Real or Make-Believe?
Overview
Differentiating make-believe from reality as a prerequisite to understanding what “honesty” is.
Honesty
Age of Child: 3-6 years old
Area of Challenge: Differentiating make-believe from reality as a prerequisite to understanding what “honesty” is.
Type of Resource: Activity
ACTIVITY NAME: Real or Make-Believe?
ACTIVITY OBJECTIVE: To teach young children and pre-schoolers the difference between reality and make-believe as a prerequisite to teaching them about honesty.
ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION:
Three-year-olds have difficulty distinguishing between make-believe and reality, so find opportunities to reinforce the distinction. For example, when you are watching television together, point out which characters are not real such as dragons and witches or fairies. Make a memory game out of it by collecting pictures of these characters and pasting them onto cards. Make another set of cards from old family photographs. Shuffle the cards and turn them all face-down. Ask your child to guess whether the next card is a real person or a make-believe character. Then turn over the card and see if she can correctly identify it. Alternatively, make silly statements such as, "We live in a castle," and have her tell you whether the statement is true or not. Reward correct answers with points, stickers, or a chocolate chip.