Imagine this! Children who are calm, relaxed and receptive to learning

At the Rainbow Planet Connection we are here to help you as a teacher, child counsellor or parent!

We realize that many children can exhibit restlessness and lack of concentration.

It’s difficult to either teach or parent children when they are  not receptive.

If we can teach children to relax and be able to put themselves into a much calmer state then we will be in a much better position to help them with both learning and behaviour.

I would like to introduce you to our first E-book on ‘Refocusing and calming activities for children.

Please read below:


There is a lot of wisdom in the old saying, ‘TAKE A FEW DEEP BREATHS’.

This Module has been developed to help children to refocus and calm their energy using breathing exercises. It helps them to become more aware of their breathing patterns and teaches them how to breathe in a deeper more relaxed way. Encouraging full, deep breaths can also be a powerful way to promote release of the energy linked in with feelings, which are locked in the body. It can help to set the energy in motion (e-motion).

Many adults and children, only breathe into the top part of their chest. Shallow breathing is one of the body’s ways of controlling and suppressing emotions and excitement.

Feelings of grief, sadness and fear are often held in the chest. Some of the exercises also teach them how to release pent up emotions using breathing techniques.

Benefits of Refocusing and Calming Activities
Benefits of the activities in this Module include helping children to:
  • Develop an awareness of their breathing, and how it affects their energy and emotional state.
  • Learn how to release pent up emotional energy by breathing it out, using visualization exercises.
  • Learn how to use deep breathing for refocusing, calming and balancing their energy.
  • Use deep breathing techniques so that they are more receptive to learning, more focused and less scattered.
  • Be aware of how feelings such as anxiety and fear can cause shallow breathing and how peaceful, calm and more relaxed feelings are linked with deeper breathing.
  • Understand how breathing is affected by external situations and experiences, including environmental factors and other people’s emotions

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN WHAT WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT PLEASE CONTACT US VIA OUR WEBSITE OR YOU CAN ORDER COPIES OF OUR E-BOOK 1 ‘REFOCUSING AND CALMING ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN’

http://rainbowplanetconnection.com/products/module-one-refocusing-and-calming-activities-for-children/

How can we improve children’s behaviour and attitude in our schools?

How can we improve children’s behaviour and attitude in our schools?

I have worked in the schools in England as a supply teacher for the past six years.

When I came across this article from the BBC news (see below) Ofsted tells schools to crack down on classroom disruption’ I couldn’t help but agree that many lessons are interrupted by low level disruptive behaviour.
Too many classrooms in England are being disrupted by minor disruption and bad behaviour, warns the head of the education watchdog Ofsted.
Launching Ofsted’s annual report, chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw warns of a “sloppy culture” of noisy corridors and pupils answering back to teachers. group of teen girls
Sir Michael also described the scale of regional differences in school standards as being like “two nations”.

But what is the answer to this issue?

I believe that teaching children social and emotional skills as early as possible would go a long way to solving this problem.

They would learn:

o    How to be responsible for and manage their own feelings and not take out their anger and frustration on others who are not to blame
o    The benefits of treating others with respect and fairness as they would like to be treated themselves.
o    How to get more out of life using healthy communication skills and how to improve their social interaction

If you agree with the suggestions and comments and you are a teacher or a parent or are working with children in any capacity and you wish to support them in improving their communication skills then you may be interested in our resources and/or e-training courses.

Our online courses can be accessed from anywhere in the world!
All you need for this course is internet access, an interest in
developing new skills and having fun!
We will tailor the training schedule to suit your individual needs.

On enrolment you will be provided with the full set of Programs and Resources to enable you to deliver between 8-10 sessions of Emotional and Social Skills well-being to groups of young children (primary school age).

We also have lots of activity books and resources that will help you teach children about  Social and Emotional Intelligence.

 

 

 

What are you getting your children for Christmas?

What are you getting your children for Christmas?

I was a single parent with an only child!
I used to spoil my daughter at Christmas and buy her far too much!

I was horrified one Christmas when she was about five years old! She tore open all her presents without barely looking at them and then said ‘Where is the next one!!’

I was teaching her to be spoilt and greedy!!
christmas child
Of course I didn’t mean to. I was just making up for the fact that I had been one of six children and mostly had my older sister’s hand me downs!

It brought me to thinking – What would be a wonderful gift for children?

If they are still young then I think the best gift you can give them is something creative where they are able to use their imagination.

