💙💜💛 Welcome to Sing Create Play!!

🌟 We are committed to interactive classes where children connect with the teachers and have fun while learning. 

☆ This is an inclusive class. Children of all abilities and disabilities are welcome. If you are concerned about your child's needs, please send us a message and we are happy to accommodate your child and adapt our classes and teaching to meet each child's individual needs. 

☆ This is an interactive class where children will have opportunities to learn strategies on how to deal with emotions that might overwhelm them. 

☆ Children don't need to have previous experience of mindfulness or positive mindset strategies. No background knowledge of the strategies is required in order for the children to succeed in this class.

𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀:
                - belly breathing;
                - hand breathing:
                - pizza breathing;
                - "containing" the anger instead of letting it rummage in our body;
                - balloon breathing and drumming;
                - releasing anger techniques.
                - taking control of your body and brain;
                - taming and conforting the "guard dog" in your brain;
                - feelings thermometer.

𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 - each class follows the following format:

 - We will start the class by presenting a range of different emojis that will be shown to the children, and we will discuss which ones show "anger". Then I will tell them a short story with the help of puppets/slides.

- Mindfulness calming strategies will be presented and I will encourage the children to practise them with me. Children will learn how to use deep breathing in order to calm themselves. 

- What happens in our body/brain when we get angry?

- Releasing emotions strategies (like Blow a balloon, Drum on a balloon) will also be taught. 

Day 1: If You Are Angry And You Know It....
The story is about 2 animals who were best friends and played together all the time. One day, another animal asked one of the two friends to play with him. The animal that was left out was not happy and felt angry.
                    *Strategies taught: 
                                   - Song: If you're ____ and You Know It - Children can come up with words for this song ie If you are angry/frustrated/mad and you know it, stomp your feet. I will accompany the song with my ukulele/guitar and children can do the actions.
                                   - Mindfulness calming strategies: hand breathing, pizza breathing.
                                   - Visuals such as drawing around your hand, then hand breathing as well as Pizza breathing technique will be presented.

Day 2: 
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝗴𝗿𝘆 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗻 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻.
Angry like a Dragon! We will be discussing what happens in our bodies when we feel angry: we feel hot, heart beats faster, breathe fast, become sweaty, fiery, feeling that we are losing control! 
                    *Strategies taught: 
                                      - hand model of the brain;
                                      - "flip the lid";
                                      - Traffic lights strategy; 
                                      - soothing/self-regulating basic strategies.

Day 3:
 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗗𝗼𝗴 𝘃𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗢𝘄𝗹
Children will listen to a story where the main character is faced with lots of thoughts telling them that they can't do something (like riding a bike...or writing letters, or reading). That would be associated with the idea of a Guard Dog who wants to protect you from failing (our amygdala). Then we will talk about the Wise Owl who moves slowly, takes a step back and thinks of ideas, solutions and small steps to achieve that outcome (i.e. riding the bike). 
                     *Strategies taught in this class:
                                       - different parts of our brain and their role: "Guard Dog" (amygdala) and "Wise Owl" (Prefrontal cortex);
                                       - steps to follow when the "Guard Dog" is barking too loud inside our brain;
                                       - "flip the lid";
                                       -  traffic lights system;
                                       - identify when the amygdala overreacts and when we need to bring the prefrontal cortex in action.

Day 4:
𝗧𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿! 
Tiny Tim Turtle will tell the children his story of when he became angry and what he decided to do instead of transforming himself into an angry dragon. We will talk about the importance of getting out of the 'anger/frustration shell' and taking slow breaths like turtles move. Can you think of another animal that goes slowly? (snails, etc).  
                     *Strategies taught in this class
                                       - relaxation thermometer;
                                       - breaking out of the big emotion by acknowledging it;
                                       - doing abdominal breathing by opening the chest and slowing down our heart rate;
                                       - focus activity strategy;
                                       - steps to follow when you get angry;
                                       - we will sing the song 'Steady and slow, that's the way to go'. 

Day 5:
"𝐌𝐲 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲" - 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠
We will all discuss general events that might happen at a child's party (i.e. excitement when waking up, nervous before guests arrive, grateful for receiving gifts, etc) and we will highlight the fast that feelings change many times in a  day, and it can be overwhelming, so sometimes we can take "time-off" or a "step back" if it's too overwhelming for us.

                    *𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭: 
                                      - "Body Check-in" - check what signals your body is sending you (fast heart rate, sweating, tummy butterfly, etc);
                                      - expressing feelings safely;
                                      - "check-in" moments throughout the day.

Supplies for this class: Birthday party attire children can wear!  Paper and pens, scissors.


𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀:

Day 1:
☆ 2 colourful balloons. 1 balloon inflated and 1 not inflated, please. Young children will need assistance to blow the balloon and tie it up as well as parental supervision; please, reach out if you don't have balloons or there are latex allergies involved, I can offer alternatives.
☆ a shaker/bell/maracas;
☆ a whistle/recorder/harmonica...etc to blow on;
☆ felt tip pens and 2-3 sheets of paper to draw on;
☆ space to dance around;
☆ a drum stick or a wooden spoon.

Day 2:
☆ space to move around;
☆ a box of tissues;
☆ play dough;
☆ a bouncy ball (football or fitness ball);
☆ paper, colouring pens.

Day 3:
☆ paper and pens,
☆ play dough 3 colours please.

DAY 4: 
☆ space to move around,
☆ paper to draw on, 
☆ colouring pens/markers (green, yellow, orange and red pens please).

Day 5: Birthday party attire children can wear;
☆ paper and pens;
☆ a box with a lid (plastic container - bigger size to fit some sensorial items);
☆ objects that are used in your household to self soothe your learner (i.e. teddies, squishy toys, etc).