Everyday play, classroom activities and visits with friends offer useful chances to practise fair sharing without expecting children to give away everything they own. This colourful sharing rules poster helps children think about asking, waiting, taking turns and looking after borrowed belongings, while recognising that personal boundaries matter too.
Parents, carers, primary teachers, teaching assistants and children’s practitioners may find this sharing poster particularly useful for younger children who are learning how to manage toys, games and shared equipment with others. It supports practical conversations about fairness, ownership, turn-taking and respectful play at home, in nurseries, classrooms, after-school clubs or family support sessions.
The poster explains that sharing does not mean letting everyone use everything you own. Children are reminded that they can choose which belongings they are comfortable sharing, especially when items are special, precious or easily damaged. It also offers a clear preventative strategy: if a child does not want to share an item, they can put it away rather than bring it out to play with in front of someone else.
Seven numbered sharing tips give children simple, usable rules. They cover asking rather than grabbing, waiting for a turn, saying when another person can have a go, making turns fair with a timer, caring for borrowed items and returning them when finished. Helpful example wording includes, “Can I have a turn when you’re finished?” and “Five more minutes, then it’s your turn.”
Adults can print the page as a social skills visual aid, use it during a circle-time discussion, or refer back to it after disagreements over toys and activities. The final rule is especially useful for teaching children not to lend, give away or share someone else’s belongings without asking the owner first. Its straightforward messages suit children who benefit from visual reminders and concrete language around sharing fairly.