If you give a child some card, some paper, colouring pencils etc then they will be just as happy if not happier than receiving a toy that walks across the room and which they will probably get bored with after 20 minutes!
You may disagree!?
christmas tree toy

I have worked in primary schools and taken the children for art and creative classes and they are so absorbed and when they are drawing or colouring in! They love it!
At the Rainbow Planet Connection we promote the use of art, drama, creative writing and all sorts of creative expression in our resources and programs.
We have programs for parents and teachers and lots of fun activity books. They are designed to teach children social and emotional intelligence!
They will have better self-esteem, be able to develop healthier friendships and be more able to deal with bullying and other social issues.
Why not take a look at our parent’s page, teacher’s page and other resources?
In the meantime HAPPY CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!

Tips: Do your children show appreciation for others?

cute puppy n girl blog oct 13

Thanks for being cute and cuddly!

Tip for today from Rainbow Planet Connection – Help your children understand the value of thanking someone in their life who has been kind or caring towards them!

Make appreciation cards together – it is fun and creative and all you need is some card or paper and crayons or paints!

Whether you are a parent, teacher or a person working with children you can have fun helping the children to create an appreciation card for someone in their life that they want to thank! Or it could be a pet!

It is wonderful to help them to take time out and think about someone who loves them or has helped them in some way.

When you thank someone else it helps you to feel good inside too!

On a piece of white card or paper ask the children to create a design (flowers, animals, rainbows or something of their choice) and to think of who they would like to thank and what they would like to say. Make sure they leave some room to write the message!
You may need to help them with this.

Ideas: Thank you for being my friend, Thank you for all the hugs, Thank you for being cute and cuddly.

This idea and more can be found in our activity book Exploring and Expressing feelings  games and activities for children.

Tips for Child Counsellors and Therapists

Would you like more ideas and resources to help the children that you are counselling develop their social and emotional well-being?

Happy child with painted hands

I know that as a counsellor myself for many years, I was constantly looking for resources to use in my counselling role, especially ones that were interactive and fun.

I needed resources to use with small groups of children and also ones that I could use when working with a child one on one to help to encourage them to express their feelings!

If you are working with emotionally disturbed children it is extremely useful to have stimulus materials, ideas and resources to help them express their emotions in healthy, non-violent ways.

We (myself and Karyn – a primary school teacher) set up the Rainbow Planet Connection several years ago to provide resources and training programs to support children’s healthy social and emotional development.

We offer fun, creative activities to help to encourage children to open up and express themselves so that emotional healing can take place.

The activities we offer are based on the use of art therapy, drama, role play, dance and movement and creative writing to encourage children to express their feelings.

Art therapy for example, is a very useful and effective tool to use one on one or with small groups of children to help them to express their feelings. Many children find it difficult to talk about their feelings but if they are drawing a picture it helps to put them at ease and they often begin to open up. It is amazing what you can find out about a child’s personal circumstances from a drawing of their family!

dancing girl blog 231013Other activities are offered which are based on breathing exercises and inner body work. This involves looking inside the body to find out where the feeling or hurt is and then breathing it and/or doing other exercises to express and release the feeling.

Drama and role play activities are offered as part of our programme and provide fun, effective ways of helping children express their feelings and find better ways of responding to life issues.

As well as a number of Activity-based books and a set of colourful feelings cards we also offer an E-training course for anyone working with children and supporting their social and emotional well-being.

Our Training programs can be done online over a period of 7-10 weeks.
If you decide to enroll you will be provided with the full set of Programs and Resources to enable you to deliver between 8-10 sessions of Emotional and Social well-being skills to groups of young children (primary school age).

An outline of this course:

o This e-course has been created to provide resources and training to encourage and support the development of SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE in children

o Teaching EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE skills has been found to be a KEY FACTOR in producing happy kids with good self-esteem who are socially and educationally more successful

o The Program focuses on helping children to learn how to manage their own emotional energy as well as how to be more aware of other people’s emotional energy and how it affects them

o It introduces them to relaxation, visualization, breathing and body awareness techniques and teaches them how to use these techniques to centre and manage their own energy

o Creative self-expression activities are used throughout these sessions including games, role-plays, movement/dance, art, story telling and more, to help children to explore and express emotions

o The program also helps to empower kids to deal with life issues such as bullying, friendships and anxiety.
If you would like more detailed information about our resources or our training courses please go to www.rainbowplanetconnection.com
Or e-mail: carol@rainbowplanetconnection.com

Thanks for your interest.
Carol Wood, Director of Rainbow Planet Connection.