Articles & Resources
Children’s Activity: Children’s Feelings House
Sometimes, we know that things are bothering us, but it can feel hard to put it into words. So, when someone asks ‘what is bothering you?’ the question feels impossible. Using activities that help children to talk, and explore their emotions in safe spaces helps children to develop their self-awareness and emotional literacy. Download
Why we need buckets full of self-esteem
Self-esteem has become one of those words that we throw around frequently, but do we really recognise the impact of self-esteem in our child’s life? Do we see the impact of self-esteem on children’s lives? Or perhaps you’ve started to look at your child in comparison to their peers and begun to worry about how
Children’s Activity: Summer Journey ‘I’ Spy
Have you ever…. Have you ever been caught on a journey in the summer holidays with the children calling out ‘are we there yet?’, ‘I’m bored’, ‘I don’t want to wait’ ‘I’m fed up’. Let’s face it, car journeys are not always the most fun, and whilst the destination may be amazing, the waiting can
10 Natural Ways to Boost Mood and Well-being
Something that has become quite noticeable recently, is the number of people who are feeling: overwhelmed exhausted tearful apathetic unmotivated out of sorts When we experience significant periods of time which are unpredictable it can mean that our minds become overloaded. Without relief from these feelings, we can find ourselves feeling despondent. So, what are
Children’s Activity: Feelings Iceberg
Managing emotions When we see children’s behaviours, actions and responses we can get caught up in focussing on the symptoms and miss the causes of the issues. Our feelings can be likened to an iceberg. The tip of the iceberg, what is above the water, represents the feelings, emotions, responses, behaviours and reactions that children
Co-Regulation: Why, to help in a crisis, we need to be a cucumber
Have you ever noticed, that when a toddler has a tantrum, and the parent starts to escalate, that the toddler escalates even more? No matter how much you tell someone having a panic attack to calm down, they just don’t calm down? That if you yell at an angry person to chill out, they just
Children’s Activity: Planning and Organising Time
Did you ever struggle to get organised? Faced with lots to do, one of a number of things happen: Some people dig deep, get things in order and get going Some people look at it, feel like it’s impossible and find something else to do Some people feel completely overwhelmed and are frozen in anxiety/panic/tears
The Pineapple and Potato – A Story about Mental Health
Mental health isn’t a competition. Comparing one person’s mental health to another, It is like comparing a potato and a pineapple. And, let’s face it…. You can’t compare a pineapple and potato So, we cannot minimise one person’s mental health on the basis of a perception the other is worst So, today, I’m sharing
Children’s Activity: Self-esteem Charts
Self-esteem Sometimes, children can find it challenging to recognise their strengths. Helping them to recognise the things that are positive about them, the values that others appreciate and their skills and talents can help them to keep the world in context. So, why not try this activity. Simply download the self-esteem recorder and encourage children
6 ways to improve children’s sleep hygiene
For many, bedtime can become a stressful time so, why is sleep hygiene so important? Developing effective sleep routines for children can be a really challenging situation. With the impact of the pandemic, lockdown and constantly changing routines, for many this has been accentuated. So, how can we promote positive sleep? In my previous article,
Children’s Activity: Little Circles of Calm
How can we help children to calm their minds? Sometimes, we all can find ourselves feeling a little overwhelmed, stressed or exhausted. In those moments, it can feel challenging to work out what we need/want to do to help us feel better. Calm Flower Circles So, this week, we are sharing our calm circles with
Sexual harassment in schools – Ofsted’s 2021 Review
This week, following the testimonies shared on website ‘everyone’s invited‘ where young people all over the UK highlighted sexual abuse and harassment in their schools, Ofsted released their rapid review into sexual harassment and assault in schools and colleges (You can read a full copy here). The findings, were by all means, harrowing. The review
Children’s Activity: Life Wheel Assessments
How busy is too busy? How quiet is too quiet? Sometimes, we can find ourselves in a situation where our mood is dropping and we cannot quite work out the reason why. This can be for a number of reasons, but frequently, when we examine our lives things have fallen out of sync. The issues
7 Safeguarding Scenarios for Early Years Settings
Safeguarding children and young people is an ongoing responsibility for all staff working in education and care settings. Child welfare and well-being is a priority and fast responses and early intervention are critical to outcomes. Regardless of age, sex, religion, belief or sexual orientation, all children and young people have a right to protection from
Children’s Activity: Positivity Flowers
How can we help children to identify the positives in their world? It can be an easy habit to fall into, when we get caught up in what we did not achieve today, or what went wrong, but helping children to develop a daily habit of gratitude and positivity can have a positive impact on
8 Ways to Support Child Mental Health
Whilst ‘mental health’ is the hashtag of the moment, recognising the signs of mental health (our introduction courses can be found here) and how to support children to put in place ongoing strategies to support themselves is imperative for long term well-being. Mental health is defined as: ‘a state of wellbeing in which the individual
Children’s Activity: Hand Breathing
Some days, our stress levels peak, our anxiety heightens and we can feel our hearts race…..so, how do we help children calm everything down? Shift the nervous system When we are stressed, we move into our sympathetic nervous system – this is our fight or flight system. When we are working in our sympathetic nervous
10 ways to increase your self-care
When we get caught on the hamster wheel, it can quickly feel that we are stuck. The emotional and psychological fatigue which follows consistently pushing ourselves to be everything and do everything can begin to take it’s toll. Whilst it can feel a bit fluffy to talk about self-care, it is incredibly important. When working
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