Did you know that
perspective-taking skills play a key role in children’s ability to
demonstrate sensitivity in relationships,
interpret and react to unwritten social rules, and
make sense of other people’s behavior? Try this playful, 10-minute activity to help your child improve their ability to take another person’s perspective!
Before you start the activity with your child, find a box that usually contains a familiar food item and fill it with something unexpected, without letting your child know. For example, you might replace the contents of a box of animal crackers with a pencil.1. Show your child the box and ask them what’s inside. They should say animal crackers. Now show them that it’s actually a pencil inside! Ask your child if they remember what they thought was in the box when they first saw it. Although the answer might seem obvious to us, many kids will say that they thought it was a pencil. This is normal!
2. Suggest playing with a sibling, friend, or other parent. Ask your child what the other person would think is in the box. If they say animal crackers, reinforce their answer by saying something like, “Because Maria hasn’t
seen the pencil yet, has she? She just saw the box, so she expects animal crackers!” If your child says the other person would expect to see a pencil, say something like, “Let's think about that. Maria came in and saw the box. What does the
box say is inside? Did Maria
see the pencil?” Breaking it down this way will help your child understand the process of seeing the experience from another person’s perspective.
3. Vary the materials you use to solidify your child’s understanding. Evidence suggests that children can learn to perform the activity with a single box and a single object well, but they might not be able to generalize to other situations, so try the exercise with a cracker box and paper clips, or a cookie tin and an eraser!
4. When appropriate, add another level of difficulty by using a blank box. Instead of using a familiar snack box, try using a leftover gift box, brown paper bag, or shoe box covered with paper. This encourages your learner to think about what could be in the box, as well as understand that the other person might have guesses that are different than their own. Because there are no “expected” contents, your child has to consider more variables at the same time.
Finally, encourage your child to have fun and to enjoy thinking “outside of the box” (at least figuratively!) and outside of their own perspective!
Comments
Post a Comment