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Interactions are a part of all our lives from the day we are born. It is essential to support children to cope with a variety of interactions. At Senschen we aim to provide children with a structure to understand fundamental social interactions. They will learn the identity of different interactions and how to plan and manage the interactions they have with others.
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Below are some techniques to develop Interaction Analysis skills.
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Try These...
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Identifying Interactions
It is important to encourage children to think critically about their interactions and classify them based on different characteristics, such as the type of relationship (family, friends, strangers), the purpose of the interaction (fun, work, learning), and the outcome of the interaction (positive, negative, neutral). This can help children develop their social skills and understanding of the complexities of human relationships.
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To make this activity more engaging, you can use different materials, such as stickers, blocks, or coloured cards, to help children visually sort and classify their interactions. You can also use this activity as an opportunity to discuss emotions and problem-solving strategies with children, by asking them to reflect on how they felt during different interactions and how they could have approached them differently.
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Body language games
Playing body language games with children can help them develop their observational and analysis skills, enabling them to become more effective communicators. Some examples of body language games include: pulling faces to portray emotions, playing charades with emotions, and role-playing with different body language characteristics.
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Roleplaying Learning and Leading interactions
Roleplaying is a great way for children to learn more about the variety of different interactions they may encounter in life. The exercises below encourage children to practice two basic roles in interactions, being a leader or a learner.
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Roleplaying leading an interaction - This can be done by giving children an objective in an interaction, such as persuading, being empathetic, or comforting. The child must use their skills to achieve the objective.
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Roleplaying learning during an interaction - This can be achieved by allowing a child to experience an interaction with a focus on skills like active listening, questioning, and reading body language. Test how much a child has learned from an interaction by questioning them about different elements of the interaction.