Location: indoor

Materials: none required

Show & Share provides a wonderful opportunity for children to build their language and vocabulary, practice asking questions, and build their memory.

If you have mostly 3-4 year olds, your Show & Share can probably be pretty straight forward: children taking turns sharing an object or idea, while the rest of the class asks questions.

But what if you have mixed ages? How can you make a Show & Share work? Here are some ideas:

• Start off by modeling Show & Share yourself. Bring an interesting object (or multiple objects!) to circle that you can let the kids touch and explore. Share information with your kids about what it is, why it's important, etc., and answer any questions they have about it.
• Only have one child share at a time. Your circles are probably short and sweet. Rather than trying to have multiple kids share in the same day, only have one child share.
• Be the narrator. Your toddlers will probably be excited about Show & Share even if their language isn't sophisticated enough to be the ones doing the sharing. You can fill in the language for them, while the child demonstrates how to use the item.
• Try another time of day. Maybe you can Show & Share during snack time. Or do Show & Share during outdoor play time and let kids come to you. Show & Share doesn't have to only happen at circle, so think about another time of day that might work for you.