Interest Inventories
An interest inventory is a questionnaire constructed to collect information about children’s routines and habits, likes and dislikes, interests, and even fears or anxieties. The inventory can be given to parents or guardians before the child enters your class or care group or can be conducted as a phone conversation or email correspondence. Especially with children who are preverbal, knowing some personal information about a child’s preferences ahead of time can at give you a “short list” of ideas or strategies to try to help the child settle in with you in the first few days.
Over the long term, having an idea about what the children in your group or class are interested in can be invaluable. As you plan activities, pick curriculum themes, and choose materials and books for activity centers, knowing something about the children’s interests takes some of the guesswork out of planning how to engage them in the curriculum.
