11 · A welcome with a choiceEarly years home play · W3–4 · Cards / 11 a welcome with a choice

11 · A welcome with a choice

Say this, or use your own words

Would our visitor like to join, watch, or do something else?

Ready in a moment

A comfortable spot and an imaginary visitor. A page is optional; no toy is needed.

Try a little play

1. Invent a tiny place together, or borrow Paper Harbour. Offer the opening once and wait.
2. Give the visitor two possible ways to take part. Watching, staying elsewhere and leaving remain available.
3. Follow one choice in the pretend story. Ask before adding a doorway or moving anyone's drawing.
4. Ask whether to keep playing or finish. A welcome does not need an accepted invitation.

Choose a useful route

• Communication: Name join and watch one at a time, with another idea or finish available. Wait for the child's familiar voice, sign, AAC or agreed selection signal, then confirm. An unclear response is not agreement.
• Making or paper: Draw two broad places, such as a making patch and a watching patch. The child names their meaning or directs your marks. Try one pretend arrival; the adult's drawing stays adult-made.
• Observe or imagine: Let the child watch while you describe a visitor asking to join. Offer one clear choice about what happens next, then follow it. Watching alone does not tell us the child's chosen answer.

Two fictional ideas to borrow

• Workshop fiction: A cloud visitor watches a pretend drawing room before deciding to join. The child chooses the watching place; the adult does not turn it into a waiting-for-your-turn rule.
• Transport fiction: An imaginary bus room offers a quiet waiting patch and a chat patch. A visitor chooses to leave instead. That departure belongs in the story and does not mean the welcome failed.

Notice, then choose the next move

Notice an actual offered or chosen option, including a declined invitation. If the choices were unclear, offer one named option at a time next turn.

Later fresh start: Start a fresh place with a visitor who wants a different way to join. No earlier drawing or remembered answer is needed.

Optional extra: With permission, offer a willing familiar adult the same real choice during play. Follow their actual reply; a pretend visitor's reply remains fiction.

Adult intention: Offer a welcome that leaves a real choice.

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