Five ways to support children’s mental and physical health in lockdown.
We know another lockdown isn’t easy for any of us and can be especially hard for children.
At stormbreak we believe that when children move we can help them to feel stable, safe, reassured, hopeful and enriched.
With stormbreak, and as trusted adults who can stormbreak with them, we can help children to talk about their anxieties, their worries and their hopes and help them to feel supported and not alone.
Here are five ways that stormbreak can help;
1. Build Resilience
Resilience is created through connection and the support of relationships with trusted adults encouraging, supporting and enabling children to understand and talk about their difficulties, the barriers they face and to then be able to ‘bounce back’ and to strengthen and grow despite adversity.
Here is a stormbreak you can do together to help you to talk together and think about barriers and obstacles and how to hold life in balance.
Resilience can help us to develop an inner strength to be brave and have courage but it is important that we can ask for help when our feelings become too big for us to manage.
2. Connect in Relationships
Being away from our friends and wider family members can be so hard. Being together and sharing time with someone at home or perhaps through shared social time online with a friend or family member can help us feel connected. Having fun, sharing time together and having a sense of belonging is essential for our wellbeing. Connection with others helps us to feel secure, loved and cared for and is important especially through difficult times.
Try one of these stormbreaks together that focuses on building relationships.
This stormbreak helps us to talk about our feelings with others and to notice different feelings we can have in relationships.
Take notice of Self-care
Noticing how we are feeling and actively taking care of ourselves is important. Walking in nature, mindful movement that helps us breathe and relax or having a go at activities that energise us helps to keep us mentally and physically well.
Try one of these stormbreaks to help you to think about how we can take care of ourselves.
Mindful scavenger hunt · self-care
This stormbreak helps us to notice sensations and feelings we have. We can have lots of feelings sometimes these can be uncomfortable or sometimes can help us feel good. It is important to notice them and to then make choices to take care of ourselves.
Say hello to your trees · self-care
Being in nature can help calm or energise us.
4. Celebrate Self-worth
Knowing we matter and valuing ourselves is important for our wellbeing. During lockdown encourage children to keep a journal and notice feelings they may have each day, things they have done each day that they have enjoyed, which stormbreaks they have had a go at and notice strengths and personality traits. See if they can give themselves a compliment or affirmation each day.
Watch our self-worth animation and have a go at these stormbreaks that help us to celebrate our self-worth and help us to know we matter.
WATCH OUR SELF-WORTH ANIMATION
Sunrise helps us to take time for ourselves and to know we matter. It brings awareness to our body and mind.
Classroom rockstars - Helps us to have fun together and feel good inside
Classroom rockstars · self-worth
5. Share Hope and Optimism
It is tricky to keep a positive mindset all of the time but we can help children feel optimistic and hopeful by listening to and validating their ideas and interests, by encouraging them to have a go at something new.
Try these stormbreaks which help us have an open and positive mindset, that encourage to think and share ideas and have confidence that things change and we can grow from this
Lily pad leaps which helps us recognise how we can leap between our feelings and helps us see how they change.
Lily pad leaps · hope and optimism
Moon and stars
Moon and stars · hope and optimism
This stormbreak helps us to have a positive outlook on life and a belief that we can thrive now and in the future.
We hope you can enjoy these stormbreaks together every day and can find the opportunities to laugh, share, connect, celebrate and take notice of ourselves and each other so that we can all be mentally and physically healthy throughout this lockdown experience!
Register for the stormbreak challenge and complete a personal stormbreak journey earning awards and certificates along the way. Sign up at www.stormbreak.org.uk
