Why friendship is so important
Playing together is essential as you grow up. You feel better when you have friends you can rely on. Children often meet their first friends at daycare. There, they discover what it is like to laugh together, share, and sometimes even sort out a little argument. At Partou, we encourage friendship between children of all ages. Not only is this good for their self-confidence, but strong relationships also make them more resilient!
Always a Partou location close by
Your child is more than welcome at Partou! Are you curious about our childcare locations in your area, where more children of expats attend?
Even babies can make friends
You might not think so, but the first friendships are formed as early as the baby group! From the age of six months, babies make little noises, laugh and touch one another. This lays the foundation for social skills! We encourage this by placing them together on a mat and by naming their emotions. In this way, children also provide a sense of security for one another. It all contributes to a safe and loving atmosphere in the group. So we do a lot of cuddling, comforting and laughing!
Toddlers are playing together more and more
In the toddler group (preschool), children discover through play just how much fun it is to play together and make friends. New friendships are blossoming! At this age, children are becoming increasingly aware of their favourite child in the group. By playing games together, doing crafts or playing outside, we teach children to share and help one another. We also support them in building bonds and, sometimes, saying goodbye. These are important lessons needed to build and maintain friendships!
Meeting friends at the after-school care centre
At the after-school care centre, children can meet up with their friends outside school hours. We provide plenty of space for them to do activities together. Or simply to relax after school. This helps children learn to deal with group dynamics, as well as with conflicts. That is great, because friendships become closer and more important over the years, especially as children get older and are almost ready for secondary school.
Friendship Weeks at Partou
During our annual Friendship Weeks, we place extra emphasis on friendship in our activity programme. This fits perfectly with the ‘Together & Play’ building block. We do this together with some real children’s heroes, such as Dikkie Dik and Pim & Pom.
Read more about Partou’s building blocks >>
Anything but childish!
Every day, our pedagogical professionals guide interactions between children to stimulate both social and cognitive development. In this way, we help them listen to one another and work together. But that’s not all! We also make deliberate use of activities, the environment and play materials, for example.
Playing games together helps children learn to cope with winning and losing, follow rules and be patient. By letting children contribute their ideas, they learn to listen, form opinions and work together. The first steps towards democratic citizenship.