Making Choices

Being able to make their own decisions without the support of an adult is a big part of growing up.

At school, children are asked and encouraged to make choices as well as communicating when they do or do not want to do something.

In the classroom, children might:

Choose which fruit/snack they would like.
Decide what toys they’d like to play with.
Decide where they’d like to play (e.g., inside or outside).

Involving your children when making decisions at home will help them be confident to voice their choices at school.

Top Tip

Asking your child to make choices about new or different things will also help them to try new foods, toys or stories.

Activities to Help Your Child

There are lots of fun activities you can do to help your child build their confidence at making decisions.

Try the activities below!

Daily choices

Think about when you could offer choices. Start with two choices and build it up as your child becomes more confident.

They could choose:

1. Their cereal bowl.
2. Between two pieces of fruit.
3. What clothes to wear.
4. Which pyjamas to wear at bedtime.

Junk modelling

Junk Modelling is an easy and cheap way for children to use their imagination.

Start by keeping any household items such as cardboard rolls, cereal boxes, yoghurt pots and old birthday cards/magazines. Let your child choose what they want to create or build. You could even brave the paints/ crayons to add some colour to their ‘robot’ or ‘spaceship’