Articles & Resources

Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Self-esteem Chart

Self-esteem Self-esteem is the value we place on our own worth. It is the opinion we have of ourselves. The way we view our worth in the world. It can be positive or negative, and the level of our self-esteem impacts the way that we see the world and the events that occur in our

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Motivation
Nicky Edwards

5 reasons we need to be more active

We all know that we need to be more active, but the thought and the action can sometimes be a challenge to get going. It’s almost crazy that for something that we know improves our wellbeing we can find getting active so challenging. How much do I need? The guidelines for physical activity advise: Infants

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Mandala Colouring Sheet

Colouring has many benefits: Develops fine motor skills Supports concentration skills Develops colour recognition Strengthens handwriting skills Encourages relaxation Develops focus Creates a focus on the present Calms a restless mind Develops inner quiet Reduces stress and anxiety Can improve sleep Download it here Free Activity So, this week, our free activity is a downloadable

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

10 Ways to Support Mental Health in the Summer Holidays

Just like that, the summer holidays began. After a long eighteen months, the relief of the holidays and the increased accessibility to favourite activities is much appreciated. However, how can we ensure that we invest in our mental health over the break, so that the return to school is a positive one? Here’s our top

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

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

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Self-care
Nicky Edwards

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

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

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

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Adult Mental Health
Nicky Edwards

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

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

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

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Adult Mental Health
Nicky Edwards

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

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

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

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Overwhelm
Nicky Edwards

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

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

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

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Routines
Nicky Edwards

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,

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

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

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Safeguarding
Nicky Edwards

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

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

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

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

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

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