Why So Many Young Children Need Help with Regulation in Winter (And What Helps in Group Care)

Winter is a challenging season in early learning environments. Shorter days, limited outdoor time, heavier clothing, and increased illness all place additional demands on young children’s nervous systems. In group care settings, these changes often show up as increased reactivity, difficulty with transitions, and more frequent emotional outbursts.

Many Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) notice that their rooms feel louder, harder, and more reactive during the winter months. If that’s been your experience, you’re not imagining it.

What looks like “more behaviour” is often children doing their best with bodies and brains that are overloaded. This article breaks down what regulation really means in group care, why winter makes it harder, and what actually helps in busy early learning environments.

What Regulation Actually Means in Group Care

In early learning settings, regulation doesn’t mean children are calm, quiet, or compliant.

Regulation means a child can:

• Stay engaged long enough to participate

• Recover after being upset

• Accept adult support

• Move between activities without falling apart

In group care, regulation is shared. Children borrow calm from adults, routines, and predictable environments. When one child is dysregulated, it often affects the whole room, not because anyone is doing something wrong, but because nervous systems are contagious.

Key reminder: If many children are struggling at once, it’s usually a regulation load issue, not a behaviour issue.

Why Winter Increases Behaviour (Not Defiance)

Winter changes almost every part of a young child’s day, often in ways that reduce their capacity before learning even begins.

During winter months, children experience:

• Less outdoor movement

• Fewer sensory breaks

• Heavier clothing and boots

• More noise indoors

• More illness and fatigue

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All of this adds up to nervous systems that are already working overtime.

When children:

• melt down faster

• ignore directions

• become more physical

• need constant adult support

  
  

…it’s rarely about testing limits or being defiant. It’s about reduced capacity.

A simple reframe can help:

This child isn’t giving me a hard time, they’re having a hard time.

Simple Regulation Supports That Don’t Disrupt Routines

Supporting regulation in group care doesn’t require overhauling your entire day. In fact, small, consistent adjustments are often more effective than big interventions.

Low-impact supports that work in busy classrooms include:

• Predictable verbal cues before transitions (for example, “Two more minutes, then cleanup”)

• Built-in movement moments (animal walks to the bathroom, wall pushes before circle)

• Lowering language when emotions rise (short phrases, calm tone)

• Accepting movement during listening (fidgeting, standing, rocking)

• Repeating routines the same way whenever possible

These strategies don’t remove expectations, they make expectations achievable.

When to Wait and When to Seek Support

Winter often brings temporary increases in dysregulation that settle as:

• daylight increases

• routines feel familiar again

• bodies adjust after the holidays

“Wait and watch” is reasonable when:

• the child has some regulated moments

• recovery happens with adult support

• skills are present on good days

It may be time to ask for support when:

• dysregulation is intense and constant

• the child cannot recover even with help

• safety becomes a concern

• you feel like you’re always in crisis mode

Early Childhood Educators are often the first to notice when something isn’t settling and that insight matters. Your observations about patterns, recovery, and classroom impact are an important part of determining whether additional support is needed.

Supporting Educators Supporting Children

Regulation challenges in winter are common, especially in group care environments where demands are high and resources are shared. Understanding why behaviours increase, and what actually helps can reduce stress for both children and educators.

If you’re noticing patterns in your classroom and wondering whether what you’re seeing is typical, temporary, or something that needs extra support, you don’t have to navigate that alone.

Questions about regulation in your classroom?

Educators regularly reach out with questions about regulation, classroom strategies, and when to seek extra support. The Allied Therapy team is always happy to talk through what you’re seeing and help you think next steps.

Allied Therapy

Supporting children, families, and the educators who care for them

Speech Therapy • Occupational Therapy • Behaviour Therapy

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