Considering the Child Perspective

Children's social development is growing immensely at this age, this can make the transition to preschool challenging for children as they discover and navigate the social context of their new classroom community (Recchia & Dvorakova, 2012).

Imagine, in your toddler classroom you:

trust the adults who care for you
are a member of a classroom community
know the routine, rituals, and expectations
feel safe and in control of your setting
have established peer social relationships
are turning 3 soon, you are the BIG kid in your classroom!
get to move and adjust from activity to activity whenever you choose too

You begin to transition to your new classroom; a classroom community with new faces and different from your toddler classroom community...

Imagine, entering this new space you:

do not yet know or trust the adults who will be caring for you
are adjusting to new routines, rituals, and expectations (which are so different)
feel unsure of this new classroom community
are trying to establish new social relationships
are 3 now, but instead of being the BIG kid, you are the youngest child!
notice that behavior expectations are different and your not quite sure about all of this change!

So what supportive steps can provide a bridge and foster smooth transitions for children, families, and educators?

Individual child and family questionnaire to start relationship building (Turunen, 2012).
Child developmental considerations
Scheduled visits to setting (both child and family)
Share info on daily routines, expectations, etc. in advance
Consider child relationships with current educators and peers, how can this be honored (visits, etc.)
Consider photo collages as a way to honor all relationships (Bacigalupa, 2015).
Transition Events: such as meet and greets, family fun nights, etc (Grant & Ray, 2019).

Check out the links and resources to support the best practices listed above

Photo Collage link:

Early Childhood Transitions; Supporting Children and Families

Sample Questionnaire/Google Forms

Preschool Prep: How to Prepare Your Toddler for Preschool