Children and clothes
Now that you know how to give children an understanding about their physical needs and how to meet them, it's time to plan some experiences that involve these issues.
Create some new experiences for your Resource File. Add at least one experience for each of the following age groups:
- 0 - 2 years
- 2 - 3 years
- 3 - 5 years
- 6 - 12 years.
The experiences you design may be group activities or one-on-one activities. They need to teach the children about one of the physical needs that we've covered:
- healthy eating
- exercise
- hygiene practices
- safety.
You can find a Learning experience format template for your Resource File on the Cybertots Intranet under Forms, Resource File.
Although it's generally the child's parents who provide the clothes to wear, it's our responsibility to ensure that as conditions change so does the child’s clothing requirement. For example, at certain times of the year weather can be unpredictable - What starts out as a very cold morning can soon turn in to a very warm day. It would be inappropriate and uncomfortable to leave a child in a thick warm coat all day in these circumstances. Therefore we must constantly consider the environment and change a child’s clothing to suit their needs.
Older children may be able to choose what they prefer to wear, and if appropriate we can encourage them in their decision making or discuss other more appropriate alternatives.
It is suggested in most services that parents pack extra clothing for children, but there may be times when a child has exceeded the contents of their bag and requires extra clothing from the service.
When choosing clothing for children, come safety issues need to be considered. Clothing should be:
- easy to take on and off
- free from ribbons and bows, and things which may trap fingers and toes
- appropriate for the season and weather.
Think about how:
- all-in-one suits could cause children to slip if they are learning to stand or walk
- long pants protect children’s knees when crawling
- some clothing can restrict movement and discourage development
- jeans with buttons/belts (or overalls) may be tricky for children who are being toilet trained to remove so they can access potty/ toilet.
You can find out more about dressing and undressing children by reading Dressing/undressing.
