5 Tips for Teaching Nursery

Before I was in the Primary Presidency I was in Nursery. For years. Before I got married, I was unofficially in Nursery, for years. I would skip Relief Society and help my mom in the Nursery before I met my husband and started attending the Singles Ward in the area.

I have a strong testimony of Nursery leaders. In many cases, a Nursery Leader is a child's first interaction with church as an individual. The only time this is not the case is when a child does not attend Nursery for whatever reason. Before they are 18 months, they hang out with Mom or Dad wherever they are during the second and third hours. Nursery has a special place in my heart, because it's the first opportunity we have as leaders and teachers to touch the lives of children and make church an enjoyable experience.

I realize that for many children, Nursery is not enjoyable at all. It's frustrating and sad because Mom left them and they're with complete strangers and they don't like it. I don't think it has to be like that! I believe there is a period of time where they don't want anything do with anyone other than their parents, but I do believe that period of time can be shortened (depending on the circumstances of course!).

So what works?

1. Strategic planning
2. Being prepared
3. Creativity
4. Flexible structure
5. Talk to the Primary Presidency

Those would be the four major tips I would give anyone who asked me. 

You want to plan the schedule for your Nursery based on what makes sense to you. There are tons of schedule samples out there to give you ideas, but pick something that works for you. Look at the children in your Nursery, their temperaments and needs, and figure out what you think will work best. Try to stick to it, and remember that if it doesn't work you can always mix it up.

Be prepared for snack times, lessons, singing times, etc. I know that it's easy to say, oh they're two, they don't need a lesson. But I strongly believe that a lesson in Nursery is so important. Even from a nonreligious stand point, they need to learn to sit still, and they need to learn that during a lesson that is what you have to do. The lessons don't have to be long and detail oriented, but they should happen. The manual, Behold Your Little Ones, is so great. It has so many helps and activities and ideas in it. I would make sure that before Saturday night (I'm totally guilty of it too!) the lesson gets read for Sunday and the activity is thought about. That way, if there is anything it calls for that you don't have at home, you can grab it while your out and about. I can't tell you how many times I have had to teach on the spur of the moment and I wish I had known so that I could have done one of the activities in there. Some of them only require bringing in brown paper bags, or yarn, but they're all really great and geared towards the age group. There are also plenty of blogs and websites that have created extra helps for you if want to use them. Make sure they go along with our gospel doctrine but use them! I promise you, the weeks you prepare a lesson, activity, handouts etc, the class will go more smoothly. The more prepared and excited you are about your lesson, the more they'll be into it. Again, you don't have to make it long, just make it good. :)

Creativity. This goes along with the point mentioned above, but sometimes you have to think outside the box to drive a lesson home, especially to two year olds. The more props you get them to hold, games you can get them to play, etc, the better off you all will be. They don't have long attention spans, so you have to mix it up. You have to aware of when they're getting bored of one thing so you can switch to the next.

By flexible structure, I mean that it's good for the kids to have expectations coming to class each week. They should know when they get in there they get to play for a little bit, then it's snack time. After snack we have lesson, etc. What I mean by it being flexible is that it's important to remember that the needs of your class are going to vary week by week. It's important to be sensitive to the needs as they change. If you have a new child, whether they've just turned 18 months or are an investigator or visitor, this is a new maybe scary experience. They may be okay for 10 minutes playing and not 20 minutes. You may want to cut play time short and offer snack early in order to keep them happy. Or you may want to allow them to skip snack and color while the other children eat. I believe that being sensitive to the needs of the child that needs it the most will benefit everyone in the long run. If you can prevent that child from having a tantrum, your more likely to not have other children throw fits as well.
Please keep in mind that sometimes it may be best to take the child to their mother, if none of this is working. This may not work all the time, when it gets to that point, getting the child to their parent is probably best for everyone. They can join everyone when they're feeling up to it.

It is so important to talk to your Primary Presidency. Let them know what your doing that works, if you need help, if you are struggling with something, keep the communication open. That is the best way for them to help you. They'll feel more involved in the Nursery, making it a high priority on their list (out of sight, out of mind sort of thing), they'll make sure you have what you need etc.

As I've mentioned before there are tons of websites and blogs that have posted things to help with Nursery and that age group. I have been pinning a lot of things on my pinterest account and want to weed through the good ideas and not so good ideas in the next few days. So look for that also! I've also been doing some research on how to post fullsize attachments to the blog so I can continue making handouts. So hopefully next week I'll be able to make a couple things for Nursery specifically. If you follow me on Bloglovin you can get my posts directly to your email, so you won't miss a thing. :) There should be a direct link on the right hand side.