Encouraging Peer Interactions in Preschool Classrooms

A new school year is just around the corner, and Ms. Annie is doing her usual preparations. She is setting up her classroom and planning the different activities that she will do with her children. As a veteran teacher, Ms. Annie knows how to provide an appropriate and stimulating environment that will promote the children’s growth and development. Most years, she does not worry about how things will go when preschool starts. This year, however, is a bit different. During her home visits, she met Lizzy, an extremely shy and withdrawn child. Ms. Annie learned that Lizzy has good language skills but tends to sit back and watch other children rather than play with them. Lizzy’s parents told her that one of their goals for Lizzy was to have her engage in more social interaction with her peers. Ms. Annie knows that planning interesting activities and limiting the number of children who can play in an area at a given time can go a long way to ensuring that children interact with one another, but she is not sure that this will be enough for Lizzy. Ms. Annie is a little nervous for school to start.