Note: During the COVID-19 crisis, we are sharing original content with our community via social media in an effort to support families at home with their young children. We are republishing some of this content on our blog.
One of the skills that young children work on every day with us at school is developing their memory. As children develop their memory, they develop a sense of identity and are able to organize their thoughts and routines. Memory helps children to understand experiences and expectations in the world around them. Memory is one of those crucial skills that can easily be overlooked or underappreciated but is actually so critical to learning!
Here is one of the other great things about this skill: parents and family members are helping it to develop all the time without even realizing it!
During this time that we have had to be separated from our normal routines, supporting the memory development of young children can also be a way to support their resilience. One simple idea is to create a photo box with them. Print or collect some photos of the people your child loves. Ask them for their input and have them help to select the photos that will go in the box. When you build this collection (give yourself and your child some time to work on this project), sit with your child and talk about the family and friends who are featured inside the box. Share memories of each one. Talk about what you love about them. You can also add photos of experiences that are special to your child and then support them in reflecting on the fun they had.
In the classroom, we display photos of the children, our animals, and experiences that we want them to reflect on, like times that they were especially compassionate or moments when they accomplished something new. The children can spend a long time looking at the photos and talking about who's who and what they remember.
Fostering their memories in this way helps to support their language development, their imaginative play (they often want to recreate experiences or add something new and play with the details), and also helps to encourage desired behaviors as we reflect on the positive things they have done.