More Feeling Feelings, Milkshakes and millipedes: Mindfulness matters Week 5

'...I feel sad when people don't include me in their games...'


'...I am Happy when I go to Ocean Park!...'
'I am angry when my little sister annoys me...'
'...I am afraid when a teacher looks right at me...'


So when do you feel different feelings? and where do you feel them in your body? How do you know if they are big or small feelings? and what do you do with difficult ones?

These where the questions year 2 and 6 explored today. Year 6 found it a challenge to spot how they were feeling, but were able to tell me lots of instances when they were happy/sad/scared/ angry. They knew what they did when they were angry which normally involved punching and hitting something! but when I asked 'what could you do to deal with these difficult emotions?' , the answers rang from around the room 'breathing... mindful breathing...try and be calm and breathe'. When I looked at the faces I could see they weren't just saying this to please me, they genuinely believed that the techniques would work and would be helpful! Fantastic! 

They found the exercise to deal with difficult feelings quite hard and I think Next time i would try and give them some more structure and perhaps specify the type of sad memory they could think about. This is challenging activity for adults so really challenging for children. I might go off program next week and try it again! What they really loved was SHAKING LIKE A MILKSHAKE! to finish off the session. You could feel the mood level change in the classroom in an instant and it felt great to see them with happy smiling faces! Brilliant group of kids!

Year 2 built on their exploration of fear and anger last week to look at happiness and sadness this week. They listened to a story about when Fred the Frog was sad and were able to tell stories about when they were sad, and what their faces looked like when they were sad. They loved the discussion about when they felt good, and what they looked like, and drew a fantastic set of drawings with them having birthdays, playing with sisters, going to Legoland and being a flower girl at a wedding to name but a few!: All the things that made them happy.

The finale was fantastic. 30 kids with their hands on the shoulders of the child in front of them mindfully lifting their right leg then left leg and walking like a millipede around the classroom. Absolutely priceless, and they did it brilliantly.

Next week mindful movement for the littl'uns and the wonderful world of thoughts for the big'uns!