Nanny Agency JobsA child may hear that play is ending without knowing what to do with the unfinished game. Help make the change visible: what is finishing, what can remain, and the first action in the next activity. Work within the family’s routine while giving the child something more usable than repeated calls to hurry.
This guide concerns everyday changes between activities. The examples are original NAJ suggestions using familiar, family-approved spaces and age-appropriate materials already available. They do not prescribe a behavior program or a universal timetable.
Describe the ending at the scale of the play
Look at what the child is actually doing before giving the reminder. Are they drawing one last window, arranging a row of toys or starting an entirely new scene? Refer to that action when explaining the ending. “Finish this window, then put the pencil in its place” is more concrete than “Be ready soon.”
NAEYC recommends preparing children for what follows and having the next activity’s materials ready before calling them away. Reducing Challenging Behaviors during Transitions.
Use reminders the family already finds appropriate. Do not add an elaborate countdown if a short, familiar cue is sufficient. Equally, do not call something the final turn and then casually offer several more; your words should describe what you intend to do.
Decide what must stop and what may wait
Ending the play does not always mean dismantling everything. Within the household’s arrangements, distinguish putting away loose materials from leaving an unfinished picture on the agreed surface. Be precise about what you can preserve. Avoid promising that a construction will remain untouched when other people need that space.
A child can help choose between two workable endings: put the drawing in its usual folder or leave it in the designated unfinished-work place. This is a choice about how to finish, not whether an unavoidable next activity will happen.
If nothing can stay out, say so before the last moment. “This table needs to be clear. We can remember that your next part was the doorway.” A spoken reminder can be enough; every interrupted project does not require a photograph or record.
Make the first next action small
“Get ready” can contain several separate jobs. Say which action comes first and be close enough to help with that action within the usual care routine. “Put the pencil here; then we are going to the reading space” gives the child a starting point.
Avoid delivering the whole remaining afternoon as one instruction. You can name the destination and then deal with the immediate step. If another child is still finishing, keep the arrangement understandable for both: one is putting materials away while the other finishes the agreed final part.
Before calling again, check your own side of the transition. Are you asking the child to stop and then wait while you search for the next item? Complete what you reasonably can beforehand.
Follow an unfinished picture through
Fictional example: Camille is drawing an imaginary apartment building before the family’s usual quiet reading time. She wants to add a lift, a roof garden and six balconies. Her nanny, Jules, has enough time for one small ending, not the whole new plan.
Jules says, “There is time to finish the balcony you started. Then the pencils go away and we move to the reading space.” Camille asks whether the building will be thrown away. Jules explains that it can go in the family’s unfinished-picture folder.
After finishing the balcony, Camille starts another. Jules points to the finished section: “That balcony is done. The next one can wait in your picture.” Jules offers the two available folder covers for Camille to choose between, then helps put the pencils away. At the reading space, Camille briefly explains her planned roof garden before choosing a familiar book. The drawing remains unfinished; the transition has still taken place.
Adjust your support after a difficult change
If the child protests, respond to the actual concern rather than adding more instructions. “You wanted to keep drawing” acknowledges what is being interrupted. It need not become a promise to cancel the next activity.
Follow the family’s established response when ordinary reminders are not enough. Later, consider one practical change: a clearer last action, a reliable place for unfinished work or less waiting after the stop. Keep observations specific when discussing a repeated difficulty with the parent.
Do not judge the transition only by whether the child agreed happily. Ask whether your instruction was understandable, your promise was accurate and the next action was ready. Those questions give you something useful to improve without demanding a perfect ending to every game.
Sources
NAEYC: Reducing Challenging Behaviors during Transitions. This guide uses its general preparation advice; the drawing sequence is original and does not reproduce the article’s individualized behavior strategies.