If you have a preschooler who is not participating in cleaning up though, you can start singing about all of the friends who are cleaning up. The clean up song also gives a sense of community responsibility. It also gives direction as to what should be happening. It works well because it is up beat, which makes you feel like you should be up and moving doing something. The most popular transition song that exists is probably the clean up song. Have the helper of the day lead the line around the playground as they do the movement all the way back to the line and they continue all the way inside. Then, the helper of the day gets to choose a movement that all of the children will follow. You can make it fun by having everyone clean up and then line up behind the helper of the day. Unless outside time has been particularly tiring, you are likely to have at least a few grumbles when it comes time to line up to go back inside. If you are lining up to come inside you really need to make it fun. This will speed things up and give the older children a sense of responsibility. Have the older preschoolers help the younger ones after they are ready themselves. Then, once everyone is ready, you can have them all get into line. Leave books in each cubby for them to look at while they wait. If you are lining up to go outside for instance have the children sit in their cubbies once they are ready. It is important to limit the time preschoolers spend waiting in line. Sometimes it’s because they do not want to move on to the next thing, and sometimes it’s just having to be in a line at all. Lining up can be a source of stress for some preschoolers. Having a shelf that your preschoolers can use to put unfinished work that they can come back to later is also very useful in these situations. Without that five minute warning, if you have preschoolers working with recycled materials and glue to create structures or you have a preschooler who has just sat down to draw a picture for their Mom, they will likely be upset if they are suddenly expected to clean up. Either way, keep it consistent by always using the same signal for your five minute warning. You can do this by going around and telling each group of children that there are five more minutes until clean up, or you could do something as simple as turning off the lights briefly and then turning them back on. Giving a five minute warning for a transition gives your preschoolers a chance to finish up what they are doing. This will cause problems for some preschoolers and can lead to some major power struggles. GIVE A WARNINGĭo not move into a transition without giving your preschoolers a heads up that it is coming. Use the same transitions and keep the daily schedule consistent each day and you can have smooth transitions in your preschool classroom. If your students know the routine of the classroom it will simplify your transitions a great deal. BE CONSISTENTĬonsistency is key in preschool. They should not feel rushed or they will become stressed, which can lead to power struggles. There should be lots of time in between transitions in order to give the children plenty of time to engage in their activities. Since we know that transition times can be a source of stress for preschoolers, it makes sense to limit the number of transitions there are in the preschool day. It is especially difficult if they are unprepared for the transition.

They tend to get really caught up in what they are doing and it is hard to stop. Transitions can be very difficult for preschoolers at times.

The best preschool transitions will help your classroom run more smoothly by creating consistency and engagement.

Anychart transition time