About this activity
Ten greeting and farewell scripts: hi, hello, good morning, bye-bye, see you later, good night, nice to see you, welcome, how are you, I'm fine thanks. The last pair is the useful one — a greeting that gets a question back is where most young children stall, and having the answer ready is what keeps the exchange going.
How to use it in a session
Act them out rather than reciting them. Walk in the door and greet the child, and let them respond; a greeting produced to a card is a word, and a greeting produced to a person arriving is the skill. Practise the how are you and I'm fine pair as a unit, since a child who has only the greeting will freeze at the follow-up. Five minutes is a full pass for this age.
What to listen for
Watch the timing rather than the accuracy. A greeting produced after a prompt is a prompted response; one produced as the person arrives is spontaneous, and the difference matters more than which word was used. Notice whether the child greets different people differently — good morning to a teacher and hi to a friend is register, and it arrives later than the words do.
Carrying it home
Pausing in the doorway for a couple of seconds gives a greeting room to happen. Families move fast and the moment passes before a young child can produce anything, which reads as a child who does not greet rather than one who was too slow.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Preschool through first grade, where greeting routines are being established.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all ten cards play with no account.
- My child greets everyone repeatedly. What should I do?
- Work on the closing phrases — see you later, good night — which give the exchange somewhere to end. Repeated greeting is usually a well-reinforced skill without a stopping point.