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Regulation through Soccer!

It's been a long cold winter. With few chances to go outside and get some fresh air, many of the children were beginning to feel the effects of cabin fever. One child in particular was hit hard. As the winter dragged on, he became less and less able to control his emotions, both good and bad. Outbursts and meltdowns became a daily occurrence and the educators and his parents began to struggle to find ways to help him regain control.


One particularly hard day, we introduced Ready, Aim, Kick!, an activity from the APPLE Seeds Program. We were hesitant because kicking was one of his behaviours, but we decided to give it a try. He was so focused the entire time, willing to wait his turn, to share, and to keep practicing when he missed. However, when we returned to the classroom, his afternoon slowly went downhill. At the end of the day, bouncing off the walls, thoroughly upset and unable to regulate his reactions, another staff asked him to join in on a game of soccer. The more he played, the calmer he became. His kicks became less wild, he ran in circles less, he yelled less when he missed. By the time Mom arrived he was a completely different child.


The next day, when it got closer to the end of the afternoon and his actions started to become more erratic, we offered him the option of playing soccer when we got to the gym. Even without the actual ball in front of him, the promise of being able to play soccer was enough to help him calm his emotions down and focus through the rest of his afternoon. Now, it has become a staple in our daily play. We take balls with us to the backyard (as we share the space with other classrooms, this has presented new challenges with sharing that have to be negotiated, but this has been much more successful that it may have been in the past), we play with balls and targets much more often in our gym play, and we have tried to find ways to incorporate kicking and throwing games in our daily routine. The need to focus, aim, and follow through has given him an opportunity to slow his thoughts, to take things one step at a time, and as his competence and his confidence with these skills grows, I'm hoping that we'll be able to start to transfer these skills throughout activities throughout the rest of our day.


Contributed by Alissa O’Rourke

Happy House Daycare, Cold Lake AB

 

Alissa and Happy House Daycare are participants in the Physical Literacy Proof of Concept Study in Child Care Settings. She shared this story during one of our mentor meetings in April, 2019.

"Now, it has become a staple in our daily play...we play with balls and targets much more often in our gym play, and we have tried to find ways to incorporate kicking and throwing games in our daily routine."

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