Ms. Lori settles beside him and quietly offers a small basket of figures and building props. These are materials she set aside just for him.
“ I wonder what kind of house we could build for this family,” she says, placing a few blocks nearby. Marco hesitates, then picks up a small figure and begins arranging blocks around it.“ He needs walls,” Marco says.“ Strong ones.” Ms. Lori leans in.“ What else does his house need to feel safe?” Marco thinks, then adds a roof, a door, and a scrap of fabric for a bed.
In the days that follow, Ms. Lori continues sitting alongside Marco during play, using open-ended questions to extend his building and storytelling. Gradually, Marco begins inviting peers to contribute to his structures rather than protecting them. This marks a quiet but meaningful shift in his play.
While many children enter an early childhood setting having experienced some type of stress, adversity, or trauma, their responses to it vary( e. g., HHS 2025; Guyon-Harris & Humphreys 2026). Some children exhibit external behaviors, which can include aggression or defiance, trying to control all aspects of play, or over- and under-reacting to physical contact( Porges 2011; Flynn et al. 2023). Others, like Marco, internalize their reactions. This kind of response often manifests as increased worry and anxiety, the inability to pay attention, or withdrawing from peers( Erdman & Colker, with Winter 2020; Flynn et al. 2023). Both types of responses can create challenges with transitions, hypervigilance in group settings, or an avoidance of activities that feel too open-ended or chaotic( Valdes et al. 2024), which can make it difficult for children to actively engage in play.
To provide trauma-responsive instruction, it is important to understand these general responses to trauma as well as children’ s and families’ unique contexts and cultures. Spiritual beliefs, stigmas around mental health, and the compounding stressors that families face can influence how they respond to their children’ s traumatic experiences( Mercado et al. 2021; Nagata et al. 2024). Families may have different perspectives on how educators and early learning programs should interact with their children. In addition, families who are exposed to the same adverse experiences as their children may exhibit internal and external signs of trauma themselves( Erdman & Colker, with Winter 2020).
Marco’ s parents, for example, had their own struggles with the tornado’ s impact. The loss of their home, the lack of extended family nearby, and the financial challenges of resettling all took a toll. Yet they had a trusting relationship with Ms. Lori: Marco’ s mother, a first-generation Latina college student attending the local community college, comes from a culture where educators are deeply respected, and the family often sought Ms. Lori’ s expertise.
Educators are called to respond to families’ different ways of reacting to trauma and to avoid making assumptions based on cultural preconceptions or stereotypes( Erdman & Colker, with Winter 2020). They must embrace the primary role that families play in children’ s development and learning and consider the ways in which children’ s lived experiences can affect the ways they negotiate and respond to their world( NAEYC 2019). Ms. Lori did this by working closely with Marco’ s family to alleviate their concerns about his ability to cope with the tornado and its aftermath.
Guided Play as a Tool to Help Navigate Trauma
Guided play, with its balance of child choice and adult scaffolding, facilitates children’ s learning across content areas and developmental domains( Hassinger-Das et al. 2017). But we have also found it useful in helping children develop the social and
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Fall 2026