How Do You Teach Manners In The Preschool Classroom?

Hey there! Ever wondered how to navigate the delightful chaos of a preschool classroom while instilling those all-important manners? Teaching manners in the preschool classroom is like planting seeds for a garden of kindness. Let’s explore easy, fun ways to nurture little hearts in the art of politeness.

Children are like sponges. They soak up everything around them quickly. Good manners need to be taught and shown by parents and other adults who live with them from an early age. Teaching manners in the preschool classroom is an important topic for teachers and parents. Therefore, this article is all about teaching manners to preschoolers. 

So, how do you teach manners in the preschool classroom? When a child enters preschool, manners are a critical element of a child’s education, and there are plenty of benefits of teaching good manners to children. You can teach manners in the preschool classroom through games, stories, songs, activities, and role play.

Additionally, Children should know why they need to learn good manners, as understanding is the key to good and positive behavior. Teaching your children manners will positively affect both their personal and social lives. They will attract friends who enjoy being around positive, well-mannered people with good manners.

Accordingly, in this article, I have covered what classroom manners are in the preschool classroom, whether manners can be taught to kids, how to teach manners in the classroom, and tips to teach manners in the classroom.

Let’s get started and learn more about this important topic.   

What Are The Classroom Manners In The Preschool Classroom? 

Before getting into how you teach manners in the preschool classroom, it is important to identify basic manners that we would teach pre-schoolers. In a child’s preschool years, manners play a critical role in the child’s life and education.

This is the exploring age of a pre-schooler. Pre-schoolers can learn manners in the preschool classroom and at home as a daily routine. Keep reading this segment and learn about the manners that should be taught to a pre-schooler in the classroom. 

• Polite phrases like, Please, Thank You, and Excuse Me  

These words are the basics of good behavior and communication skills. Use these words often in the classroom and encourage children to use them as well.

Preschool time is the perfect time to start basic conversation skills. Teaching ethics to have a conversation and how to ask questions politely is very important. So, these magical words should be used from the preschool age.

• Meet and Greet: 

When children meet their friends, they can start the day with “Good morning.” And if there are other greeting methods in their culture, they can use them, such as with a handshake in the US. This should be practiced well in preschool.

• Basic Table Manners

This one is an important manner that a pre-schooler must have. They should learn basic table manners like chewing with their mouth closed, not talking with food in their mouth, placing their napkin in their lap, the correct way of using cutlery, etc. 

• Party Manners

This expands the child’s horizon a little bit further. Enjoying it is important at this age. Organizing a classroom party shows how important good manners are. They should have manners in greetings, sharing, how to have a conversation, basic grooming skills, table manners, etc.

Can Manners Be Taught To Kids? 

Yes, manners can be taught, which is a major part of how you teach manners in the preschool classroom. Teaching children manners is more crucial than ever in this technology-driven society.

But, it is one of the most important responsibilities of parents and teachers. Teaching manners would help children develop their social skills, show them how to interact with people, and teach them to treat others with respect and kindness. 

Parents can use occasions such as holiday gatherings, family dinners, or going to the grocery store to teach good manners to children. This must become a part of their lives. Therefore, it can be seen that manners can be taught to kids in school and at home. 

Also, it is worth mentioning that students learn manners from people around them whether they are teaching them or not. So, don’t worry about teaching every manner to your children, but remember they are always watching you!

How To Teach Manners In The Classroom? 

It is crystal clear that manners are very important for a child. But how do you teach manners in the preschool classroom? Here are some ways you can guide your child towards good manners.

• Way to teach “Table Manners”

You can host a tea party to teach your students how to sit down to eat and use proper table manners. Make them write creative invitations for another group of students in the classroom.

When guests have arrived, teach them how to set up a mock table, plates, silverware, napkins, and food to practice these table manners. 

Teach through each expectation of table manners with students. For example, teach students how to use proper ‘table voices.’ Define the term, then allow students to practice it well.

When they are perfect on it, you can move on to ‘How to ask for something to be passed.’ Practice these table manners in several short sessions.  

When any special day arrives, allow students to dress up and greet guests at the door. And remember to assign one student to each guest. This way, you can find an easy solution to the question of how you teach manners in the preschool classroom.

• Teaching manners through “Role Play”

When you teach a specific good manner to the children, let students act it out in a role-play. They can show how the manners are used improperly and then ask the ‘audience’ to help them to do it properly.

As an example, if you just taught students how to greet a stranger properly, students may role play this scene and say ‘Hello and nice to meet you?’ to the stranger. Then, when they meet another stranger again, they greet properly as they already have the practice.

Further, if you acted out both the wrong and right way, students would compare both scenarios and understand what is right and wrong.

• Card Games

Make ‘Good Manners Cards’ to play various games with your students. For example, cut images from magazines to make matching cards. Such as one set of cards may be on telephone manners, like how to answer the phone politely.

A card may include an image of a telephone, and the other matching includes a related phrase like ‘May I please speak to ……..?’. It will be a fun and effective method to teach good manners to children.

• Be a good example

Instead of teaching, be a good example to children. Children will learn by watching you. So, it is important to consider your behavior. Such as do you say thank you? Do you speak respectfully and politely to your children and others around you?

Evaluate your manners and make adjustments if necessary. So your children can use you as a role model to learn good manners.

Tips To Teach Manners In The Preschool Classroom

As parents, teachers, or caregivers, helping our children how to interact politely in everyday situations is one of the most important tasks.

But how do you teach manners in the preschool classroom? Remember, the key is to start early and be consistent. And read the following tips to have a clear answer. 

• Use polite language

This is the foundation of good manners. The easiest tip to teach children to say please, thank you, you’re welcome, and excuse me is to make sure they frequently hear you using those words in the classroom.

By setting a good example, children will start using polite words without being taught. Also, remember that children cannot filter what to say and what is not to say. Sometimes they may also say that they don’t like a meal or a gift in front of the person who gave it.

When children are growing up, they will learn to think before speaking. But explain that speaking unkindly can be hurtful to that person. Teaching empathy is a good tip as it is connected with many other good manners.

• Be consistent and patient

Children need time to learn something new. So, learning manners can take time. Also, remember to praise children when they use a good manner.

When they forget to use it, they patiently point out that they need to use the appropriate word or behavior.

• Tell Stories

You should not preach manners every day. Children get frustrated by it. So you can teach good manners in cool ways. There are simple and interesting books with stories about manners.

These stories will embed with children and help them remember to do what you are advising. Stories that each child is interested in can be used for this. Maybe it’s at a tea party of princesses or about knights.

Those will keep kids intrigued enough to pay attention to your lessons about good manners. This will be an effective solution to how you teach manners in the preschool classroom.

• Put It To Music

Normally, children love to make body noises. Many sounds are not coming from their mouths but from their bottoms. It is not a good manner in public.

However, adding a manner lesson along with the song will be effective. They will remember the manner when the song is well-practiced. 

Conclusion

Children need to practice good manners to be successful in their lives. If kids are not learning good manners at home, at least they should be taught at school.

Otherwise, the kids without manners will lose out in society and never know why. As responsible people around children, we owe children to teach them good manners.

Someone needs to tell them how important good manners are, which will help them get and keep friends, family, and jobs. Hopefully, this article will help you to teach good manners to pre-schoolers.