Prerna Richards on Respectful Play

Prerna Richards has 38 years’ experience in the field of Early Childhood Education. Her education philosophy is grounded on play-based learning with an emphasis on social emotional development. Prerna is the recipient of the Susan Hargrave Trainer of the Year award 2020 and is a Registered master trainer with Texas State Early Childhood Trainer Registry. Prerna started her consultancy ‘Together We Grow’ to give educators and caregivers the resources they need to create responsive and joyful classrooms.

She is also a keynote speaker, behaviour coach and NAEYC consultant, and has given many presentations impacting the practice of thousands of educators annually.

In this interview, Prerna generously shares her decades of experience on how to create joyful, low-stress classrooms where children’s social-emotional development can thrive through respecting their natural play. She provides actionable advice like her “Connect Before You Correct” strategy – understand the child’s motives first by asking questions, don’t just jump to correcting behaviours.

Guiding educators on respecting play, Prerna explains how to observe four stages of play unfold naturally without hijacking or interrupting. Wait for invitations to join child-led play. When interest emerges, gently facilitate without peppering with questions. Celebrate accomplishments without over-praising.

Helpfully, Prerna shares her “KLFF” method for being Kind, Loving, Firm and Fair with students by clearly explaining expectations and consistently following through. She suggests making learning playful and fun, using imagination like magic potions, puppets and competitions.

Importantly, Prerna stresses shifting from conditional approval to unconditional appreciation and love. She offers educators continual peer support through coaching communities to implement these respectful, joy-boosting approaches.

Transform your classroom culture with Prerna’s wisdom – watch this session to start raising the joy!

Links:

https://togetherwegrow.online/

https://www.facebook.com/Togetherwegrowonline

https://www.instagram.com/togetherwegrow.online/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC68wg7v0mS3RHQ6b60brqkg

You can find more strategies on the example that Prerna gives in this session on the video on her YouTube Channel called Transform your classroom from Chaos to Calm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxsoMz7WWBk