Explaining about deafness to young children first involves teaching them about what ears do. They may never yet have made the connection between their ‘ears’ and ‘hearing’. So you need to begin by talking about ears and the different sounds you can hear.
Once the children have made the connection between ‘hearing sounds’ and their ‘ears’, then you can introduce the concept of ‘deafness’ and what it might be like if your ‘ears were broken’ and you couldn’t hear any sounds.
Finally you can introduce sign language which is how deaf people talk. There is a sign for every word. You can teach the children some simple signs – one of the best ways to do this is to teach them the signs for some songs so that you can sign along while you sing.
What are the key points I should tell the children?
- We use our ears for hearing. Deaf people can’t hear. It’s like their ears are broken.
- Some deaf people wear a hearing aid to make the sounds louder so they can hear them.
- Deaf people sometimes speak using sign language.
Products that can help you to explore deafness
Childminding Best Practice Club
Join the Childminding Best Practice Club and get monthly toolkit containing themed activities emailed to you. The toolkits also contain a wealth of other ideas and resources including CPD ideas, inspection support and a themed section every month containing things like crafts, invitations to play ideas, resources and colouring sheets. Best Practice Club members also receive a useful. ‘New Members Welcome Pack,’ containing lots of other resources and a 25% discount off other Welly Wren products.
Diversity Awareness Pack
Printable diversity craft projects and printable diversity colouring pages to help childminders to teach 20 diversity topics including disability, religion, race, families and multicultural holidays including St. Patrick’s Day. The pack includes a section dedicated to activities you can use to teach children about deafness.
See also: Wheelchair users and blindness
