The School of Play Curriculum
Primary School Grade 5 & 6
Week Twenty Three centres on helping students recognise, express, and understand their emotions with confidence, creativity, and compassion. Through playful activities inspired by Venus's lessons, students learn that sharing feelings is an act of courage that builds stronger connections with others. Imaginative experiences like the Feelings Puppet Show give students a safe, supportive space to express emotions through characters and storytelling. At the same time, My Feelings Face provides a visual and reflective way for children to identify how they truly feel inside. These experiences strengthen emotional literacy, helping students understand that all emotions, big or small, are valid and worth expressing.
The week also emphasises calmness, gratitude, and the nurturing of emotional resilience. Soft Stretch Circle introduces mindfulness and gentle affirmations that allow students to reconnect with their bodies and speak kindly to themselves, building quiet confidence and inner balance. Meanwhile, Thank You Cards for Helpers invites students to reflect on times when they felt supported and to express heartfelt appreciation, strengthening trust and social bonds. Together, these activities foster vulnerability, empathy, and gratitude, helping students cultivate emotional courage and connection as they continue their Playful Astronaut journey.
Courses
Feelings Puppet Show
Feelings Puppet Show gives students a gentle and playful way to explore emotions by letting their puppets do the talking. Using characters they create or choose, students act out scenes that show how their puppet feels, whether it’s happy, worried, excited, or sad. This imaginative layer provides a safe distance, helping children express emotions that might feel too big or too scary to share as themselves. As they bring their puppets to life with voices, actions, and simple stories, students begin to understand their own feelings more clearly while building confidence in naming and expressing them.
Watching each other’s mini-performances becomes a powerful moment of empathy and support. Students learn to listen without judgment, respond kindly, and celebrate the courage it takes to share feelings, even through a puppet. The classroom starts to feel like a community where vulnerability is welcomed and emotions are understood rather than hidden. This activity links beautifully to the Playful Astronauts’ visit to Venus, where students learn that opening up helps people grow closer. Feelings Puppet Show leaves the group feeling connected, understood, and proud of the bravery they showed through their tiny storytellers.
Respectful Relationships
1. Emotional Literacy
- Students identify and name a wide range of emotions by acting them out with puppets.
- They explore causes of feelings, helping them understand emotional triggers and responses.
- Puppets provide a safe buffer for expressing vulnerable emotions students may hesitate to share directly.
2. Personal Strengths
- Students practise courage by sharing feelings through their puppet’s voice.
- Creativity, empathy, humour, and storytelling provide opportunities for strengths to shine.
- Giving positive suggestions to other puppets highlights strengths such as kindness, patience, and problem-solving.
3. Positive Coping
- Students explore coping strategies in a playful, low-pressure format (e.g., seeking help, breathing, positive self-talk).
- They practise articulating what might help their puppet feel better, reinforcing real-life coping tools.
- Sharing experiences normalises emotional expression and builds resilience.
4. Problem-Solving
- Students act out emotional situations and explore possible solutions or supportive responses.
- Puppets allow them to rehearse conflict resolution and emotional support safely and creatively.
- Student–puppet conversations encourage the steps of emotional problem-solving: identify, express, support and reflect.
5. Stress Management
- Performing through puppets reduces social pressure and allows students to process emotions in a regulated way.
- Watching peers' scenes fosters calm reflection and reduces anxiety around emotional sharing.
- Discussing what helped each puppet feel better builds a bank of stress-management strategies.
6. Gender and Identity
- Puppets allow students to express emotions free from gender stereotypes or social expectations.
- Students see that all emotions, sadness, fear, excitement, pride, are valid no matter who you are.
- The variety of puppets encourages playful exploration of identity and emotional voice.
7. Positive Relationships
- Students build trust by listening respectfully to peers’ puppet stories.
- They practise giving supportive, encouraging comments, key behaviours in healthy friendships.
- Shared vulnerability fosters empathy and strengthens classroom connection.
8. Help-Seeking
- Students explore when a puppet might need help and practise articulating who they can go to.
- Scenes often include reaching out to a friend, teacher, or family member, normalising help-seeking behaviour.
- The activity reinforces that emotions are manageable when we share them and seek support.
My Feelings Face
My Feelings Face gives students a calm, creative space to tune into how they’re feeling on the inside and express it through art. By drawing a large face with features that match their emotions, students learn to recognise and represent their internal world in a visual way. Choosing colours, shapes, and expressions helps them understand that feelings come in many shades, bright, soft, heavy, or vibrant, and that all of them are valid. This simple drawing activity builds emotional awareness while encouraging students to notice and name their feelings with honesty and confidence.
When students share their drawings, the classroom becomes a space of openness and connection. Hearing peers describe their colours and expressions helps normalise a wide range of emotions and shows students that others feel the same way sometimes too. These moments of gentle sharing deepen empathy and support the idea that being open, just like the lessons from Venus, helps people feel closer and more understood. My Feelings Face leaves students feeling seen, more in tune with themselves, and proud of the courage it takes to express what’s happening inside.
Respectful Relationships
1. Emotional Literacy
- Students identify their current emotional state and represent it visually through facial expressions and colour choices.
- The activity teaches them to name emotions accurately and notice how feelings show up in the body and face.
- Sharing helps students practise putting emotions into words, deepening understanding of emotional cause-and-effect.
