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Build resilience by talking about feelings

Build resilience by talking about feelings

Building your child’s emotional maturity is an important part of school readiness, and you can do this by helping your son or daughter to understand their feelings.

Sometimes we refer to this as building their ‘emotional vocabulary’.

Put simply, the best way to help your child understand how they and other people feel, is to talk about it. Often!

 

Tuning in to social cues

 

Helping your child to recognize the social cues that other people send is part of building their emotional maturity. One way to do this is to talk about the expressions you see on other people’s faces, so for example, you might:

•      Watch a television program together and talk about how a character in the scene might be feeling

•      Play a ‘mood detective’ game when you are out shopping. You might identify a person and say something like “that lady over there looks a bit unsure about whether to buy that banana” or ”that man pushing the trolleys looks a bit frazzled”

Label emotions

 

Small children often don’t understand what they are feeling or why they are feeling it, so helping them to label their emotion is a good first step in building awareness of their own emotions and the feelings of others.

As much as you can, use feelings words at home so that your child sees you labelling emotions.

For example:

•      When you’re frustrated that you are taking a long time to find a place to park the car at the shopping centre, you might say something like “I get a bit annoyed when I waste time looking for a car spot”

•      When you’re meeting up with friends, you might say something like “I always look forward to seeing Auntie Debbie. Getting together with her makes me feel happy.”

 

Be a ‘mirror’ for your child

 

Another way you can do this is by being a bit of a ‘mirror’ and reflecting your child's feelings back to them. This is important for helping them to recognize both positive and negative feelings.


You might say things like:

•      I could see that you were so proud when you showed me your painting.

•      I know, it makes you cranky when your little sister pushes your Lego® over.

•      You look a bit upset about that. I can see that your eyes look sad and your face is red.

Now, let's be realistic! Your five year old is not going to turn into a sensitive, new age kid overnight, but research tells us that children who are tuned in to their own feelings and the feelings of the people around them often enjoy greater social and academic success, so it’s worth starting to develop this skill in your child now.

 

© 2020 Sonja Walker

 

07.07.2020

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The School Ready Toolkit!

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(Technology sometimes has its moments, so if you find that you have to wait for more than 24 hours to access your resources, please send an email to schoolready@kids-first.com.au )

School Ready Toolkit

Week 1

In Week 1 of the SCHOOL READY TOOLKIT, your child will enjoy these terrific school readiness activities created by child psychologists, teachers, speech pathologists and occupational therapists.

 

 

Parent / Educator Resources

How to Identify your Child’s Strengths & Learning Style

 

Comprehensive School Readiness Checklist

 

 

Social Skills Builders

My All About Me Book

 

Emotion of the week: Happiness

 

 

Communication Skills Builders

Walking Sign Hunt Game

 

 

Pre-Numeracy Skills Builders



Fine Motor Skills Builders

 

 

 

Cognitive Skills Builders

A Grown-Up’s Guide to Story Time

 

Memory Matching Game

Early Maths Counts: More and Less Game

 

Funky Fingers Threading Game
Positive Ways to Use Playdough (recipe & activity ideas)

Creative Learning: Crazy Toilet Paper People

7 Day Lego® Challenge

 

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Let's Get Started!
School Ready Toolkit

Week 2

It’s Week 2, and our multi-disciplinary team has created lots of fun school readiness games and activities. Your child will never know they are learning!   

 

Pre-Numeracy Skills Builders

Numeracy Wheel Game

 

Early Maths Counts: Patterns Power Activity

 

Communication Skills Builders

Understanding Concepts: Colours are Cool

 

Words and their Meanings: Colours Game

 

Social Skills Builders

My Self Portrait

 

Emotion of the week: Sadness

 

Fine Motor Skills Builders

 

 

 

Sensory Regulation Skill Builder

 

Cognitive Skill Builder

Learning Disguised as Fun: Wet and Wonderful Games

Creative Learning: Lantern Making

Creative Learning: Make a Magic Wand

 

Indoor Obstacle Course

 

New Ways to Play an Old Game: I Spy

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Let's Get Started!
School Ready Toolkit

Week 3

In Week 3, our paediatric health and education professionals provide resources designed to support your ‘whole’ child with a wide range of school readiness activities.

 

Social Skills Builders

My Gratitude Tree

Emotion of the Week: Pride

 

 

Sensory Regulation Skills Builder

Learning Disguised as Fun: Making ‘Goop’

 

 

Pre-Numeracy Skills Builder

Indoor Scavenger Hunt

 

Number Recognition & Correspondence Counting Game

Communication Skills Builder

Syllables and Sounds Game

 

 

Fine Motor Skills Builders

 

 

Cognitive Skills Builder

Create a Book Nook

 

Creative Learning: Paper Plate Snakes

Creative Learning: Tongs & Tweezers Games

 

Mystery Shape Hunt

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School Ready Toolkit

Week 4

Week 4 is all about supporting your child to build the confidence and resilience needed to ‘thrive and not just cope’ when ‘big’ school begins!

 

Sensory Regulation Skills Builder

Sensory Tray Treasure Hunt

 

Make Your Own Crash Mat
Shaving Cream Fun

Social Skills Builders

 

Emotions Memory Matching Game
Emotion of the week: Disappointment

 

Communication Skills Builders

Following Instructions Through Drawing

Groovy Groups Game

 

 

Cognitive Skills Builder

Sticks, Shapes & Patterns Game

 

 

Pre-Numeracy Skills Builder

 

Fine Motor Skills Builders

 

 

Parent / Educator Resource

 

Early Maths Counts: Addition Game

 

Sticker Name Game
Creative Learning: Making Paper Planes

School Readiness Checklist Review

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Let's Get Started!
School Ready Toolkit

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The School Ready Toolkit!

 

Our School Ready team is working hard in the background to push all the buttons we need to give you access!

 

Keep an eye on your emails (and if you haven’t heard from us in 24 hours and haven’t found a love note from us in your junk folder!) feel free to contact us.

 

 

 

Sonja Walker & The School Ready Toolkit team