Don't forget to look at older posts for other ideas!

Halloween crafts

Try your hand at some Halloween craft this week with your child. This wreath and many other craft ideas can be found at: www.dltk-holidays.com also check out the craft ideas at www.activityvillage.com.

Activity Villiage, improving maths confidence!

Activity villiage have teamed up with maths wizz.com to create some free games to help children's confidence with maths. www.activityvilliage.co.uk/wizz.htm

Days out by train!

http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/ for lots of ideas of things to do in the holiday and cool gnomes!!

One of our favourite games in Golden Group:

The ‘Ding Dong Dang’ circle game
Promotes confidence, communication and working together.

1. Find some items from around the house and ask your family to sit in a circle.

2. In the circle give an item to the child next to you saying ‘this is a ding’ they say ‘a what?’ and you repeat ‘a ding’.
3. Pass another item the other way around the circle, saying ‘this is a dang’ they say ‘a what?’ and you repeat ‘a dang’.
4. Keep introducing new items into the circle by giving them more complex names. Such as: ‘This is a ding dang, ding dang dong’.
5. The hardest part for the children will be when 2 different items meet in the middle! At the end of the game discuss with the children which skills they have practised.

Getting active also improves confidence!

https://www.howarethekids.com/

Hello!

Hello to all our Sunnymede parents! I hope you find this blog useful.

Useful advice from BBC parenting

http://www.bbc.co.uk/parenting/your_kids/primary_confidence.shtml

Confidence building
A child with good self-esteem has the confidence to try new things and make friends, and has stronger relationships with you and others.

School life and friends may give confidence a knock.

Help give your child a boost with these ideas:

• Believe in your child and show it - let her know she's a worthwhile, lovable individual.



• Give praise and positive feedback - your child measures her worth and achievements by what you think of her. "Well done, that was hard, and you managed it" is music to young ears.



• Reassure your child that it's OK to make mistakes and that it's all part of growing up.
  Practise active, reflective listening - listen carefully, repeat what you've heard to make sure you understand and give positive prompts to encourage your child to continue.



• Acknowledge your child's feelings - and help her express them verbally.
  Criticise behaviour, not your child - it's very easy to fall into this trap, but too much criticism tells your child she's a bad person and is causing things to happen because of her own stupidity. This is very damaging if it goes on for a long time. Be clear that it's an action you're angry about or behaviour you don't like.



• Respect your child's interests, even if they seem boring to you - take a genuine interest in your child's friends, and what's happening at school, and comment to show you're listening.
  Accept any fears or insecurities your child expresses as genuine - even if they seem trivial to you, don't just brush them aside. If your child says, "I'm useless at maths" say "You're obviously finding maths a struggle, how can I help you?".



• Encourage independence - encourage your child to take chances and try new things. Succeeding gives a huge boost to confidence, and sometimes your child will need to learn by her mistakes.



• Laugh with your child - never at her.



• Focus on your child's successes - swimming, music, whatever she can succeed at.

Are you helping or hindering?

You've warned your child she shouldn't walk across the carpet carrying a cup full of milk and her dinner. She does it anyway, but trips and spills it. It's tempting to say: "Now look what you've done. I told you that you couldn't do it."

Comments such as this make your child feel even worse than she does already for failing at something. Instead, try to give support by saying something like: "Oh no, you tried, but it didn't work. Never mind. Next time you could carry them one at a time."

It's not only the critical things said directly to your children that can undermine confidence. If your child overhears you tell someone that "she's got two left feet" or "she's so clumsy" they might think you really believe this and feel it can't be changed.

Things you say about yourself can damage your child's self-esteem. Children learn a great deal from copying adults close to them. If you overreact to situations or pressure, your child may worry you really can't handle life's challenges. This won't set your child an example of a positive, optimistic attitude to life and how to handle problems.

Think before you speak and choose your words with care - it's very easy to say something without thinking, and then wish you hadn't. "You're so clumsy" or "Don't be stupid" can be said in an irritated moment when the cereal is spilled or an innocent question is asked. Too many negative remarks like this can result in children believing they're useless or stupid.

All the following can damage a child's confidence:

• Saying you don't love them



• Saying you wish they'd never been born



• Insults or unkind remarks



• Deliberately ridiculing things your child does or feels



• Cruel teasing and sarcasm



• Endless nagging



• Aggressive shouting and swearing

If you would like any suporrt with any confidence or self esteem issues, please speak to your child's teacher. They should have some great ideas.

Try some craft with your child!

These colourful Window Pictures will brighten up any view, and bring some of the sunshine in this summer! A super summer craft for kids.

You will need:
Tissue paper Laminating sheet and laminator

Instructions:
Cut out different colors and shapes from the tissue paper to make a picture. Open the laminating sheet and arrange your picture inside.
Close the top layer and carefully feed your picture through the laminator. Please note that laminators can get very hot so young children will need an adult to do this bit.
Stick your picture to a window so the sun can stream through it and make the picture glow.
Here is our window picture when it came out of the laminator, before we put it in the window.

Staying Safe!

The BBC's Stay Safe site explains to children how you stay safe on the Internet and also has links to other sites which promote safety and wellbeing for children such as childline. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/help//web/staysafe/

Miss Dorothy.com

This is a website which can support children with social skills and confidence building. We have used Miss Dorothy resources in our school before so children may already be familiar with her!

Children can follow her adventures as she keeps a diary and even email her with their worries. Dot also has plenty of tips for staying safe on the internet, at home and outside.

http://www.missdorothy.com/

Product Description: This practical book provides a comprehensive collection of tried and tested old favourites together with modern innovative games designed to enhance and promote children's self-esteem. Find it at http://www.amazon.co.uk/101-Games-Self-Esteem-Jenny-Mosley/dp/1855033518/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244576060&sr=8-1

Gift from the Heart

Giving and receiving gifts is often a very special and magical event. The giver expresses caring for the receiver by selecting something he or she feels would be appreciated. The receiver gets a token of affection and love.

This activity is about giving your understanding of others to them and learning how others see you through the exchange of thoughtful gifts.

Objective
To build relations among group members through positive interactions and to increase self-esteem by receiving thoughtful gifts from others.

Who
People with low self-esteem who could benefit from being thoughtful and nice towards others.

Group Size
2 or more

Materials
- Paper
- Pens, Pencils
- Colored markers or crayons

Description
Each member of the group chooses an imaginary gift to give to each person in the group. Each gift is drawn or described on a piece of paper to be given to the recipient. The gifts should be thought out so they represent the individuals who receive the gifts.

The gifts may be deep and thoughtful such as “courage to face life’s difficulties”, for someone who has shared many deep problems with the group. Or the gifts may simply be something the receiver would enjoy, such as “a season ski pass to go skiing any time you want,” for someone who enjoys skiing.

Once everyone has completed their gifts, let one person at a time give out his/her gifts to the others. When giving the gifts, the giver should explain what the gift is and why she or he chose to give that particular gift to the individual.

Discussion Topics
1. How did you decide what gifts to give?
2. What did you think about the gifts you got?
3. Do you think there was a good match between the people and the gifts they received?