Wellbeing Week 15th June – 19th June

Hi Girls and Boys One aspect of wellbeing is to learn a new skill or embrace new experiences. I’m sure over the last few months you have tried lots of new things at home whether it be baking, gardening or maybe yoga. Maybe over the summer you would like to try learning a musical instrument next. Here’s a few ideas to get you started. Beginners Piano: Go to https://kidmons.com/game/piano-online/ Try the simple tunes attached by following the letters. (The tunes attached are for this piano activity) Beginners Tin Whistle: Perhaps there’s a tin whistle in your house from an older sibling. Watch this video to help you get started https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdUH1QZvEm8 The notes for some simple tunes will be shown to you in this video. Advanced: If you already play music…. Use some of your own notes and tunes on this virtual piano https://www.onlinepianist.com/virtual-piano (Click on letter notes to have the notes appear on the piano) Have fun! 🎹🎻🎵🎶🥁🎸

Sometimes, when we feel stressed, anxious or angry, all we need to do is breathe to feel better. Sometimes it can be hard to remember to do this, but it’s all about practice! So today, we are going to try some breathing exercises and see if they can help. You can simply count to 3 as you breathe in, and count to 3 as you breathe out. Continue this for ten breaths and see how you feel. You can also try some of the breathing activities on the cards, or the Rainbow Breathing in the video. You might feel funny doing them at first, but you’ll feel super calm after. Here are ten benefits to these breathing exercises: 1. Decreases stress. 2. Reduces anxiety. 3. Helps you to remain calm. 4. Strengthens sustained attention. 5. Sharpens the ability to focus and learn. 6. Slows the heart rate. 7. Lowers blood pressure. 8. Helps to control your emotions. 9. Promotes appropriate social behaviors. 10. Encourages happiness

Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for the goodness in our lives. … Gratitude helps us feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve our health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships. Draw a tree outline or print off the template and write (or draw) one thing you are grateful for on each leaf. You could do this activity and stick it on the fridge and add a new leaf each day. “The root of all joy is gratefulness.” David Steindl-Rast

Good morning everyone! Today we’re going to try some meditation and mindfulness. Meditation helps us to feel relaxed, it helps to calm our worries and it even helps our concentration. Guided meditations are a good way to begin meditation because they are just like listening to a story. In our busy world it can be quite difficult for us to lie still so here are some tips to help you along: Go to a quiet room in your house. You don’t want lots of noise! You can turn off the big lights or pull the curtains in your room. You can turn on a night light or a lamp to make your room nice and cosy. You can lie on a sofa, a bed or even on the floor. Get a pillow or a blanket to stay warm and comfortable. Place a small object like a pebble, a stone or even a small piece of Lego on your forehead as you lie down. Don’t let it move or fall off during the meditation. This will help your body to stay still. You are welcome to try one or both of the guided meditations. 3rd-6th Class The Gratitude Tree – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64QzBuhsyuk Junior Infants-2nd Class The Clever Fox – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtMHCVBgV00 If you enjoy these meditations I have included some more mindfulness activities for you to try during the week. Have fun!