Woodhill ELC

Hello Everyone,

Here is a link to The Daily Mile website, We would like to introduce all families at Woodhill to the #DailyMileAtHome. It’s an easy and fun way to keep fit and maintain good health and well-being for you and your children. The website has up-to-date guidance on exercising outdoors in line with the government restrictions around Coronavirus and also the benefits of being outdoors.

The Daily Mile at Home

Benefits-of-Physical-Activity-How-The-Daily-Mile-Can-Help

 

^^ This link will give parents support and advice on the benefits of Daily Mile and the positive impact physical activity has on children.

We hope these activity ideas give you inspiration! if you manage to complete any please email the nursery with photographs and comments from you and your child. We will share these with the other children and families at Woodhill ELC.

Hello Everyone,

Please click on the link “A Good Morning Message” to see some of the comments from staff and Joy our friend from inside out, we hope that reading this will support you to have conversations about your feelings and emotions.

A Good Morning Message

Did you know, children who learn how to understand emotions in themselves and others are better able to regulate their own responses to strong emotions. Helping children to identify and label emotions is an important first step, adults help to support children’s emotional development when they label and talk about emotions and feelings.

Ways to support children’s emotional understanding:

• Ask children how they feel and notice their feelings throughout the day. For example, when a child has a concern or problem, ask questions or make comments like, “How are you feeling? or “It looks like you might be feeling sad about something.”
• Talk with children throughout the day about emotions. For example, when reading books to children, label the characters’ emotions and point out the facial expression and body language of the characters in books.
• Talk about how you are feeling during the day in appropriate ways. For example, “I am feeling happy today because today we are going out for a walk!”. Direct children to look at your facial expressions and body language as you say, “How can you tell I’m feeling happy today?”
• Talk about how people might feel in different situations to help children understand the different contexts of feelings and that all people have feelings. For example, when reading books or talking with children about their own lives, ask questions like, “Why do you think she felt that way? How could you tell she was feeling sad?”
• Label and define feelings for children when they do not have the words to express how they are feeling. For example, “It looks like you might be sad that you won’t get a turn on the swings today. That feeling is called sad. Let’s figure out a plan to make you feel happy and we can come back to the park and go on the swings another day.

 

Please feel free to comment below any views from you or your child, so that other children and families can see these!

Hello Everyone,

Here is a video recording of Hazel reading the story about Lucy’s Blue Day. Lucy is a very special little girl with magic hair, it changes colour with her emotions. If she is feeling happy her hair goes purple, if she is feeling jealous, it will turn green. One day Lucy wakes up and her hair is blue, she doesn’t understand why! she soon learns its ok not to be ok! This story will hopefully support you to have conversations with your child around their feelings and emotions:

Here are some ways to support your child’s well-being.

1. Be aware. Pay attention to children’s reactions and behaviours (such as acting out, aggression, sadness ). Listen to your child, and be aware of what they are doing, showing that you are listening to them, help them respond to challenges and any emotional out bursts by offering comfort such as a hug or sitting down beside them to talk about their feelings.

2. Identify causes. Help children recognise the causes that underlie the feelings they’re experiencing. (For example, fear, joy, jealousy, frustration) Encourage them to name and to acknowledge those feelings to support them to gain self-awareness. Some children have trouble putting feelings into words, offer support using books and discussions around feelings you have and coping strategies you use for example breathing techniques.

3. Communicate. Talking about emotions with children can be an effective way to deal with them. Listen carefully to what they have to say. Offer comfort. Share your own experiences (within reason) with feelings like sadness, or disappointment, including how you managed them. Be patient. Sometimes children express emotions in a range of ways such as crying, shouting, throwing toys etc, this is the first step in identifying their emotions and with support they will learn to regulate them.

4. Value self-reflection. Show children and talk to them about thinking things through. For example, you might choose to think about how or why certain circumstances or events are unfolding as they are, ways in which similar situations might be handled in the future. Children may need relaxation, unstructured play, fewer demands, music, or alone time in order to calm down, this will support them to understand what they’re feeling, and consolidate their thoughts.

5. Encourage resilience. Help children develop the ability to deal effectively and creatively, sometimes children have trouble accepting their limitations. Children may require extra support to know that it’s okay to have these feelings, and that they can overcome these. This in turn promotes resilience.

When children’s emotional well-being is nurtured they’re more likely to feel more positive thoughts, so children can focus more on learning, playing and interacting with others. Helping children build upon their essential emotional capacities will support them to regulate their feelings and emotions now and in the future.