Explaining the importance of sleep to preschoolers can be quite challenging. As a teacher or parent, going against their impulse to play with friends or toys instead of napping in the afternoon or going to bed early at night can result to tantrums and scolding. Since they’re still incapable of understanding its role for their wellness and growth, you can consider the following tips as part of your magical sleep guide.

Why Sleep?

Explain the role of sleep in the language they know. You can use a storybook, some pictures, a puppet play or anything that will help you explain the following:

• A sleepy student finds it difficult to remember what the teacher says. He dozes off in class and misses the lessons. He feels too tired to play at the playground with the other kids.

• Sleep is important for gaining weight and growing tall. The brain needs to rest, the heart has to beat regularly and the body has to fight against sickness by having enough sleep.

• A child can get into trouble with his playmates as sleep deprivation affects mood. He gets easily irritated when he doesn’t get what he wants. Sleep simply makes him feels great.

• Lack of sleep can cause accidents and serious errors. A bus driver might meet an accident on the road or a cashier might make mistakes in counting out changes.

How Many Hours?

Count the number of hours an average person needs for sleeping. You can have a wall clock as your prop for this discussion. As you move the short hand in front of the class, let the students count from 1 to 8, with each number equivalent to an hour of sleep.

You can also explain that the younger a person is, the more sleep he needs. Ask someone to take the role of a two-month old baby and let him lie down and close his eyes in front of the class until he hears the number 18. Ask another student to act out as a mother and let her do the same until they hear the word 7 or 8. Here’s a table of average sleep needs from www.helpguide.org.

Average Need Sleeps
Age	Hours
Newborns (0-2 months)	12 – 18
Infants (3 months to 1 year)	14 – 15
Toddlers (1 to 3 years)	12 – 14
Preschoolers (3 to 5 years)	11 – 13
School-aged children (5 to 12 years)	10 – 11
Teens and preteens (12 to 18 years)	8.5 – 10
Adults (18+)	7.5 – 9

Sleep Activities

Ask the kids what they usually do at home before they sleep. You can even try some of the following in the classroom to spice things up:

• Storytelling – Some parents read a book to their kids before they go to sleep.

• Listening to lullabies – Music has a powerful way to make children have a sound sleep.

• Wearing the right clothes – Putting on loose and lightweight garments like pajamas and nightgowns brings sleep comfort.

• Brushing teeth – This protects the teeth from having cavities and the mouth from having bad breath when they get up in the morning.

• Correct sleeping position – Demonstrate what position is healthy for their body and where to put pillows for muscle comfort.

Others Ideas

Explain what dreams are all about. This is quite interesting for kids as they sometimes see themselves eating ice cream or going on an exciting trip to Disneyland while in slumber. Remind them that not all dreams are beautiful, though. They can sometimes wake up terrified and profusely sweating because of a nightmare.

For advance kids, you may talk about technical terms such as sleep talking, sleep acid reflux, sleep apnea, treatment for sleep paralysis and other sleep disorders and their medication.

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As a teacher moves from a general concept to specific details, it’s always helpful to make use of famous examples. Imagine a Halloween class about vampires. Don’t you think the Twilight series will enliven the atmosphere? If you’re a music teacher, you can talk about the changes in the music scene from Wolfgang Mozart to Elton John to Justin Bieber. If you’re a supply-and-demand teacher, you can bring up famous economists and their outstanding contributions once in a while.

The importance of covering famous people, events and things during classes can be summarized into three aspects.

Inspiration

Teachers can ignite inspiration in the class if they discuss the lives of famous people. The leadership of Martin Luther King can still be taken as an effective example of resolving issues on cultural indifference and violations of human rights. Talking about Steve Jobs and Bill Gates can inspire technology-intelligent kids to develop their computer and Internet interest and skills. Socrates’ way of questioning will remind students that curiosity will lead them to the path of wisdom and knowledge.

Appreciation of History

A chemistry teacher who jumps into discussion of the periodic table without explaining how it was derived is missing a lot. The students, especially those who detest science, won’t cherish the remarkable discovery at all. Narrating how Dimitri Mendeleev developed it would enable them to appreciate its importance in our daily lives. They may not stop grumbling when they try to memorize which elements are considered noble gases, metallic and non-metallic, etc. but at least they would understand its usefulness and they would realize that perhaps no other genius can arrange the elements as orderly as how famous chemists did.

Easier Explanation

When you coach a child to act as a villain for a school play and you find it hard to explain the kind of rage you’d love the scene to have, don’t you think a short description of Joker in Batman would help? When you teach basketball techniques, grabbing a picture of Michael Jordan and explaining how well he can manage the ball during crunch time will let kids visualize a difficult scenario in the court. If you want toddlers to remember the values of friendliness and positivism, show them a video of that eight year old adventurous Latina who always carry a purple backpack. They will certainly remember that helpfulness is all about famous Dora and friends.

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We all grew up with the notion that action speaks louder than words. Many people forget that famous revolutionaries in the past and leaders of today got their inspiration from spoken or written words. It is not a surprise that at present, we hang on to their every word and those that hit our nerves become the finest quotes we ourselves repeat over time. They serve as reminders of the things that we can accomplish, of our dreams to accomplish and of beautiful ideas to remember.

This is why most educators find it helpful to surround their students with quotes on education and quotes on success in the classroom. How do you choose which quotes to post? First, it all depends on what you are trying to communicate to your students. Do you want them to be more honest or accountable with their actions? Then choose quotes that talk about virtue of telling the truth. Do you want them to read more books? Quote your favorite authors or take quotations from famous literature. It also depends on the kind of subject you teach in the classroom. If you are a Science teacher, it would be good to motivate your students with sayings from Einstein or Marie Curie. Nobel Peace Prize laureates are also a good source of quotations for modern day acts of greatness.

Their written word endures for generations to come. The quotes transcend time and can be applied in all of life’s circumstances. What keeps us reading quotes is the wisdom we get and there is more where they came from. However, we must remember that quotes need not come from famous people. As teachers or educators, your students hang on to your every word and they quote you on a daily basis. There is nothing more motivating than learning and as each spoken word becomes notes, they also turn into knowledge that you will live with for a lifetime.

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