Developing the skills of sympathy and empathy in young children

How can we encourage our younger pupils to engage in meaningful conversation with their classmates at break times and lunchtimes?

It is important that at break times and lunchtimes children are given not only the opportunity to socialise through play but also the opportunity to socialise through meaningful conversation in order to develop vital social skills, such as empathy and sympathy.

But, as with most things, in order to encourage something (particularly of this nature) the environment has to be just right. And in the case of encouraging meaningful conversation among young children, any distractions and interference from adults needs to be limited.

We have taken this notion into consideration and as a result have supplied many primary schools with our multi-coloured junior picnic table. It creates just such an environment through its small square design and smaller dimensions.

The multi-coloured junior picnic table invites children into conversation and maintains their attention due to the direction that the seats face and the number of conversations that can be had with the other (different) children sitting at the bench.

We also supply a number of benches designed for older children (bigger dimensions) with each portraying a different benefit of use so that you can create a playground environment that is best suited to your school and your pupils.

What’s more, the benches that we supply are often available in an array of colours (sometimes multi-coloured), so it is possible to create the environment that you want, perhaps by matching the colour of the benches to your school’s colours.

To see our wide range of outdoor seating for schools, please visit our website, or if you would like to talk about what might be suitable for your school, please do call 01280 701093.

Michael Barnes