Hands are not for Hitting

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While reading the story, demonstrate the suggestions throughout the book: handshaking, clapping, blowing kisses, pointing, etc. Children can practice what we can do with our hands. This material was developed by the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning with federal funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (Cooperative Agreement N. PHS 90YD0119). The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nor does mention of trade names, commercial projects, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. You may reproduce this material for training and information purposes. Created in response to requests from parents, preschool teachers, and childcare providers, this book belongs everywhere young children are. Includes tips for parents and caregivers. Hands are for greeting and communicating. You can wave to a friend. There are many friendly ways you can use your You can draw pictures or write hands to communicate. words. You can shake hands. Try it now. Shake hands with the person next to you.

There’s some thing hands are NOT for. How does it feel when someone hits? Hands are not for hitting. Hitting isn’t friendly. It hurts a person’s body. It hurts a person’s feelings, too. Hitting I’m Sorry.

Idea of the Day: How Hands Are Not for Hitting

As a story review, ask the children “What can you do with your hands?” As the children’s answer, write or draw a picture to make a class list of “what our hands can do.” The children can also demonstrate what their hands can do and you can take photographs of the children in action. The photographs can be added to the class list and posted.

This book explains all the things hands can be used for and also explains that hands are not for hitting. There are moments of interaction, asking kids to tap a beat or clap or high five.

Hands are for helping. There are many ways you can use your hands to be a helper. How do you make yourself handy? Music: Sing and use gestures top the song “Skinamarinky Dinky Dink”: Skinamarinky dink, Skinamarinky doo, I love you. Skinamarinky dinky dink, Skinamarinky doo, I love you. I love you in the morning, and in the afternoon. I love you in the evening, and underneath the moon. Skinamarinky dink, Skinamarinky doo…I LOVE YOU (I really mean it), I love you too! This booklet about hitting can be personalised to specifically support individual students. For a some students, dealing with frustrations are not easy and this can manifest itself in behaviours such as hitting. This social situation identifies alternative calming strategies that can be used when students begin to feel frustrated or angry and want to hit others. You can easily add the student's name and details and also include their preferred method of calming. Read the booklet regularly, specifically prior to identified times of difficulty such as outside play. Designed to be inclusive, Twinkl Social Situations use positive language to re-affirm that is it OK to have different feelings, and gently guide students to potential ways they can deal with them. What are Social Situations?

While reading the story, have children talk about how they might feel when someone hits them. Help them problem solve by coming up with solutions of what they can do instead of hitting. Write feelings and solutions on a chart. Art: Have the children go to easel painting in pairs. Tie the paint brushes together so that they can create a painting together. Talk about how it makes them feel to try to paint a picture together (happy, silly, frustrated, mad, etc…) After a while, you’ll feel better. How do you use your hands to play? When that happens, you and your hands can play again. Hands are for all kinds of playing.There are other ways to let your feelings out. Can you think of more ways to let your feelings out? My hands help me turn out the light. My hands help me turn out the light. My hands help me turn out the light – good night; my hands help me turn out the light. Introduce the concept of the day by having the children think about the many different ways we use our hands to talk. Recall from the story the ways our hands can talk: hands wave hello and goodbye, hands shake when meeting, hands draw and write, they gesture “come here” and they point, clap, count, hug, give high-fives, make a promise… Discuss how we can also talk with our hands using sign language. Demonstrate a few simple signs or show photographs and have the children imitate the signs. Encourage the children to try to use signs throughout the day to request “food”, “all done” or “more” We read this one with my toddler because he was starting to hit when he got frustrated with us. I am happy to report that this book definitely did help with the problem. Now when we see him getting ready to lash out, we say, "What are our hands for?" and he usually comes up with something from the book as a response. Not too shabby!