Yet another conflict comes up in the 3 and 4 year olds' class today. This is what happened,

T is visibly upset and is stamping on the floor in anger and tears in her eyes. 
F: What happened? 
She gives no response. After a few moments, she says, "A is not my friend!" 
To which A said with a surprised expression, "That's not true. I am."
T seems surprised. But still crying. 
Suddenly, A jumps in to explain, "She hurt me."
T calmed down and said, "But I said sorry."
"No, she didn't!", said A, defending herself. 
"I said it very softly but", T explained, and stomped off to the corner to cry saying, "I am very upset!" 

Now everybody in the class is quiet and watching the entire thing. 

H and A were sitting next to each other at this point. Suddenly H stands up for the situation, feeling responsible, and tells A, "A get up and go talk to her."

A follows suit. She goes to T and gently tells her, "You say sorry to me."
T doesn't budge. After a few seconds of trials, A looks around and calls everybody to them. Without any more intervention from A, everybody gravitates towards them both and hugs T as a way of consoling her post which T flashed everybody the widest smile. She said sorry to A after this and the entire problem was solved.

When children are shown how problems are solved, they naturally start picking up the habit and show problem solving skills even at the youngest age of 4. When trust is established with them that they are capable individuals who can solve their problems, they reach a whole new level of confidence in themselves with the belief that they are capable of solving their own problems.  They, then show us what anger, crying, distrust and fear can't do - a little bit of love can magically solve!

Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool.

#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#everychildcansolveproblems

Another typical day for the 3 and 4 year olds at Sparkling Mindz where they were all seated at their usual yellow rectangular table. They were all given worksheets to do where they had to stick thermocol balls on the sheets given. They are usually given choices on how they would like to do the worksheets and what they would like to stick. As we were focusing on fine motor development, on this particular day, they were given thermocol balls to stick. They were each given a glue stick to use for themselves to stick. 
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The glue sticks were of three colours: black, blue, and blue and yellow. An and H both wanted blue. By the time the glue sticks got to them, it was between blue, and blue and yellow. An and H start arguing on who gets to use the blue one. Both the glue sticks were handed over to both of them. At this point they both stared at me hoping I would take a call and hand over the blue to one of them to which I responded, "Okay. Please solve this problem you guys", and I moved onto the others observing how they were going to resolve this. 
Few seconds later they came up with a solution all by themselves!
An said," After we finish this one line, you give me the blue and I'll give you this. Let's exchange", to which H happily agreed, called me and told me how they had revolved their fight. 

It was such a beautiful sight to see them resolving their problems by themselves. If I had stepped in, I would have stolen that lesson, that they learned about solving problems by themselves and sharing, by giving them the solutions. By trusting their capabilities in solving their problems, I was able to strengthen my belief about children that even at such a young age, they are absolutely capable of anything that they put their minds to, which is a learning not just for them but also for me. As adults, we often step in to figure things out for the children without letting them figure it out for themselves. We often tend to forget that they are capable individuals with brilliant minds that can function independently without us having to interfere a lot of the times. Taking a step back a lot of the times will give them chances to step up for themselves and also enable them to believe that we trust them to solve their issues by themselves. And this, is beautiful.


Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool. 

#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#everychildcansolveproblems

The Pups and Calves were given a challenge in the morning for their morning ITP (Invitation To Play) where they were asked to create music. The twist was, they needed to make music with no musical instruments. 

The reaction was priceless - excitement, curiosity, eyes sparking up with wonder, confusion, lost...
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F: Go ahead and make music! You can do it!

Suddenly they were everywhere. The facilitator wasn't prepared for their reaction. Some started clapping, some were trying to whistle, some banged the tables, walls, tables, some stomped, some made sounds with their mouths, some banged on beds, some took chairs and banged against the wall...needless to say there was a plethora of sounds that arrived as part of their experimentation. Some wanted to sing, so they did. 

Suddenly T says, "Let the girls sing and boys make music!"

And that was what happened. With a little help from the facilitator, girls got together and sang our school's anthem while boys clapped, stomped, whistled, etc. And vice versa. 

All in all, children had a gala of a time making music today with absolutely no instruments! 

Who said we need instruments to make music? As long as we have our imagination, we can achieve anything!

Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool. 

​Children came running into the class after playing a very fun game of ‘Aim and hit’ using balloons. While the 2-3 year olds had used bats to hit the balloons, the 3-4 year olds had a challenge at hand – to hit the balloons using only their hands and not letting it touch the ground. They all seemed to love the game; screaming, running and chasing their balloons, trying to keep them afloat!

Later, when they gathered for circle time, the facilitator asked the children ‘Is it important for us to move our body and play?’ All of them agreed in unison, ‘Yeeees!’ However, there was one voice that said ‘No!’.
F : Oh! N says it is not important for us to move our body.
V (looking at N) : No, it is good.
Av :  It is good only!
F : Why is it good?
V : Because it make us healthy..and and strong.
F : Yes! And how do you think our body feels when we move it?
Ad &V :Haaaappy!
F : What do you think N? Should we move our body to stay healthy?
N : Yes!

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This small conversation is an example of how children as young as 3 year olds are capable of peer intervention! When children understand the why, what and how of their learning, it gets deeply imbued in their minds and shapes their values and views of the world.

Contributed by Disha, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global School

The Calves, our 3 year olds class, and I started our story time one day in August. Little Engine was the story we picked and all of us sat down in a circle to listen. For our story time, we have a wall full of emotions where children can identify and relate to what the character is feeling as the story progresses. 

