Teaching Sequence

15 minutes

Tune In: Watch the episode

30 minutes

Find Out: Nature-based play to develop friendships

20 minutes

Take Action: Take it further

Tune In: Watch the episode

Step 1.

Begin by watching the Bluey episode Barky Boats.

Bluey 'Barky Boats' - ClickView (https://clickv.ie/w/j7lx)

Barky Boats synopsis: Bluey and Mackenzie are excited to spend time with their two buddies, but when the older kids run off and play without them, Calypso has to explain that growing up can be hard.

Step 2.

Reflect on the episode with children using the following prompts

How do you think Bluey felt when she met up with her buddy?
Did Bluey's feelings change when they were playing together?
How did Bluey and Mackenzie help each other?
What were the two buddies talking about? Did they have worries of their own?
Did Bluey and Mackenzie become better friends?

Using questions that prompt 'I feel...' thoughts for children begins a journey of expressing their feelings and showing empathy towards others to develop social and emotional skills. 'I feel...' thoughts are often based on emotions from the heart. They are a great way to talk about feelings and create an opportunity for children to think about how others may feel in certain situations, fostering empathy.

For more evidence-based advice on developing oral language in children, click here.

Find Out: Nature-based play to develop friendships

There are many different skills in friendship, which are formed over time, often in different friendship experiences they encounter or by watching other children, teens and adults. Guidance from parents, carers and educators is important during these formative times. The lessons of friendship are navigated with emotions and feelings.

Find out more about friendship here.

Step 1.

Encourage children to work with someone they haven't played with before or for a while (not their usual friend). This can be a challenging experience, so make sure to encourage the children to find a ‘new friend’ for this activity. Be supportive as the children do this, as some can feel unsure and vulnerable. Celebrate the new partnerships that have been formed.

As educators, we have an important role to play in the social and emotional development of children, especially in the area of friendship and getting along. Some children find it easy to find and make friends, while for others it can be a brave new experience. In this activity, we encourage children to play with others to build confidence in themselves.

Step 2.

Let the children know that they will be playing a game just like the one they saw in the episode with their new friend.

Take the children outside to find natural things like bark, leaves or other natural items that will float like a boat. Or provide the natural materials that you have found for the children to use. Once each child has selected an item to use as a boat ask them to come and sit together with their new friend.

Step 3.

In the water-play area give the children plenty of time to float their natural boat. Make sure the children work together with their new friends and that they are sharing the experience together. Give the children some small supported activity ideas to work on.

Ask the children if they can:

Get their boats to float together. Can you get them to sit side by side?
Help each other fix their boats if one sinks.
Work together to try and make a new barky friendship boat together.

These small activities encourage creative nature-based play. They invite the children to work together in small supported ways, highlighting non-competitive approaches and nurturing the values of friendship: being kind, sharing and helping each other.

Some notes on keeping the conversation going
It’s not always easy to keep the conversation going with a group of young children (although sometimes the opposite is true!). One way of ensuring great conversations is to develop a culture of expectations around your dialogues. For example:

Encourage children to identify the problem. You can do this by asking “what’s the problem?” or “what happened?”. In this way you allow the topic to be opened up for further discussion as well as encouraging children to share their own thoughts and ideas.
Connect to personal experiences. In your talking times, try to create the space and time to link conversations to children's own experiences. Children are more likely to contribute to the discussion if they can relate to the experiences being discussed.
Ask the children to share for their partner or group. This interaction changes the child's own focus and places it on the partner or friend. This is a powerful way to begin to extend the early learner to thinking of others, developing listening skills and sharing their experiences.
Be sure to encourage ideas and opinions; this helps children to understand that their contributions are valued.

Find out more about supporting oral language development here and here.

Step 4.

Bring the children together at the end of the water-play time. Encourage each pair to show their boats, especially if they have created a new friendship boat together.

Ask each pair to describe the barky boat they made together. This can be done by asking each child to talk about their new friendship boat. This allows the children to connect to their friend and become involved in their creation.

Encourage positive supportive language and use these guiding questions to help:

How did you both make your friendship boat? Did you take turns?
How did you decide what it was going to be made of?
Did you have to listen to each other when you made your boat? How did you do that?

Step 5.

Allow the children time to return to the natural play setting and continue using the boats together with their new friends.

Take Action: Take it further

Option 1.

Challenge the children to plan and deliver ‘acts of kindness’ for each other. Use this as a way of talking about how friends make us feel and how we can be good friends.

Option 2.

Invite children to make their own boats from found natural objects. They could see if it floats. Can they send their boat to a friend? Or can they invite a friend to play with them?

Option 3.

What else can children make with the natural objects you collected for the boats? Encourage children to exercise their creativity with their new friend and make something new to play with using their natural materials.

Friendship - Making New Friends

Summary

Learning intentions

Activity Guides and Printables

Activity Details

Curriculum Mapping

Resources Required

Additional Info