Four Activities for Starting a Relaxed Morning in the Class and Lowering Level of Stress and Pressure

Some classes need to go into a "silent learning zone", a kind of silence and tranquility that allows concentration, listening, work, collaboration and patience.
Schools are full of stress factors – social, educational, emotional baggage each child carries with him/her, thoughts, fears etc. The latest security issues are also not easy and add more stress to the kids, and even serve as a deflection on a daily basis.

The educational-organizational-personal discourses make a lot of use in tools such as Meditation, Mind-folds, Guided Imaginations and others in order to succeed in being "here and now" in our overloaded world, and kids very much enjoy playing or being concentrated in various activities that allow them to drift away on one side from all the stress, and immediately concentrate afterwards on the other hand.

Here are four simple activities that can be done with your class. There is no need to be anxious or worried if during the first few times there will be some jiggles and some embarrassment:

1. While sitting on chairs or lying on the floor on their backs – slow breaths with eyes shut, inhaling air and ballooning the belly, exhaling the air for 3-4 seconds. In each exhale the body sinks more and more to the chair/floor; there is no stress in the shoulder, pelvis, hands, neck and head. After 507 minutes the kids can open their eyes and open the day.

2. Every child sits in front of an A4 empty page, while pleasant music is played in the background (classical, acoustic guitars, melody, world music) and the kids draw the music (Take a look in the "seeing music" post). When the music ends the children place the page in their backpacks and continue to the next assignment.
*You can have a conversation of the drawings, how the music made them feel, thoughts etc.

3. Stand in a circle, and throw a ball while saying words that express fear/stress/anxiety/anger etc. Once each child has spoken, ask the children to say a trait or a personal ability to cope with different issues while throwing the ball to a friend. The friend in turn must remember what were the traits named before the ball was thrown to him/her, and after a sequence of 5-6 traits you start over.
The goal is to create a positive chain that shows the power the class and the kids have.
You can also play this game with naming good traits or behaviors in the class, such as listening, helping each other etc.

4. There are games in which the power of the group is of great importance, when after the game has ended you can discuss and analyze the subject projecting on any relevant issue, such as to our family, or to any specific personal or educational coping mechanism.

You can turn the method elected to a daily routine for a certain amount of time, thus entering the kids to a better zone of learning and listening for the rest of the day.   

All the posts and materials belongs to Sharon Michaeli- Ramon ©

Parent child play around age 2-3, more than just play

Learning, experimenting and adventure go hand in hand with developing skills, language, communication with friends, friendships, space comprehension etc.

An ideal age to broaden children grasp of space, objects and people along with building their curiosity and thirst for broader experiences is 2 years +/-.
The main areas are the home, the playground and a yard - with or without grass. In each of these areas you can play with or without accessories, while we as adults need to figure out how to enable a certain amount of freedom, while setting boundaries and rules.

Four possible directions:

1. A hoop
a round object with a hole, colorful and very interesting, and there are lots of playing options with it.
play in-out which can develop to land/sea as the child grows older; ; roll it forward and ask the child to roll it back or bring it back by hand; spin it on your hand or body and let the child try and spin it; run towards it and sit inside. If there are several children you can draw a start line and each child will run towards its hoop/ the only hoop in a short race. You can also free play or dance with it, with or without music.

2. The playground
Usually we encourage the children to climb on ladders, slides, swing on the swings etc., or let them play by themselves.
You can add an adventure and discovery aspect - climb all the first level of all the ladders; crawling and looking for a hidden ball or hoop; passing through unusual passages at the different playground's facilities; hanging from every rope, pole etc. - which is also great for the shoulder belt and for balance.

Improvising the way they swing or slide - back and forth, together, to the sides, walking up the slide etc.

This might seem a bit intimidating and scary to you parents - and yes, it does require us to allow them more independence than we are used to, but this will enhance their learning skills, and especially will strengthen the joy of joint experience and revelations.

3. The body
 the human body is a fascinating playground of its own for children. You can climb it, roll with it, make funny shapes and voices, balance with it, pull, jump etc.
Children are great mimics, and they love it when you mimic them back. Allow yourselves to loosen up, free your mind and make goofier stuff with the kids. You will all enjoy this, and they will also benefit from a higher self-esteem, better body vision, and lots of metrical advantages.
The main bonus is creating a closer bond based on mutual quality time while having a mutual fun activity.

4. Language
Language is an excellent and important tool. I recommend talking to the children as much as possible - during games and playtime, a variety of word for each experience, important concepts, rhymes, word and songs games etc.
Using more language variety and games will enrich their vocabulary and their ability to express themselves.

Enjoy

All the posts and materials belongs to Sharon Michaeli- Ramon ©