Core Skills Analysis
Language and Literacy
- Uses clear spoken language to request play, showing emerging expressive vocabulary.
- Demonstrates listening comprehension by responding appropriately after the adult’s goodbye.
- Maintains eye contact and takes a conversational turn, indicating early pragmatic skills.
- Selects the phrase "I want to play with you" to convey desire, linking words with personal needs.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Shows awareness of the adult’s departure and the accompanying feeling of loss.
- Initiates social interaction with a trusted adult, indicating confidence in seeking support.
- Expresses a desire for companionship, reflecting developing attachment and peer‑relationship skills.
- Begins to negotiate a new play situation, demonstrating early coping strategies for change.
Understanding the World
- Observes social roles (adult, child) and the sequence of saying goodbye then greeting.
- Recognises that people can leave a space and still be available later, building temporal concepts.
- Learns the cultural norm of waving farewell, reinforcing shared social rituals.
- Starts to understand that play choices can be negotiated with others.
Tips
Encourage the child to explore feelings around goodbyes by creating a simple “goodbye‑and‑welcome” routine—wave, say a name, then invite a hug or high‑five. Use emotion cards to label how they felt when the adult left and how they feel now, turning the experience into vocabulary practice. Plan a short role‑play where the child and you act out different scenarios (e.g., a friend arrives, a friend leaves) to rehearse coping strategies and polite requests. Finally, integrate a joint art project where you both draw a picture of today’s play, reinforcing memory, language, and social bonding.
Book Recommendations
- The Goodbye Book by Todd Parr: A bright, reassuring picture book that helps toddlers understand saying goodbye and looking forward to reunions.
- Llama Llama Misses Mama by Anna Dewdney: Through rhyme and gentle illustration, this story shows a child's feelings when a caregiver leaves and returns.
- You Are My Friend by Maryann K. Cocca: Celebrates friendship and the joy of choosing to play together, perfect for encouraging social initiation.
Learning Standards
- EYFS Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSDE) – Understanding self, others and relationships (Code 1,2,3).
- EYFS Communication and Language – Listening and attention, speaking, and vocabulary development (Code 1,2,3).
- EYFS Understanding the World – Learning about people, places and the world (Code 2).
Try This Next
- Create an "Emotion Matching" worksheet where the child draws a face that matches how they felt when the adult left versus now.
- Set up a role‑play card game: one card says "Goodbye", the next says "Invite to Play"; children act out the sequence to reinforce social scripts.