Activities Promoting Friendship Between Children
Establishing friendships as a child is an integral part of social and interpersonal development. Often the friendships that people make in childhood stay with them through adulthood. Children make new friends at school, and parents and teachers can introduce activities and other ways to promote friendship between children.
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Cooperative Learning Classroom Activities
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Effective communication skills are the key to friendship. In the classroom, teachers should promote acceptance and friendship between students. One simple way to promote friendship is to use the "buddy system" and paired learning activities. Cooperative learning activities such as group projects and group problem-solving equations promote friendship and teamwork. Tolerance and teamwork are a large part of the academic and professional worlds, so learning to communicate and befriend others is an important skill for children to learn.
Clubs and Sports
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Team sports foster a sense of camaraderie. Clubs and sports bring children together for an activity and common interest. This way of promoting friendship is even more effective than classroom activities because children already have a common interest in the club or sport. The recreational atmosphere of clubs and sports allows children to relate to each other in a non-academic, organic way. For older children, joining sports teams and Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts are appropriate options.
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Arrange Play Dates
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Placing children in an environment with other children acclimates them to being social. Children discover many aspects of socialization from play. By playing in the sandbox and at the park at a young age, children learn that interaction with others is a part of life. Parents can encourage their children to make new friends by exposing them to a social atmosphere such as the park. Also, parents can arrange play dates with other parents from school or child care. As children grow up, they will likely arrange their own play dates after school.
Lead by Example
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Children learn a lot of their socialization skills at home. Parents who have friends and often spend time with other adults naturally encourage friendship-making by setting a good example. School and home are the two main places where children learn their socialization skills. Parents who arrange activities for adults and children of different families to gather, promote friendship by example. Parents can accomplish this by hosting a barbecue, a movie night or a group trip to a museum.
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