Creative Play Ideas to Encourage Calm by Prue Lacey-Jessep
This past year has most definitely been a challenging one for everyone. Our children have especially had to learn to deal with a multitude of new things that they haven’t ever experienced before- worrying about a strange virus, online learning for school, not being able to see their family or friends, not being able to hug grandparents,, wearing masks and the list goes on. There are so many things for their little minds to deal with and process which can also bring about lots of big feelings.
It’s important that we remind our children that all sorts of feelings are ok and that everyone feels these emotions, especially during these unsettling times.
The best way to help our children through these emotions is through play. Through play, children learn to express themselves and act out emotions such as anger, fear, frustration and also gives them an opportunity to practice skills such as sharing, kindness and empathy. Play is a safe place for children to express themselves freely and to explore these emotions. By providing a range of hands-on activities that promote a sense of calm and mindful play, children will be able to express their emotions and learn to calm and self-regulate.
Four Creative activities to help children feel calm and encourage mindful play
Sensory Bottles
Sensory bottles are a great strategy to use as a calming technique if children are feeling angry, worried or have lots of energy to burn. They provide a focus or distraction for children as they encourage children to slow down and focus on the movements of the bottle.
You can make different sensory bottles with water, glitter, glue as a slow-moving experience or rain stick sensory bottle with rice and paper straws.
Lavender Playdough
Playdough is such a versatile sensory experience and you can add lots of different elements to encourage mindful play, such as lavender, flowers, natural resources or their favourite little toys.
Our Favourite Playdough Recipe
2 cups plain flour
4 tablespoons salt
4 tablespoons cream of tartar
4 tablespoons coconut oil
1 cup of boiling water
Food colouring
Lavender oil and dried lavender flowers
Mix all dry ingredients together.
Add food colouring to the water and gradually stir until you have the right consistency
(if it’s too sticky just add more flour)
Sensory Play Tub
Sensory play tubs are a great way to encourage some calm and mindful play and often keep children engaged for ages!.
There are a huge variety of different sensory tubs you can put together. Our favourite is a dinosaur wash. Choose your child’s favourite toys and in a low tub add a small amount of water, sponges and soap.
Other options include:
Nature play-water, mint leaves, flowers. Add cups and spoons for pouring and stirring
Gloop -cornflour and water
Sensory rice -coloured and scented rice
Feelings Face Collage
Helping children to recognise different feelings and talk about them is important in helping them to develop emotional regulation. This is a fun and creative way to do this together as a family. Look through some old magazines and find different face elements to cut out eyes, noses, hair, mouths etc.
Create your own faces with different expressions- happy, sad, angry, worried etc. Use this as an opportunity to talk about the different emotions we all feel and reinforce that it is always ok to feel different emotions.
Prue Lacey-Jessep has a background in Early Childhood and Special Education, Play Therapy and Art Teaching and is in the process of working on a new creative online program for families to help support children's social and emotional learning. You can find out more on her new website www.nurtureandcreate.com and or Instagram @nurtureandcreate