activity away from the student they were having issues with or talking to the student about the issue. I started talking to the crying stuff about things they were interested in (I.e. dinosaurs) to help desolate the situation. The student stopped crying and was laughing/smiling at the end of the conversation.
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There was once a kid visually upset about not having their parent around, so for redirection I turned to her stuff animal and started using it as a way to comfort them.
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Outside play time noticed two boys wanted to play with the same truck and redirected the situation we discussed about one will play with the truck set a timer for 10 minutes while the other one will play with the shovel.
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El uso de pequeños de relojes de arena para tomar turnos; al principio, era una estrategia que usábamos como maestras para resolver conflictos al ver a dos niños pelear con un juguete, pero ahora notamos como ellos los usan para resolver sus propios conflictos a la hora de turnarse.
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There was a particular Barbie (Elsa) that many of the children liked to play with. Whenever we opened that area there were constant disagreements about who got to play with her. From the beginning I explained to my students that the fairest thing to do was give everyone 5 minutes of play using a timer. It was a little rough the first couple of times we tried it but after everyone got the hang of it, they would just automatically ask me to set a timer if their friend got to the Barbie first. One thing I observed was in most cases they didn’t even use the whole 5 minutes. After playing for a bit, they would bring it to me and tell me their friend could use it now.
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I’ve found that redirection is very effective in preventing behaviors from escalating, especially with toddlers who are still learning self-regulation. For example, I had a child who would grab toys from others, which often led to conflicts. Instead of focusing on the behavior itself, I would calmly redirect them by offering a similar toy or inviting them to join a different activity. This helped shift their attention and reduced frustration for both children.
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Two children (3 y.o.) argued over a toy during playtime. I used redirection by inviting one child to join a different activity with similar toys which helped calm the situation. Sometimes I ask: can I have a turn? and use timers. so children understand taking turns.
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We use redirection with our kids, not only to help with a smoother transition for us, but for the child as well. This also helps the child to learn how to calm themselves in the future, but I wouldn’t use it for every situation. Only for when you don’t have the time to talk to them about the emotion they are having.
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One technique that works well for me would be redirection, to work to get the students mind off of a certain behavior and back on to his/her workday! Some behaviors are of course age appropriate or just a trend the student may be going through and just needs a few days to get it out of their system until they are back to their usual temperament. A lot of times getting their mind on something appealing to them can help relieve intense situations.
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I once was babysitting two sisters that were toddlers and they were playing with toys. The younger sister grabbed the doll the older sister was playing with and started using it. I calmly told the younger sister that her older sister was playing with that doll at that moment and we could find a different doll or toy for her to play with. I redirected this behavior and she gave the doll back to her sister. We were able to find a stuffed animal for the younger sister to play with instead, and both of the girls were happy!
