Course 1

Dear Parent/caregiver

As you introduce the theme to your child show him/her some pictures of people expressing different emotions. An example of this is shown by the picture provided. (You may even refer to the famous emoji’s on your cellphone) Use your mirror and experiment with different facial expressions asking your child what he/she thinks the expression means.

Use the following open-ended questions to spark further thoughts and discussions about emotions:

What makes you happy? Why? What makes you sad? Why?
What other feelings or emotions can you have? How are you feeling today? Why?

Activity 1:

Constructing Opposites Emotion Face Stick Puppet

Duration: 20-30 minutes

What do I need?

Scissors
2 Paper plates or 2 circular pre traced paper or cardboard shapes
Glue
Wool/cotton wool
Crayons
Marker
Googly eyes (optional)
2 Ice-cream sticks

What to do:

*Explain to your child that he /she will be making opposites emotion face puppets. Firstly have your child decide on the emotion to form/draw and what the opposite is thereof.
Next, have your child cut out the pre-traced circles to represent the head (if not using the paper plates)
Have your child form the face and emotions by focusing on the shape of the eyes and mouth. Then intentionally attempt to form or draw the opposite expression on the other head. (consider ; Happy/sad; excited/calm)
Have your child draw the eyes on using the marker or simply glue the googly eyes onto the plate
Your child can then glue the wool/cotton wool on as hair as well as glue the stick on behind the circles

*Understanding the concept of opposites is important so that children can be successful with listening, speaking, reading, writing, and math.

Activity 2

Sensory Activity: Making a wacky sack

Duration 15-20 minutes

What do I need?

Balloon
Marker
Flour or sand
Empty bottle
Funnel (To make your own funnel – cut some tinfoil and mould it into the shape of a funnel)

What to do:

*Caregiver should explain that a measurement of ¾ of a cup of flour will be poured into a bottle. Show your child how to measure this and then have him or her pour it into the empty bottle using a funnel.
Next, instruct your child to try and blow the balloon up a little bit and then put it over the neck of the bottle
Making sure some air stays in the balloon, transfer the flour from the bottle into the balloon.
Once all the flour is in the balloon, remove the balloon from the bottle and slowly let the remaining air out of the balloon. If you go too fast, the air could blow too much of the flour back out
Assist your child with tying a knot on the balloon
Lastly, have your child draw a face on his/her wacky sack, remembering to draw any emotion he/she wishes to.

Activity 3

Physical Activity: Inchworm Crawl

Duration: 10-15 minutes

What to do: (Follow the following physical guidelines.)

Have your child start in a standing position and bend over with hands and feet touching the floor (as close to their toes as they can)
Your child must then slowly walk forward with hands away from their feet (as far as they can).
Finally, the child then slowly walks his/her feet back to their hands, always keeping their hands on the ground
Repeat activity
Children of this age often find keeping hands and feet stationery at the required times, very challenging. With practice, control over this movement pattern will improve will improve.

*The Inchworm is an amazing core strength exercise. A child has to engage his abdominal muscles to walk his hands out while his feet stay still and then pull those muscles in extra tight as he transitions from moving arms to moving feet. The arms and hands get a big workout, too, as they bear the child’s body weight and move through the exercise pattern. Coordination is another benefit as a child learns to move the top half of his body while the bottom half stays still — very tricky for some kids! And, even more focused coordination is required as he takes reciprocal steps with his legs or hands to move forward.