All posts by Mrs Strathearn

8th Hayley’s Makaton Sway

Morning boys and girls, Hayley here…

As you all know i have a love and passion for Makaton and we all at Lainshaw ECC are trying to learn new Makaton signs, songs and stories. So i thought i would create a Makaton Sway where you can all access my Makaton videos in one place and practice time and time again!

Hope you all enjoy! Love Hayley x

Go to this Sway

4th Karen’s Fruit Snowman

Healthy eating is another strategy to keep our minds and bodies healthy…can you try making some  Fruit Snowmen ⛄️

Quick and easy Healthy treats to make with your wee one!

🍌 Ingredients:
* 2 bananas
* 1/4 of a carrot
* 3 strawberries
* 3 grapes
* 12 raisins
* 12 blueberries
* 6 skewers

🥣 Utensils:
Chopping board
Knife

📖 Recipe:
1. Snowman’s head and body – Cut each banana into 9 thick slices.
2. Snowman’s nose – Peel and cut the carrot into small triangles.
3. Snowman’s hat – Remove the stems and cut the strawberries in half lengthwise
4. Bobble of the hat- Cut the grapes in half lengthwise.

For each fruit snowman:
4. Thread three slices of bananas onto the skewer for the head and body.
5. Thread the strawberry hat and grape bobble.
6. Press two raisins onto the banana ‘head’ for the eyes.
7. Place on a carrot triangle nose.
8. Add blueberries onto the remaining two banana slices for the buttons.
9. Serve, eat and enjoy!

4th Karen’s Mental Health Worry Sway

Morning everyone please take a look at Karen’s Sway looking at worries and fears. We hope you like this and can use some of the information provided.

Go to this Sway

We also have these other 2 Sways to support Mental Health and Wellbeing for your information, lots of fun videos and support.

Go to this Sway
Go to this Sway

4th Sarah’s Emotion STEM Activity

STEM Emotion Activity

Here is a fun, hands-on science experiment that is helpful to explain and show the different intensities of our emotions.

Sometimes our emotions are small and manageable,  but sometimes our emotions feel huge, overwhelming and uncontrollable, and this is when they spill out, just like in our experiment, but sometimes not in the best of ways.

You’ll need some kitchen roll tubes or toilet roll tubes,

Baking powder

Food colour

Vinegar

Water

A pen

A tray or tub

You’ll cut the carboard tubes and chat to your wee one about what different faces/emotions/feeling you’d like to put on them.

This is a great chance to use a mirror to make different emotion faces, discuss things that make you feel each way, names for different emotions and do some mark making to see your childs interpretation of their different emotions.

Place the carboard tube faces into the tray, and add some baking powder (the more you add, the bigger your results will be!) and some food colouring.  Another great opportunity to discuss the link between different colours and emotions and feeling, and which colour they would like to add to which face.   Remember there are no right or wrong answers to this, it just helps build your childs level and add another dimension of understanding of their varying emotions!  Why not even mix different food colours to see what happens!

Then, you’ll add a mix of vinegar and water, and watch the overspilling emotions!!  Was the anger REALLY overflowing?  Or maybe just a little spill of worry?  Was there a big bit of happy, or just small?

A fun, play based way to show how our feelings come in waves, sometimes intense and overspilling, uncontrollable, and sometimes in small doses. 

You can use some of the other materials on the blog to discuss with your child, ways to manage overspilling emotions, such as mindfulness and calm-down strategies.

Big hugs!  Sarah 😊 x