Adventures in Peacemaking

A Conflict Resolution Activity Guide for Early Childhood Educators (Second Edition)

By William J. Kreidler and Sandy Tsubokawa Whittall
Educators for Social Responsibility, 1999, Cambridge, MA
Review by Tracey L. Hurd, Ph.D.
Lifespan Faith Development, UUA
Boston, MA

“Working together is a new experience for young children, and they will need to develop and practice new skills in order to feel comfortable relying on one another. The Peaceable Program gives young children opportunities to build cooperation skills through games, activities, … and routines that encourage sharing, taking turns, and helping others.” –From Adventures in Peacemaking, second edition

Young children learn by doing. Watch a four-year-old at play and you will see her discover and understand. Meaningful experiences in Unitarian Universalism for the young child are often those lived and enacted in our faith communities. Adventures in Peacemaking is a valuable resource for creating communities that embody faith with young children. It is very clearly written. There are activities and lessons; methods and routines for creating peaceable classrooms; information about child development; and literal scripts that can be used to engage children in problem solving and peacemaking.

The book can guide volunteer teachers to respectfully and creatively engage young children. This edition includes excellent applied information about engaging in developmentally appropriate practice. The sections on teaching emotional expression, anger management and conflict resolution from a developmental perspective are particularly valuable. Simple routines for “a calming down process” and “talk it out together” offer important alternatives to time-out and other behavior management techniques. If these routines are used in a faith setting with young children, they can be part of a living covenant about how to be in community together. Actions are more powerful than words in the lives of young children. Adventures in Peacemaking offers simple methods to make real the Principle of justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. The chapters on peaceable programs, communication skills, cooperation, expressing emotion, and resolving conflict are especially useful.

There are many wonderful activities in the book, embedded in different chapters. Simple, powerful ideas for using children’s books to frame activities are the focus of one chapter. Sections on storytelling and “discussion pictures” illustrate how we can create rich curriculum for young children with very few materials. There are many cooperative games that can be used with this or any other program for young children. Adventures in Peacemaking is an extraordinary resource for building community and faith with young children.

Available at www.esrnational.org