Working with children before bed - goals and methods
Sleep is necessary to restore the baby's physiological and mental balance . According to sanitary and hygienic standards, its duration for children under 5 years old is 2 hours, for children under 7 years old - 1–1.5 hours.
Sleep is the basis of a child's health
In order for a child’s sleep to become a physiological habit, it is necessary to strictly follow the daily routine, down to every minute. Then, by the time the daytime rest begins, the child will be ready for it.
Many preschoolers have a thousand reasons not to fall asleep, so methodical work before daytime rest plays an important role. Its goals are:
- relaxation of children (reduction of anxiety and muscle tension),
- restoration of the normal state of the nervous system,
- relief of psycho-emotional stress,
- accelerating the process of falling asleep by creating a safe and comfortable environment.
To achieve his goals, the nap organizer faces a number of tasks that he has to solve every day:
- Preparing the room for rest. The best sleeping pill is cool air. The rest room should be cleaned and ventilated. In the hot season, it is recommended to open windows for ventilation (in the absence of drafts!) and while babies sleep.
- Monitoring children's readiness for sleep. Adults make sure that all children go to the toilet, wash themselves, wash their hands/feet, and change into clothes that are comfortable for sleeping.
- Creating a calm and relaxed atmosphere suitable for sleep.
The room where children sleep must be ventilated in advance.
Methodological organization of preparing children for bed
To achieve the assigned tasks, the teacher:
- determines a list of quiet games before going to bed,
- selects an appropriate calm musical accompaniment (for no more than 10–15 minutes), accompanied by a decrease in the tempo of speech, timbre and tonality of the voice,
- conducts a set of breathing exercises to improve the well-being of children,
- periodically organizes conversations with children about the importance of daytime sleep (this technique is more relevant for older and preparatory groups),
- makes a selection of fairy tales and stories on suitable topics.
These techniques can be used in combination, but for children of the first and second junior groups, who due to age get tired faster, and therefore need rest more than others, it is enough to turn on background music after lunch (while carrying out hygiene procedures, changing clothes) and reading fairy tales. For children in the middle group we add breathing exercises. In addition to their beneficial effect on the respiratory system, they also help develop correct sound pronunciation. This is a very important task for this age. This gymnastics is carried out 20–30 minutes after lunch. Older children can play a little quiet games before starting hygiene procedures.
Many psychologists deny the importance of daytime sleep, since such a regime, strictly observed in kindergarten, suppresses the individuality of children who do not want to sleep.
How to create favorable conditions for falling asleep
It is very important in what environment babies fall asleep. Set up for sleep:
- muffled light,
- closed curtains or blinds,
- pastel, calm colors of walls and ceilings,
- Fresh air.
Pastel colors of the environment, cleanliness and fresh air are the key to sweet sleep for babies
