Follow their Lead and Co-Construct Activities with Children:

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1. When you notice that children are interested in a particular topic (e.g., dinosaurs), create pretend play activities, drawing/writing activities, and other creative ideas WITH children.

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2. For example, you could pretend to see a dinosaur out the window! The children will soon join you and have lots of fun pretending they see dinosaurs too.

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3. Then you can say, "what should we do?" (co-construct the pretend play setting with them). They may say, "let's hide!". So then you run under a table and hide. You could really have fun and ham it up with them. They will love this! 

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4. Then add something. You may ask them what their dinosaurs look like. This will generate lots of conversation - even from the more 'reluctant' ones.

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5. Then you may add a drawing activity and ask them if they want to DRAW their dinosaurs.

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6. Then you could name their dinosaurs and model how to write by listening carefully to the sounds in the words you are printing.

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7. Keep asking the children what you should do next. You may end up deciding to have a dinosaur party! This party could take weeks to plan. The idea is that when we follow their lead and co-construct activities with the children, we make it way easier for children to express themselves through their words, bodies, and materials.

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