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Art of Redirection
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I favor “redirecting” arguments/disputes over toys (eg. # of Bristle Block wheels) by turning these into math (sorting/categorizing) opportunities. In other words, when/if arguments surface, the kids and I take a closer look at our materials and together establish how these can/could/should/would be best/equitably shared.
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I use redirection a lot in my classroom of 2 and a half year olds. Especially if a child is upset about their parent having to leave after drop off. I usually offer the child a hug first and tell them that mommy and daddy always come back. I then ask if they want to go read a book or find a toy to play with. If they’re too distraught to answer or make a choice, I comment on their outfit and make ask if it’s their favorite color or ask what pattern/picture is on their outfit. Then will usually ask what colors or patterns they see on my outfit. It gets them to calm down and distract them a bit from their big emotions at hand.
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I used to have a child in my class who was not a fan of sharing the toys he was using with classmates. Most times this child would yell at the other kids when they’d ask to play with him or the toys he had. To work on managing emotions, if he would get upset, I would calmly discuss his behavior and how we should adjust it in the moment. With the idea of sharing being difficult to understand to some, I enjoy reading story books to the kids where it discusses sharing with others, allowing the kids to see pictures as well on how best to share with others.
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When working with a child that was frequently biting I was able to redirect them to bite a teether instead of another child. Anytime they went to bite a classmate I would say “you can bite this” while showing them the teether. It gave them a way to let out their frustration without hurting other children. I also taught them the sign for “stop” because they didn’t have a vocabulary to say it but they knew what it meant and when they wanted someone to stop something. I modeled it for the whole class so they all knew what it meant.
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Redirection is so important in a early childhood classroom. I have a few students who struggle with drop off each morning and I found that giving them two options on how to start their day once their family has left helps them feel all the feelings and then move on with the day. Most kids pick the cozy corner to hangout in and if they are really sad we let them have a stuffed animal with them to start the morning.
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I redirect preschooler who have separation anxiety at drop off to dictate a note that I write and give to their parents. It usually just ends up saying “I love you”and “I miss you” but it helps the kids know that we understand how they’re feeling and we care. It also helps express their feelings to their parents and they feel much better afterwards.
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My student Sam wanted to play with the magnet tiles that Brad was playing with, I showed Sam where he could find the magnet tiles that were not being played with and they could then play together.
I ask students to talk to each other to encourage effective communication.
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A time that I used redirection was during drop off. A child arrived crying after a long 3 day weekend. I observed the parent for several minutes attempt to reason with the child. I mouthed to the parent I am ready whenever you are. The parent told the child they needed to leave for work and that I would take care of them and they would have a great day.
I took the child by the hand and in a low tone told them that their mom would return and loved them. I then asked the child did they want to read my new book with me. I retrieved a new board book from the shelf and had the child look at the cover with me. Together we came up with ideas what we thought the book would be about. We also described what we noticed on the cover and if I or the child had any similarities to the characters on the cover.
I wanted to continue to hold space and acknowledge that the child had big feelings about their family transitioning to work while they were at school. So we also colored a picture to share with their family and I ended this transition by asking the child if they would like to borrow my book to share with their family.
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When the children are playing in the blocs/construction station, sometimes they don’t agree on what kind of construction they want to build or fight for the blocs. If a student shows signs that they are not able to regulate their emotions, I gently redirect them to another building station to allow them to create safely their own construction without breaking their friends creation.
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Great approach, Maeva! Redirecting children to a new station allows them to calm down while still fostering creativity and safe play, helping them regulate emotions and avoid conflicts.
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Working with young toddlers they seem to want to play with the same toys at the same time. Having duplicate toys helps them. I would offer the other toddler the toy and they are both happy.
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Angela, that’s a great example of redirection! Providing duplicate toys is an effective way to avoid conflicts while helping toddlers learn sharing in a positive and gentle manner.
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I have a Frozen castle and two of my kids (one 3 years and the 1.5) were wanting to play with Olaf so the older of them grabbed the toy from the younger. I asked them to hand it back, told them taking things from other’s hands make them feel sad and handed them a duplicate Olaf. These scenarios can set up the framework for “I” statements.
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I had a time that a child was in a full blown meltdown, having very big feelings, and was clearly wanting to be disruptive to the play spaces of their friends. I picked up the child and just hugged him and was able to calm his emotions and talk to him about big it and was able to see him go from being mad to him showing how sad he was feelings. After he finally calmed, he was able to play cohesively with friends
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Great job, Ocean! Redirecting with calmness and empathy helped the child regulate their emotions, fostering a positive, supportive environment for play and communication with others.
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There was a new student in a primary class I was working in, and she was feeling nervous in her new classroom and did not want to go to the playground with the rest of the class. I got on her level and validated her feelings about how new environments can be scary. To redirect her, I told her about the cool structures that the playground had and that there were some cool flyers posted along the route to the playground, with cute animals on them. She got excited about the posters and decided to join the rest of the class.
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Great job, Chelsea! Validating the child’s feelings and offering a positive distraction helped ease her transition. It’s a wonderful example of using redirection effectively to manage behavior.
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One time I had two children who generally did not play well together. They chose to play in the block area together so I made sure I was close to them to hear their conversation. One child got rough with the tower and it fell down. Before the other child could respond I said uh oh, what can we do to fix this? Both children came up with an idea and they built another tower peacefully.
Recognizing the upset and allowing the children to choose how to respond is very important if they are going to learn to respond on their own some day.
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Once I had a 4-year-old who liked to take food from other children’s plate. I immediately stopped the child by saying taking food from others is not okay. And moved the child to another table for that meal.
