Supporting your child’s emotions

As well as the usual continuous provision and activities, the children have been thinking about emotions this week. As adults, we take for granted how we feel and are able to put a name to that feeling.  For a young child, these feelings are something that they may struggle to express in words, especially when they become more complex, such as anxious, embarrassed, worried, excited or angry.

To support their developing understanding of their own and others’ emotions, we have been working with small groups of children using a book by Molly Potter, “How are you feeling today?” This explores, in simple terms, how we identify emotions, what makes us feel a certain way and that it is ok to feel strong emotions but we need to learn how to manage them and express them appropriately with our friends and others around us.

They discussed not only how to label and understand these feelings but how we can deal with some of the negative emotions that we all feel from time to time. An example of this is, if we are worried, we can tell someone we trust and take really deep breaths.

The book is one that we would definitely recommend.  It has a lovely brief guide for parents at the back of the book, explaining ’emotional literacy’.

Who am I?

Having a sense of self is something that develops. Babies are born believing that they are the center of everyone’s world. As they grow and develop they begin to realise that they are part of a wider network of social contacts.  Recognising yourself, what you are capable of, what you look like, finding a sense of identity is important for children’s emotional wellbeing.

This week, the children have been exploring self-portraits.  They used a mirror to study their own reflection and then used various craft resources to recreate their own image.

This further developed into considering similarities and differences in themselves, their friends, family and wider community.  They talked about and named parts of their bodies, noticing that their friends all have two eyes, two legs, two arms, etc, but that they all have different features, ie hair colour, length, texture; eye colour; skin tone, etc.

Each child has their own ‘all about me’ booklet which is always available for them to explore, either by themselves, with their friends or with the teachers. This helps them feel part of their family when they are away from them.  They talk about who is in the photos, where they are when the photos are taken, who and what is special to them.  If you haven’t sent your child’s ‘all about me’ booklet back yet, please do so as soon as possible. Thank you.

All of these strategies help children develop a sense of self but also that they are part of a wider, interconnected community.

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt!

We are very fortunate to be able to access the woodland area at the top of the school grounds twice per week.  As well as exploring the natural environment, it is a great space for telling and acting out stories.  This week, the children engaged in the ever popular “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”. One child chose to take on the role of the ‘Bear’ as the other children acted out the story, repeating the refrain ‘We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it, we’ve got to go through it!’ Repeated refrains are really good for children’s developing language and literacy skills. Making stories fun and interactive gives children a lifelong love of reading.  A vital skill that only develops if the foundations are in place.

Please see our website and Facebook page for a few photos from this week.

Thank you.

The Pre-school Team