This week, we celebrated Children’s Mental Health Week with a variety of fun and meaningful activities designed to help our little ones explore their feelings and emotions. We spent time carefully thinking about how we feel, getting in tune with our emotions, and discussing different scenarios that reflect the range of feelings we experience.
One of our key activities was reading The Colour Monster, a book that helped us talk about different emotions and how, sometimes, we might feel a little mixed up inside. We learned that it’s okay to have many emotions all at once, and the important thing is to recognise and understand how to manage them.
To help with this, we practised breathing techniques. We talked about how deep breathing can help calm our bodies and minds, and even created our very own bubble-blowing wands using beads and pipecleaners. This hands-on activity not only helped with calming breaths but also let the children be creative while learning to manage their emotions.
We also decorated our own colour monsters, reflecting how we were feeling at the time. This allowed us to express our emotions visually, making it easier to talk about them with one another. Additionally, we wrote down our worries on heart-shaped pieces of paper and fed them to the worry monsters in our classrooms—this was a lovely way for the children to let go of any anxieties they may have been holding onto.
As part of our creative expression, we made our own paint splat monsters and even used environmental materials to craft face emotion expressions. The children enjoyed using nature to represent the different feelings they were learning about, and it was a fun way to combine creativity with emotional awareness.
Overall, it has been a wonderful week full of learning, creativity, and emotional growth. We are so proud of how the children embraced the activities and engaged in meaningful conversations about their emotions. We hope they continue to use these skills to navigate their feelings long after this week.
