'The Way I Feel'
'The Way I Feel' is the first in our forthcoming range of well-being activity packs for children aged 3 - 5 years.
This six-week activity pack, with training videos and lifetime support enables you to teach the early years children you work with to recognise, name, and manage emotions through drama, music, movement and play!
Linked to the three Prime Areas of Learning, 'The Way I Feel' includes:
- Six weekly activities designed to develop children's verbal and non-verbal communication skills
- Six corresponding extension tasks, which includes a 'play at home' task
- Six teacher demo videos. Train 'on-the-job' and develop new, transferable skills
Plus, 'Mixed Up Frog', a preschool song starring the tree frog, Gary, who is learning to manage his own BIG emotions!
Pyjama Drama has always made play a priority. At a time when well-being has never been more important, this resource helps children to express and manage their emotions through both verbal and non-verbal communication. By using drama as the vehicle for learning, ‘The Way I Feel’ helps all children access new vocabulary, communicate their feelings, develop empathy and co-operate with others.
What does ‘drama-based’ mean?
All practitioners, no matter what their experience of drama or if they consider themselves to be naturally shy, can employ our simple, drama-based approach after all, drama is just another word for play!
Our teacher demo videos (each lasting only a few minutes long), quickly train practitioners in how to use the Pyjama Drama technique, ‘Secondary Characters’; a tried-and-tested approach that stimulates imaginations and ignites conversation!
What is a ‘Secondary Character’?
A secondary character is an imaginary friend, quickly and easily brought to life by following a few simple steps (our teacher demo videos show practitioners exactly how to create a believable character, and how to deliver each of the activities with an approach that Pyjama Drama has been using across the UK since 2005).
In ‘The Way I Feel’, children are introduced to the character Gary, a mixed-up tree frog who is struggling with his emotions - one minute he’s happy, the next he’s frustrated, one day he’s yellow, the next he’s grey! The technique harnesses children’s natural instinct to make-believe, so although the activity may begin with the teacher holding a single ‘Gary’, soon the room will be full of tree frogs, as children instinctively create and nurture their own little frogs.
That’s when you know they believe in Gary, that they’re invested in him, and that as they strive to help him overcome his challenging emotions, they’re learning how to overcome their own.
Drama-based learning is fun, easy when you know how, and incredibly powerful. So, why not invite Gary into your classroom, where he’ll support the development of children’s emotional vocabulary and be forever alive in their imaginations, continuing to support their learning long after activities have been delivered…