Mental Health and Wellbeing

Welcome to Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Page!

During these uncertain times, staying safe and well is a priority for families.

Please find some links and resources that may help if your child is feeling isolated, anxious or worried.  Please let your child's class teacher know if you have ongoing concerns.

Purple Day

Children learned about the condition Epilepsy as well as other conditions that may or may not be visible. The children learned how to respond if they see someone having a seizure as well as raising money for Charity! 

Children's Mental Health Week 

Crown Meadow First School and Nursery will be taking part in Children’s Mental Health Week from 1-7th February 2021 and the theme for this year is Express Yourself.

https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/

It is an opportunity for us all to explore the different ways we can express ourselves, and the creative ways that we can share our feelings, our thoughts and our ideas. This could be through art, music, writing and poetry, dance and drama, photography and film, and doing activities that make you feel good.

It’s important to remember that being able to express yourself is not about being the best at something or putting on a performance for others. It is about finding a way to show who you are, and how you see the world, that can help you feel good about yourself.

Around three children in every primary school class has a mental health problem, and many more struggle with challenges from bullying to bereavement. Please know that the Welfare and Pastoral team at Crown Meadow are always available to offer support to children and families with challenges, so please get in contact if you need any help on support@crownmeadow.worcs.sch.uk

Supporting your child during the coronavirus outbreak

• Government guidance on supporting children and young people's mental health during the coronavirus
• Worcestershire Children First - web page with more links and Well-being support guide
• Mind - Well-being during the Coronavirus Pandemic - Some great advice and support that cover the topics below; practical advice for staying at home and taking care of your mental health and wellbeing
• Young minds - Ten tips for talking to your child
• place2be - Coronavirus Questions and Answers from Children - Links to videos and articles that will help you to answer questions your child may have during this difficult time. 

Activities to support well-being for children

during the coronavirus outbreak

Links:

• Elsa Challenge - A useful, printable 14-day mindfulness activity challenge for using during the coronavirus pandemic. 
• Action for happiness – May calendar of activities to support well being

                                          - Coping calendar of activities to support well-being and coping strategies

• A Lockdown Diary - This can be used to make sense of new emotions and uncertainty. This is an unusual time in our history and hopefully will not be repeated in our generation, so use this diary not only for our well-being but also as a memento of this time. 
• My 2020 Covid-19 Time Capsule - A great printable resource for children
• NPR comic - A comic for older kids - explaining coronavirus
• A coronavirus picture story - picture story for younger children
• Dave the dog is worried about coronavirus - picture book for children, aiming to give information without fear and opening up conversations about the pandemic
• Coronavirus by Axel Scheffler - The much loved author and illustrator has written the book to answer children's questions
• Corona virus story with Julia Donaldson characters - Read this to find out how some familiar families are coping with staying at home and home schooling!

Printable resources:

Please also take a look at the resources listed below to support emotional well-being in children.

General support strategies and resources which can be used

to support children’s emotional well-being and mental health

Our everyday habits are important to our mental health, just as they are to our physical health. Here are a few suggestions to help your child develop good habits. 

Think about the five ways to wellbeing:

Are there things you can encourage them to do, or do together, each day? Please see here for more information about the five ways to wellbeing from the mental health charity Mind.

Exercise:

This releases chemicals, in your body, like endorphins and serotonin that help to improve your mood. If you exercise regularly, it can reduce your stress and improve your mental health.

• Cosmic Kids A great website full of videos that make Yoga fun for everyone.
• Go Noodle Go Noodle gets children up and moving to fun, engaging content and games. It allows children to wake up their bodies as well as engaging their minds.
• BBC Super Movers These are videos that will get your child up and moving, and they are linked to the curriculum. They can also be selected based on which key stage your child is in.

• Joe Wicks Daily PE Lesson - Whilst the schools are closed, the famous exercise guru Joe Wicks is running a live PE lesson every week day at 9am from his YouTube channel 
• NHS Change 4 Life - Indoor Activities for Kids 

Meditation:

This can help children to regulate their emotions, thereby having fewer meltdowns, reduce their impulsivity and improve concentration and focus.

• New Horizon: Kids Meditation - Struggling to get the kids to sleep? Allow these relaxing Sleep Stories, Guided Meditations and purposely-designed Sleep Meditations to get your little ones off to a perfect nights rest.

• Guided Meditation for Children - This website offers guided meditation through the form of audio clips.

Mindfulness:

Mindfulness colouring is a relaxing and calming activity which can also encourage children to explore their creativity while improving fine motor skills.

• Minfulness Colouring In Sheets Plenty of lovely animal pictures that can be downloaded for free.  

• More Mindfulness Colouring Pages On here there are some beautiful intricate designs that can be printed for children and adults. 

• Mindfulness Activities A list of 5-10 minute mindfulness activities you children could add into your daily routine. 

Calming strategies:

Sense of peace in your hand – activity provides children with  sense grounding/calming based on connections with familiar people and settings.

Self-esteem:

Self-esteem helps children cope with mistakes and build their resilience. It helps them try again, even if they fail at first. As a result, self-esteem will help them do better at school, at home, and with friends. Children with low self-esteem feel unsure of themselves, so improving self-esteem, improves confidence.

• Self-esteem and Character Building for Kids This website offers lots of lovely activities and games that you can complete with your children.

• Self-esteem Printable Activities There are some wonderful activities here that you can print off for children.

Outdoor activities:

Getting in touch with nature can help to improve emotional well-being and can be a lot of fun!.

• Forestry England -  great resources linked to much loved children’s books
• Woodland Trust  - activities encouraging children to become nature detectives