Circle time woes?!

[5 Little Monkeys]

How old are your dck's? I don't do a structured circle time every day but when I do, I allow the under 2's to walk around and then every now and then pull them in again. The older kids know that they need to sit and listen and participate but for the most part they enjoy it so it's not a big issue. I have considered buying or making little seats for them...just a circle made out of material...that each child could have and sit on when its circle time.

What are you doing for circle time? Could it be that they are bored?

[torontokids]

The kids all sit on a mat which helps. I also start every circle with a song (I do a lot of instructions by song) and they run to grab their mats. I let the little ones walk a little bit but I found if I let it happen too much then things fall off the rails. The older kids are given a choice to either participate or sit out (not play with toys). I praise participation. We only do songs for our morning circle time and we do stories together before nap which I think helps with attention. I also kept toying with when I did circle and I have found that 8:30/8:45 works best for my group and they head for snack after circle then we go outside. I put stickers on a chart for participation for each kid which they love seeing if their name will get called.

I just started having a "dress up" circle time on Fridays which they loved. It happened pretty spontaneously as half the kids were playing with the dress up clothes right before circle so we got everyone all "dolled up" and did our circle.

[sunnydays]

I have special little mats with animal faces on them...the kids love sitting on them! But I don't force it at all. If the little ones want to wander off, they can. Mostly they want to stay though as they love circle time. For me, circle time is mostly songs and I alternate sitting and standing type songs (ex. head and shoulders is a good active one) and try to do lots of active songs. We also do ball rolling games and jumping games, etc. I think the key is to keep it fast, active and fun. If they are bored, maybe rethink what you are doing and leave things like storytime for another time of day.