Getting a sense of “belonging” within family and friends is really important for children; for their happiness and wellbeing. Anything that we can do to encourage this is helpful particularly at a time when staying connected might be hard. In order to help your children with that feeling of belonging, either in class or at home, we have created a simple activity to help them surround themselves with love. Again, this is something we have done with Billie BaCall, who is the illustrator and writer for the lovely I am Your Friend. Do check her and her site out too.
We think that your kids, and school will love this activity – we do, and we love the book as well!
Just to give you a few details on this first…
I am Your Friend
This book is illustrated by Billie BaCall and the aim it to inspire positivity and happiness in the reader, through the wonderful illustrations contained within it.
Perfect for kids and adults alike, just pick it up when you need uplifting, and its like a gentle walk in the fresh air; helping to lift the clouds.
Do check out the other activity we have from Billie helping kids to stay positive too. Combine this with our positivity postcards, and hopefully you’ll be in a great frame of mind to do the activity with the kids! 😂
How to help kids with a feeling of belonging: doing the activity
Here is the sheet for you as an image – to download scroll to the end of the article where we have a circular image you can click on to get it.
As you can see here, your child is pictured in the centre of a heart, which represents wherever they want to feel they “belong.” This is actually a good activity for adults too – so don’t be afraid to take a few moments to have a go too.
- Your child draws in more detail on the face labelled as “me” within the activity sheet,
- They can think about where they feel loved, safe, and happy; somewhere where belonging seems to fit. This might be a group of specific friends, it might be their family, it might be a class they like like doing. Could be anywhere – they can pick what is right for them,
- Think about the people that are there, they can then add them to the other faces, and perhaps even name them too, and
- Add more faces, or “things” to the picture around the heart that make that sense of belonging spring to life in the picture. For example, perhaps it it about the family; maybe your children can add pets, the house, a picture of their favourite soft toy, etc. Whatever makes the activity more personal to them.
There you have it – their very own poster, which they can now hang up wherever they want to in their room, or you can add to classroom walls too.
<< Click on this lovely circular picture to get the activity >>
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We’ve got lots of other articles that are focused on kid’s emotions and wellbeing, so do check them out:
Here are some other ideas to help children to understand and cope with their feelings and emotions.
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A printable to help kids understand what feelings they are having.
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Positive writing prompts for kids emotional development #31DaysOfLearning
Writing prompts for children that focus on feelings, and emotional development.
31 Days Of Learning
Find all of our 31 Days of Learning events on one page! Print out our calendar and work your way through each activity! Have fun!
Friendship mindful activity for kids: Friends who lift my spirits most
Simple mindful activities for kids focusing on friends that lift us up.
You can see what other sites have on this too:
Activities to help your kids with their emotions
If you need more ideas to help your kids deal with their emotions then these posts are worth checking out and trying out.
Emotions Discovery Bottles Inspired By Disney’s Inside Out
Help your kids recognise their emotions with these fun emotions discovery bottles inspired by Disney's Inside Out.
Tool for teaching emotions in kids
Use these tools to help teach kids about emotions.
5 Steps to Managing Big Emotions: Printable
Join teacher Christie Burnett in this post where she shares 5 steps to managing big emotions in kids. There's also a free printable!
Chers for coming – and do come again soon!
Helen
Helen Neale
Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, website editor and a qualified counsellor with experience of working with both children and adults.She is a registered member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapists, with her own private practise. She also freelances with her local Mind organisation.Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, use those grey cells at the same time, and supplement her counselling income.KiddyCharts has reach of over 680k across socials and the site. The site works with big family brands to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10. She is a specialist counsellor for neurodivergent individuals and brings this expertise to her resources and the site. She is also an ADHDer herself.KiddyCharts gives 51%+ profits to charities, focused on supporting mental health and a community in TanzaniaHelen has also worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on.Get in touch TODAY!