"Lenny and Lily Return to School": What would you say to them?

 This is a story about Lily and Lenny, two friends that are going back to school.

The story has no words, for you to create your own based on the pictures.

Why don’t you explore the story with the help of a trusted adult looking at the questions below the story?

DISCUSSION

·        Identify some of the feelings you think Lenny, Lily and the other children in the story may have.

·        Do you also have any of them ? Why?

·        What are the feelings Lily has? Why do you think she has them?

·        What are the feelings Lenny has? Why do you think he has them?

·        How does Lily act with other children? How does Lenny act? Why do you think there is a difference?

ROLE PLAY

Choose one page. Pick a character and ask somebody else to be the other character. Have a conversation pretending you are that character.

You can also use  toys, each one representing a character in the picture,  and make up a conversation.

WRITING

Write an email to Lenny and Lily telling them how school is going for you. Give ideas about what they could do to feel better about their problems.

"Shake it off" in the Morning, Count Fruits in the Evening

After all this time being at home, lots of things go through your mind, including feeling stress, anxious, sad or moody. We all feel like that sometimes. These activities can help you deal with those feelings that make you feel not so good. 

Shake it off  (any age) 
What you need: shakers that make noise, upbeat and fun music. 
As you play the upbeat and fun music, use anything which sounds like a shaker to shake to the beat. 
"Our big idea during this time is forgiveness, which means that we will not stay angry when someone does something wrong. We can shake off the anger. Shake your whole boy to show how you would shake it off. Now lets's play some music and use our new shakers to the beat. Lets practice shaking it off to Justin Timberlake Can't stop the feeling. 

It feels good and puts a smile on your face when you move and have fun. Whenever you are angry, focus on doing something fun for a while. When you move and shake, it's hard to stay angry. 

Counting Fruits (any age) 
Count to 10 when they are feeling upset. First, choose a topic (i.e fruit). Next, begin counting: "1 apple, 2 bananas, 3 oranges, 4 plums, 5 watermelon, 6 peach, 7 grapefruit, 8 kiwi, 9 strawberries, 10 coconuts". This helps you to move to your "thinking mode" and makes it easier to get calm.

A Comic about Coronavirus

Reporter Cory turner created this recording to help you understand coronavirus. 

Then, author Malaka Gharib created a comic to go with it. 

This book talks about something really important> it does not matter where you are from, everybody can get coronavirus. Nobody gets coronavirus just because of their cultural background. Love all your friends following the social distancing rules: call them, video call them, write letters or just think about them.

We hope you enjoy this comic. 

Malaka Gharib is the creator of this comic. 

Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/28/809580453/just-for-kids-a-comic-exploring-the-new-coronavirus?t=1588945190802

   

What to do if you’re anxious about this situation - webpage to visit

Click here and you will visit a page where they have great ideas to look at if you are feeling stressed or anxious about these changes.

These are some ideas they share if the current news on coronavirus (COVID-19) is making you feel anxious, concerned or stressed.

Tips: things you can do

• Talk to someone about how you’re feeling
• Arm yourself with the facts 
• Know what you can do
• Don't overexpose yourself to the news 
• Plan your time 
• Find things that help you feel calm

Everything is different

One of the things we do in our blog is creating characters and imagining how they are feeling and what they might say. Maybe you could tell us if you like what they are saying and doing, or if you totally disagree with them!

















Everything has changed.  We were told we were not going to have school for some time. It feels like a really long time now.

I did not like going to school that much. But after all this time at home, I am starting to get a bit bored of not being able to go out.

I am happy to be at home with the people I love and trust. Everybody is nice, although it seems I am getting angry at my parents/ carers and siblings more often. But I also enjoy playing and being with them at home.

Schoolwork seems very different too. We do lots of things on a computer or tablet and I am sometimes a bit confused about things.

There are things I like too. I like having breakfast with other members of my family and eating lunch at home. We also do more things together and I have lots of time to play. I love playing board games like snakes and ladders, and twister.

It is very strange because sometimes things seem super normal. And then something really weird happens, like seeing adults wearing masks when we go to the supermarket, or having to wash all the shopping. And then, everything is normal again.

I feel a bit strange about all this. So I decided to make a list of the things that are the same, and the new things that I like.

Have you thought about these? What things that are still the same that you enjoy? What new things do you like?