For Parents
Resources to help with connection
Here you will find a list of ideas to help your children with connection activities.
Any book read together with your child can be a real point of connection. In our house, The Book with No Pictures is a firm favourite.
If your child is struggling with being apart from you or you’ve had a loss, The Invisible String is a great resource to support an understanding of love and connection.
The Girls is a great book about friendships
The Boys book of feelings
Where’s Wally – this is a firm favourite in our house along side The Guinness World records
Games
Chase games, hide and seek and tickles or wrestling are great for connection – with rules laid out before the game – In our house wrestling is below the shoulders and above the waist – you can use legs but no kicking / hitting and we are very clear that “stop” and “no” means we stop.
Dancing, play dough and jigsaws are all also great for connection as are boardgames. THe Bluey board game can be a great one for those who find losing hard – you work as a team and beat the board. Uno, snap and top trumps are great for quick games.
Throwing / rolling balls to one another is a super way to build connection.
Drawing with one another, writing a line of a story or drawing part of a body and folding it over and passing it on can be a really fun way of connecting together too.
Mirroring each other – one of you is the ‘leader’ and the other has to copy what the other does – then switch roles.
Resources to help with big feelings
Here you will find a list of ideas to help your children with their big feelings. Some of them you are likely to have at home already! Handy!
Books
If you want to talk feelings;
My Feelings and Me: A Child’s guide to understanding emotions (7+)
What are feelings? – a lovely lift-the-flap book to explain different emotions
The Tom Percival Big Bright Feelings Collection give a great talking point; Perfectly Norman, Ruby’s Worry, Ravi’s Roar, Meesha Makes Friends, Tilda Tries Again & Milo’s Monster
Hey Warrior is a wonderful book to support an understanding of anxiety and worry. Karen Young has also written Dear You, Love From Your Brain: A Book for Kids About the Brain and Hey Awesome
My Hidden Chimp – an activity book to do together with your child to support health habits for their mind.
Activities:
Flour – draw in it, put food colouring in it, put it in a balloon!
Playdough – create together – create and guess
Swing – either an actual swing or make something your child can swing on
Jump – up and down, round and round, through a course!
Make a mini sensory garden (from scratch or buy a kit!)
Balance beam – make one from pillows!
Paint in a bag (squelch it about!)
Resources to help with Parental Separation
Here you will find a list of ideas to help your children with parental separation – with some links to other websites too.
Books
Living with Mum, Living with Dad
Gingerbread – is a charity that supports families through separation
Resources to help with someone dying
Here you will find a list of ideas to help your children with death – with some links to other websites too.
Books
When something terrible happens
Child Bereavement UK has a wealth of information and support
Resources to support with understanding neurodiversity
Here you will find a list of ideas to help your children with understanding Neurodiversity – with some links to other websites too.
Books
Ice Cream Sundae Guide to Autism
The Girl with the Curly Hair – website to support with Autism
