✅ Classroom checklists

When a child bites: the response checklist

The in-the-moment sequence, the follow-up, and the prevention notes — so the worst two minutes of the day run on rails.

In the moment (in this order)

1 · Go to the bitten child first. Comfort, wash the area with soap and water, apply ice. The biter watching you tend the hurt IS the lesson.
2 · To the biter, short and flat: 'Biting hurts. I won't let you bite.' No lecture — at this age the lecture is attention, and attention repeats behavior.
3 · Redirect the biter to something bite-appropriate (teether, crunchy snack later) once calm.
4 · If skin is broken, follow your program's health protocol and notify promptly.

Incident forms for BOTH families — and never name the other child in either one.
Note the when/where/who-was-near on your tracking sheet. Biting is almost never random.

Same time every day? It's fatigue or hunger — adjust the schedule, not the child.
Same victim or same toy? It's a language gap — script the words the biter doesn't have yet ('mine', 'move please', 'help').
Crowded corners? It's space — split the popular center into two stations.

Print-friendly — use your browser's print for a clean copy.