School-age 3 has been working on a Self Care Project. Part of this project is expressing our emotions - something that we continue to work on daily. Since our group enjoys LEGO®, we thought that it would be a good idea to incorporate it in this learning. Children participated in group discussions, talking about what makes them happy, sad, excited, frustrated and all the emotions they could think of.
Throughout this exercise, we heard so many amazing conversations. Jaidyn said, “When I see my cat after a long day it makes me so happy.” Theo expressed that when his family goes on vacation it makes him very excited. Hannah was surprised at how fast Christmas is coming, because after Christmas her birthday is not far behind.
We heard many children talk about things that make them happy, excited and surprised. Only a few kids talked about things that make them frustrated, angry and sad. A child mentioned, “I get frustrated when I’m not heard.” This started a great conversation between the children because they wanted to understand what that child meant. He explained how when his peers are playing and he is trying to suggest a game that they don’t listen to him. The children showed empathy towards this child and apologized for not listening. They told him that when he wants to play a different game to come up to them instead of trying to talk over everyone playing. They explained that they can’t always hear him and noticed him become angry, but never understood why.
This activity was a great way for the children to work on their social and communication skills. We continue to talk about our emotions and why we feel the way we do in situations. This is such a great step forward into our project and we can’t wait to learn so many more amazing things about one another and how to enjoy self-care.
