Feeling Safe With a Wand

l love to use children's books as a one-step removed way of working, especially with children in a small group or 1-to-1 activities.

This week, after a great conversation with Ann Seal about using children's books as resources, I 'risked on purpose' and used the book "A Terrible Thing Happened" to work with three very young children (ages 4-5), 1:1 whose families are involved with Social Services. In the past, I have only used that particular story for older KS2 children as I was concerned the content was perhaps too 'scary' for younger ones.

I made a laminated sheet with 'I Feel....' at the top. Then, with the enthusiastic help of one of the children (aged 4), we stuck 5 foam faces on using some feelings stickers to show a range of feelings.

www.pbpeople.org.uk/protective-behaviour...-for-a-bargain-price

Next we talked about the faces and came up with a small list of 'f' words.

Explaining that we were going to read the story, I gave the child a little [magic?] wand with a golden star on top. I asked her to listen to the story and think about how Sherman (the character) was feeling throughout. As I read, I paused frequently, asking "So how might Sherman be feeling now?....." The child seemed to enjoy holding the wand and using it to point to the faces on the sheet representing feelings. We talked about the fact that sometimes we feel more than one feeling at a time, enabling her to select several feelings at times.

One of the children (also age 4) often seems emotionally 'shut down'. She pointed to the 'sad' face when we got to the page where the main character won't eat his meal, using the illustration as a cue. When I asked why she was suggesting the character was feeling like that, and not wanting to eat, the child very quickly answered "Because he hasn't got any red sauce." This child was very much 'matching pictures' - looking at Sherman's face and choosing a similar one, unable to talk about the story and the impact of events. It was really informative for me in terms of how she seems to be not in touch at all with feelings - either her own or those of others'.

Another child effectively used the wand with the feelings faces, as well as her growing 'feelings' vocabulary to tell me when Sherman was feeling safe, and suggesting other feelings that Sherman might have when he's feeling safe.

Engaging the children by using the wand brought the activity to life a little more, ensuring it was interactive rather than simply sharing a book and talking about the story. I hope to make a few wands now which might appeal to different children and they can choose one they'd like to hold when we read other stories.

It would be great to hear of any other activities using children's books in an interactive way, perhaps with puppets or other props.

judith

Hi Judith,
Thanks for sharing this and love the way children can interpret a picture or text in ways that I may not ever consider.
Your question regarding the use of stories/books reminded me of the list we compiled which can be found at:
www.pbpeople.org.uk/protective-behaviour...-in-children-s-books

Like you, I love using accessible resources, as in they are freely available in libraries as well as the Training Room area of this website, to facillitate/teach the PB process. One of my all time favourites is still 'The Huge Bag of Worries by Virginia Ironside, which is still available for £2.99 at The Book People, www.thebookpeople.co.uk - now that's what I call a fantatsic Christmas present :cheer:

I have now also found the Huge Bag of Worries - Big Book version (a little oversized for a stocking stuffer, but would fit down most standard chimneys to slip under the Christmas tree) - a bargain at just £9.76 brand new on eBay!

www.ebay.co.uk