Throughout the Little Engine story, children constantly ran over to relate to the emotions. Over the course of the story, children constantly connected with the Little Engine that was stuck in the middle of nowhere as it couldn't go up the mountain to deliver the toys it had promised to the children. Here's how the discussion went:

H (points to the thinking face): It is thinking about going, is stuck. 
(She was talking about how to get the train unstuck, from the train's perspective)
Av: It's scared and shocked. Another big train is coming on the track. 
S: It's happy ma'am. 
F: Why is it happy?
S: Because it's going to give toys to children. 
Aa: Crying, the big engine is not helping it. 
K: Sad. Because the storm is coming. 

Today a child came crying to school. It is not a usual sight at our school so naturally all the children stared at her and didn't know what to do - the loudness, the distraction, the helplessness...it was all evident in each of their faces. Once she settled, they all came around for their Welcome Song.  As the facilitator was calling her to the group, everybody was staring at her wondering what she was going to say. Eventually, she told everybody that she doesn't want to join in, she wants to stand alone. Children understood that but instead of ignoring her...they did something magical. One by one, all of them started to walk towards her and gave her a hug, which culminated in a group her. They stood with her until the facilitator asked all of them to come back. They held her gently unlike their usual group hugs that are very driven, loud and fast.  She was brought in with love and gentle affection. She was moved, she joined in.

Children know when to be gentle and kind to one another and it's a very important quality to have and to build within. For this class, we have been working on awareness and connection to emotions, expressing and understanding them in each other as well as being friends with all your classmates. Hence, the sensitivity that children showed - no one laughed, no one ignored, they were all very gentle. Then, the collective synergistic action they took together to bring her in - again with no verbal exchange between each other. All of it shows that something magical is happening in the class of my 3 year olds.

As parents, teachers, neighbors, friends, and anybody, let's help cultivate kindness and empathy among children, so that they nourish both themselves and others around them. But first, let's cultivate the same within us so that we can show them how to build it within themselves, and emerge stronger than they already are.

Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool.
Reviewed by Sreeja Iyer, CEO, Sparkling Mindz Global

​It was one morning in preschool where the 4 and 5 year olds were reflecting on their previous day’s nature walk. It was Sara’s turn to present to present her reflections. 
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She started, “We went into a golden deep forest and saw a shiny red bird..."

"...with shiny eyes, shiny nose, shiny hair and shiny dress. I played with it. Then it took me on its back and flew around. We went through the mountains and over the sea. All my friends played with it too”
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Each child takes away from an experience different things based on their own curiosity and imagination. Who could have thought that a park could be deep golden forest in a child’s imagination?

When children express their imagination in different ways and are respected for what they say, they start to develop their unique voice and speak up with confidence.  To kindle their imagination the environment as a third teacher plays a pivotal and valuable role in their lives as they explore their imagination through interaction, creation, movement etc.

Contributed by Grace Veronica, Facilitator, Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool

T, a 3 year old, came to the facilitator every day for weeks requesting for help to open and close her water bottle.

T: "Open please"
F: "Why don't you try?"
T: "No, you."

After a few times facilitator helping her open her bottle, she finally opened it all by herself with a lot of her strength. Both the facilitator and T were overjoyed and elated by the act of her opening the bottle all by herself! 

F: "Oh amazing! WOW!!"
T: Smiling widely than ever, "Yeah!! Now close", and hands the bottle to the facilitator. 
F: "Why don't you try to put the bottle on the floor and try pressing on the cap with all your strength?"

T did as she was suggested to, and figured out that she can now open and close her water bottle all by herself! She looked like she had just achieved something great that she'd being trying to do for a long time, like there was a new-found confidence about her where she felt like she could achieve anything that she puts her mind to.

Just because she opened her bottle doesn't mean she understood that she could close it too. Children take multiple problem solving successes sometimes to learn that they are capable of solving their own problems and taking ownership at their level. Many a times as adults who work with children at home  or in schools, we treat the children as kids who need help in every little thing and do the work for them without demanding ownership or using it as an opportunity to teach problem solving. Building independence in each child is a key factor to their development as it is to ours.

Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool.

The 3 year olds class is having snacks, it's around 10.30am. The children have a place where they usually keep their water bottles to pick up during the day in the class. Ab is drinking water from his water bottle at the table and keeps it on the table itself. Av takes Ab's water bottle from the table, very graciously returns it to the window. Ab, confused by his bottle being moved tries to take it back, perhaps he was not done yet. Av just continues to move it further on the window where everyone's bottle was kept as if telling Ab, "this is where it should go". Unable to understand Av's intentions and thoroughly frustrated by now, Ab gets upset and starts crying. Maybe, Ab didn't like the intrusion into how and where he kept his water bottle and Av was more concerned about returning things to their rightful place.

F: Why don't you talk to Ab about what he is doing and that you are not liking it?

This didn't work. Ab did not stop crying and no amount of conversation seemed to be helping. Av struggled to see the impact of his behavior on Ab and Ab struggled to see the positive intention behind Av's action.

An who was sitting and watching all of this, seemed to have sensed and understood Ab's discomfort. She takes the water bottle from the window and gives it to Ab letting him have it back on the table.

She is not done yet; she runs to get a tissue and hands one over to Ab to console him too!

In this scenario, what An did was extraordinary where she showed an incredible amount of empathy to understand both the emotion and the intention. An took the initiative to solve the problem too and go over and above to show care. Ab was not communicating much yet, hence, An's efforts and thinking on the feet seemed even more exceptional.

Many a times, children seem to mimic a caring behavior from home. But thinking on your feet to solve a classmate's problem needs empathy in good measure.

When we as facilitators and responsible adults who work with children learn to observe these nuances, cultivate and nurture them is when we create an empathetic generation.


Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool.