Inner Peace and Mindful Practices with Danton The Idyllic Dove
Visit Danton’s Resource ‘Hub’ Now!Our second week of Wellbeing Wednesday has drawn to a close.
This week, we must begin to look inside ourselves to find our peace, luckily we have a guide.
During Week Three we will meet Danton The Idyllic Dove
“Learn about how to find inner peace and make time for peaceful moments in your daily routine”
Animation
Don’t forget, just like our Superhero term of Wellbeing, all of our animations for this term will be totally free, available to view on YouTube and Vimeo.
We join Danton far above the cityscape of Paris; where he is joined by our favourite travelling egg.
Danton teaches the Mysterious Egg all about inner peace and finding peaceful moments in our day-to-day lives.
Find out more by watching our FREE animation below.
E-Book
In this week’s E-Book, we meet Danton the Idyllic Dove.
Danton’s E-Book focuses on how important it is that we give ourselves time to have peaceful mindful moments with ourselves.
There are two differentiated E-Books available; one for Early Years & KS1 and the other is written for both lower as well as upper KS2.
Journal and Task Card
This week our amazing journal activity and task card are all about peaceful moments, self-compassion and how to practise Danton’s peaceful routine.
Our task card and the journal are great together as they are designed to help the children further embed what they have learnt from the animation and digital E-Book.
The journal also works as a great introductory resource as it introduces this weeks theme of calmness though the activity of drawing things that make them feel calm.
Teaching Guide
Each week there is a teacher guide for EYFS, KS1, Lower KS2 as well as Upper KS2.
Each of these individual teacher guides will include:
- What the children will learn
- Vocabulary & Questions
- The teaching and learning sequence
- A brief overview
- Resources needed, both for this week and the following week
Keep Calm Activities
Just like adults, it’s easy for kids to get lost and overwhelmed by stress.
But kids can learn to calm themselves by focusing on what’s happening right now in their body, breath and surroundings – this is also known as mindfulness. Mindfulness helps focus a worried mind and makes it easier for kids to control how they react to stress.
Have you ever told a child to take a deep breath, and then they start hyperventilating? Or they breathe in, but don’t breathe out?
Sometimes, kids may need a little more help to figure out how to properly take a deep breath.
Here are some of my favourite ways that I’ve found to help introduce deep breathing!
Quick note: The breathing kids should be doing is deep belly breaths, not shallow chest breaths. When they breathe in, their belly should expand, and when they breathe out, their belly should contract.
Hoberman Sphere
Breathe in and expand the sphere, breathe out and push the sphere back in (this mirrors what should be happening to their belly)
Box Breathing
Start at the bottom right of the square
Breathe in for four counts as you trace the first side of the square
Hold your breath for four counts as you trace the second side of the square
Breathe out for four counts as you trace the third side of the square
Hold your breath for four counts as you trace the final side of the square
You’ve just completed one deep breath!
5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Grounding Technique
This technique will take you through your five senses to help remind you of the present.
Take a deep belly breath to begin.
5 – LOOK: Look around for 5 things that you can see, and say them out loud. For example, you could say, I see the computer, I see the cup, I see the picture frame.
4 – FEEL: Pay attention to your body and think of 4 things that you can feel, and say them out loud. For example, you could say, I feel my feet warm in my socks, I feel the hair on the back of my neck, or I feel the pillow I am sitting on.
3 – LISTEN: Listen for 3 sounds. It could be the sound of traffic outside, the sound of typing or the sound of your stomach rumbling. Say the three things out loud.
2 – SMELL: Say two things you can smell. If you’re allowed to, it’s okay to move to another spot and sniff something. If you can’t smell anything at the moment or you can’t move, then name your 2 favourite smells.
1 – TASTE: Say one thing you can taste. It may be the toothpaste from brushing your teeth, or a mint from after lunch. If you can’t taste anything, then say your favourite thing to taste.
Additional Resources
Alongside all of these amazing resources, we also have some brand new, additional resources available which can be used to enhance your teaching even further!
Our stunning looking Display Focus provides you with the resources you need to make your well-being display the best it can be; including a wall display, character passports that are differentiated for EYFS/KS1 & Lower and Upper KS2, all of which relate to that week’s individual theme!
Along with all of these, there are large mindful colouring sheets featuring Danton and a set of differentiated quotes and statements all about being mindful.
Perfect for children to unleash their creativity!
