Tips
All of the principles on this page apply to children as well, but here are some additional tips for communicating with this population.
- Be age appropriate
Find out your audience's typical reading level as well as the level of conceptual difficulty they can handle. Consider the appropriate image to text ratio.
- Incorporate audience participation into any learning activity, even if you cannot directly interact with your audience.
- Address the whole child in your learning activities
Compartmentalizing is not a strong skill for most children; therefore consider any physical, emotional, social, and cognitive needs that may be present and incorporate them into your approach.
- Use positive messages that focus on strengths.
Let children imagine what they can be, not what they shouldn't be. This includes using images that let children see themselves in positive ways.
Knowing the typical developmental stages of children is crucial to preparing appropriate and effective communication. UNICEF has a great site to help you navigate this critical information.
(adapted from UNICEF's Communicating with Children)