Transition resource

As children move on to new things, they may find it difficult to cope with situations that are strange or unexpected. With this in mind, we have developed some activities that will help you make the unfamiliar feel more comfortable and manageable.

To prepare children for transition

Talk about the impending changes well in advance then try these activities:

Activity 1

Ask the children to bring in some family photos of themselves and their grandparents (now and when they were children), or for the children to draw pictures of the other children doing activities in the new school in their new uniform.

Discuss how change happens and what they can look forward to as they get older.

Activity 2

Play a language game where you begin to tell a story about going to a new school and encourage the children to add to it.

To acknowledge that transition involves replacing something familiar with something new

Help balance the loss of the old with anticipation of the new.

Activity 1

Make an autograph book out of paper. Ask the children to decorate it with a drawing of them in their new school uniform. Then pass it round the class for other pupils to sign and add funny stories or pictures.

Activity 2

Encourage the child to talk about a new school they have visited. Select something all schools have in common, for example the playground, and encourage the child to draw a picture of it, adding in themselves and their new friends.

To celebrate your work together

Find an opportunity to identify shared memories and reflect on successes and challenges.

Activity 1

Make a collage, e-book or DVD using photos of work and activities you’ve done throughout the year.

Activity 2

Ask the children to think of all the things they have done in school this year and choose their favourite one to share with the class.

To build life skills and emotional resilience

Focus on the development of life skills including emotional resilience, empathy and the ability to ask for help and support when necessary.

Activity 1

Read the children a story which features a challenging situation.  Let them provide the ending, either in a written form or as a drawing.

Activity 2

 As a group activity plan and make a large sculpture. 

To see transition as a personal development opportunity

Help them understand that experiencing adversity can contribute to their personal development; that without challenge in our lives, we may never learn how resourceful and resilient we are.

Activity 1

Ask the children to create a superhero that faces challenges and then select some scenarios for their hero to solve.

Activity 2

Create opportunities for play that involve making choices and responding to the feelings of others. This could be a role-play around ‘my first day at new school’, or select several different activities that the children could do and support them to discuss and choose between them which one they should do. Encourage children to share why they would prefer to do particular activity and their feeling about the others.