Make following the rules fun in your preschool classroom

There are numerous strategies early childhood educators can follow when it comes to effective classroom management. You want to keep your classroom in order, but you also want students to have a good time and feel free to express themselves at school. With this in mind, here are three ways you can make following the rules exciting or fun in your class:

1. Make your rules visual
If you want your students to follow your classroom rules, consider making them visual. Model good behavior with photos or images of children adhering to your rules on your bulletin board or on a print out. For example, make a chart with the title "This is how we…" and then list all the different ways your students can behave well with accompanying photos. You might include options such as "wash our hands," "pick up our toys," or "sit quietly." This technique may also be more effective if the photos are of your students.

2. Make your rules musical
Get your students involved with the rules they are following to make them more fun for the children to follow. As music is a great way to capture their attention, use songs and rhymes to tell them when it is time to transition, eat, play, and quiet down.

3. Make your rules routine
For young children, repetition can be particularly effective, especially for behavior management and enforcing classroom rules. Start each school day with a fun routine to get students to lower their voices and get in their seats. Then, throughout the day, if they get noisy or rowdy, use the same technique to get them to quiet down, such as telling your students to clap or raise their hands. Though it may take an initial adjustment period, they will soon catch on to what you want.

At ProSolutions Training, we offer online childcare courses on this subject, like "Helping Young Children Understand and Develop Rules." Contact us today to learn more about our extensive course catalog.