Self-regulation activities in the classroom for children

Self-regulation is the capacity that allows us to direct our behavior in the way we want and to be able to relate to the people around us. It is part of the acquisition of social skills that begin to develop from an early age. In Guiainfantil.com we tell you what activities you can do in the classro

In Guiainfantil.com we tell you what activities you can do in the classroom so that children learn to control their emotions and have good behavior in class.

The self-regulation capacity of children according to their age

- Around 2 years old children begin to understand that others have emotions and that they may be different from their own.

- From 2 to 3 years the period of "independence" begins. Self-centered stage that is based on the words: "I" and "mine" with those that demand the "no help" of the adult ". It is in this period that they begin to respond in a good or bad way and where the self-regulation of their emotions causes the child to begin to judge himself.

- At 5 years this self-regulating capacity is more developed and there is a complexity between emotions, beliefs and expectations. That is to say, children begin to relate their cognitive capacity to emotions.

As children go through the different stages, they learn more about feelings and begin to connect the situations they experience with emotions. Throughout this development, self-regulation and language skills are evolving, and, therefore, acquire greater ability to handle complicated emotional situations. By learning to handle emotions, they assimilate and understand that they are in control of whatever situation they are in. Importance of promoting the self-regulation of children

Throughout the first years of age, the foundations are laid for an adequate emotional intelligence in the child. This depends to a large extent on different emotional and social factors. Therefore,

it is necessary that parents, school and the rest of the environment generate the necessary trust in the child to help him / her to develop optimally in all areas of life .Childhood is the key moment for the child to model his emotional tendencies and where the relationship between family and school is very significant. Education and modeling by parents at home are important, as is the attitude and behavior of the teacher in the classroom to offer security, respect and confidence.

Games for the self-regulation of the child in the classroom

Within the classroom, the educator can teach the children self-regulation in a didactic and fun way. Thanks to the activities proposed, children can develop progress in their behavior, learn to listen to others and perform their duties and tasks. The techniques we show can be used both in the classroom and at home:

- The traffic light

. It is an exercise that serves to give an answer about their behavior to the child and identify them consciously. To do this, a drawing is made of the traffic light and simple instructions are given to the child to make him see how it works or Red: calm and think before acting or Yellow: think solutions or alternatives and their consequences. o Green: ok, put the best solution into practice.- The wheel of emotions

. It consists of creating together with the students a wheel with options of things that they can do to calm down when they feel frustrated. This cake-shaped wheel is drawn on a cardboard and in what would be each portion is drawn or pasted an image of the options that the child has mentioned. The options must be valid actions that respect the integrity of the child and classmates.- The volcano.

It is about using the images to raise awareness of the behavior. In this way, the child will be able to detect when he is about to behave inadequately and will be able to stop in time. To put this technique into practice, the child is asked to imagine that it is a volcano and that his emotions are lava. Like many other volcanoes, its inner volcano also gets out of control and erupts, causing everything inside it to explode. The idea is that the child learns to recognize the signs of anger and anger, associating them with hot lava and eruption. In this way you can stop before reaching the point of no return. - Time out positive

. It is a Positive Discipline tool. It consists of creating a special place in the classroom, which the child can use to calm down and calm down again when he feels upset or out of control. This place should be chosen and decorated in conjunction with the children and should contain elements that invite you to relax and feel peace, such as: books, music, toys, leaves and colors to draw, a blackboard, stuffed animals, play dough, etc.