FREE Mental Well-being Journal for Kids

During challenging times, it’s more important than ever to look after your child’s well-being. To help parents to help their children, Outside the Box has produced a FREE activity journal (At Home with Weaving Well-being) to help children to enhance their mental well-being through a range of activities. It’s most suitable for children aged 7+ to 12 years-old but can be adapted for younger or older children. It was released at the start of the Covid pandemic.

You can download it and print it out for your child/children or, if you don’t have access to a printer, your child can get the activity idea from the screen and do it on a blank sheet of paper.

Most of the topics in the FREE journal, such as positivity, gratitude, kindness, bravery, creativity and self-kindness, are drawn from the field of Positive Psychology, which is the science of well-being. There are also activities based on dealing with worries and coping with change.

The journal is based on Weaving Well-Being – an SPHE programme which your child may be already doing in their school. Even if your child has no experience of Weaving Well-Being, they will still be able to use this as a stand-alone journal. Your child can work through the pages at their own pace, or alternatively, if the journal is being used as part of school-based learning, their teacher can set activities for them to do from time to time.

The journal aims to give children a chance to reflect and express themselves, building into a personal portfolio reflecting unique aspects of their mental well-being. Once complete, they may enjoy looking over it again from time to time, especially whenever they need a well-being boost!

As a parent, you can use this journal to open up an important channel of communication with your child. Take time to discuss the various activities while they are completing them and perhaps even join in and try some of them on yourself!

The journal was compiled by Fiona Forman, co-author of the Weaving Well-Being programme (written by Fiona & Mick Rock).

Fiona appeared on Ireland AM on Virgin Media 1 in April 2021 discussing positive psychology activities designed to help children improve their mental well-being during these confusing and frightening times. Some of the positive psychology activities she demonstrated are now available for you right now in this free journal.

Click HERE or on the cover above to download the FREE journal. You can also double-click on the little square at the centre of the book cover below and it will open in full-screen for you to flick through and see all pages, download or share.

USEFUL LINKS:

Websites:

Twitter: @FionaWellBeing
Facebook: @weavingwellbeing / @fionawellbeing
Instagram: @fionaformanwellbeing

You can find more information about the authors’ programmes by clicking on the links below:

TRY FOR FREE – Teachers can avail of a free trial of all of the above programmes by clicking on the links below:

ONLINE TRAINING:

There are two online training courses on Well-Being available, one summer course (eligible for EPV days) and one all-year-round course. This can be accessed through our sister website: www.otblearning.ie

PARENTS – To further support your child with worries, check out Fiona’s article ‘Ideas for Supporting an Anxious Child

MINDFULNESS – There are some great Mindfulness scripts and Guided Meditations to try with your child/children freely available on our website. Click HERE to access these.

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