E-MOTIONS

Feelings and breathing.

Listening to silence, inhaling and exhaling, being aware of your body are essential moments in the life of a child and the moments he/she spends in the class.

Self-control and feelings management require a huge personal effort which should begin in the first years of life.

A specific time has been established in the class in order to develop those skills including a time for relaxing and taking time for themselves (20 minutes per day). The sequence of the activities is the following:

- They inhale and exhale deeply so that they can concentrate and focus on their bodies.

- They practise mindfulness techniques in order to improve their concentration and their attention span (hand movements): press the fingers of one hand to the middle of the other palm, massage it in circular motions, ,rotate their wrists, etc.

- They do activities to experience how to feel, touch, and transmit emotions to one another: touch to touch, caress, skin-to-skin contact. All of them enhance the child´s strategies to socialize, communicate and understand the others. They also improve their emotional ties and the social relations between children of the same age. We use different materials such as feathers, creams, massage balls, etc.

During the activities we also use our calm down jars. They provide healthy and effective ways for little ones to help soothe themselves, calm down, take deep breaths and work through emotions. You need the following ingredients for the jar: water, liquid glue, food colouring and fine glitter. Once it has cooled, you put a lid on and secure it with hot glue. When the child shakes the jar, the glitter gently disperses and this relaxation technique not only changes the child´s state of mind, but it also can alter the neuronal connections.