2. Personal Strengths
- Students show courage and self-awareness by expressing how they feel.
- Creativity, honesty, and vulnerability become strengths that are encouraged and celebrated.
- Recognising classmates’ artwork fosters appreciation of diverse emotional experiences and artistic strengths.
3. Positive Coping
- Drawing emotions provides a calming, reflective process that supports emotional regulation.
- Students learn to acknowledge how they feel rather than hide or avoid emotions, an essential first step in coping.
- Discussing changing feelings throughout the day helps students understand that emotions are manageable and temporary.
4. Problem-Solving
- Students practise recognising an emotion and linking it to strategies or explanations (why they feel this way, what might help).
- Optional variations guide students to reflect on past experiences involving grit, excitement, or perseverance, core problem-solving moments.
- Sharing emotions openly encourages constructive communication rather than internalising conflict.
5. Stress Management
- The creative process offers mindfulness and stress relief through colouring, drawing, and focusing on the present moment.
- Naming emotions reduces their intensity and builds emotional clarity.
- Students develop awareness of how recognising emotions early can help prevent conflict escalation.
6. Gender and Identity
- Students express emotions freely without stereotypes about who is “allowed” to feel or show certain emotions.
- The activity validates individual identity, emotional expression style, and unique colour symbolism.
- Encourages students to embrace their authentic feelings and see them as normal and human.
7. Positive Relationships
- When students share their drawings, they build trust, empathy, and understanding within the class community.
- Listening to others’ emotional experiences fosters compassion and positive peer support.
- Vulnerability becomes a pathway to stronger, healthier connections, mirroring the Venus theme of warmth and openness.
8. Help-Seeking
- By naming and sharing their feelings, students practise reaching out for connection and support.
- The activity normalises conversations about emotions, lowering barriers to seeking help when needed.
- Students learn that expressing difficult feelings can lead to comfort, guidance, and stronger relationships.
Soft Stretch Circle
Soft Stretch Circle invites students into a calm, gentle space where movement and mindfulness work together to build confidence from the inside out. As the class follows simple stretches, reaching tall, hugging their knees, wrapping their arms into a soft self-hug, they learn to tune into their bodies and move with care. These moments of slow movement are paired with soothing affirmations like “I am safe” or “It’s okay to feel,” helping students understand that emotions of all kinds are welcome. With each stretch and breath, they practise showing kindness to themselves and recognising that looking inward can feel brave, quiet, and strong.
As the circle moves in harmony, students begin to experience what it means to feel safe being soft and open around others. The shared calmness helps the group form a gentle connection, reminding them that vulnerability isn’t something to hide, it’s something that helps us grow closer. This experience links beautifully with the Playful Astronauts’ lessons on Venus, where warmth and self-acceptance help build meaningful relationships. Soft Stretch Circle leaves students feeling grounded, supported, and proud of the courage it takes to speak kindly to themselves.
Respectful Relationships
1. Emotional Literacy
- Students learn to recognise feelings in their bodies by pairing gentle movement with calming affirmations.
- Affirmations like “It’s okay to feel” or “I am safe” help students label and accept emotions without judgment.
- Breathing and stretching teach students to notice emotional shifts, increasing self-awareness.
2. Personal Strengths
- Students practise courage through quiet vulnerability, participating softly in front of others without pressure.
- Affirmations build internal strengths such as bravery, self-worth, compassion, and self-belief.
- Gentle, mindful movement supports students in recognising resilience within calmness.
3. Positive Coping
- Students learn calming strategies like deep breathing, stretching, self-hugging, and positive self-talk.
- These tools reinforce healthy ways to respond to stress, frustration, or uncertainty.
- Practising coping skills during movement makes them easier to use during real emotional challenges.
4. Problem-Solving
- Students learn that stopping, breathing, and grounding the body helps them think more clearly during conflict or strong feelings.
- The activity teaches that kindness toward oneself is part of resolving social and emotional problems.
- Students begin to recognise physical regulation as the first step toward calm problem-solving.
5. Stress Management
- Gentle stretching, slow breathing, and affirmations lower stress and help regulate the nervous system.
- Students experience how movement can shift mood and ease emotional tension.
- The circle format fosters a sense of collective calm, creating a shared stress-management environment.
6. Gender and Identity
- Students are encouraged to express comfort, softness, and vulnerability, emotions often restricted by stereotypes.
- The activity supports all identities by allowing freedom in how each student participates.
- Affirmations reinforce self-acceptance and individual emotional experience.
7. Positive Relationships
- Moving together in synchrony builds trust, belonging, and social cohesion.
- Sharing affirmations nurtures kindness toward self and others, strengthening peer relationships.
- Respect for personal space and gentle movement promotes safety and mutual care within the group.
8. Help-Seeking
- Affirmations such as “I can ask for help” teach students that seeking support is a strength.
- The calm setting models how self-regulation can prepare students to reach out when needed.
- Practising emotional openness reduces stigma around asking for help in future stressful situations.
Thank You Cards for Helpers
Thank You Cards for Helpers invites students to pause and reflect on moments when someone supported them during a time of need, when they felt shy, unsure, sad, or nervous, and a caring person helped them feel safe again. Through drawing, colouring, and simple messages, each student creates a heartfelt card for someone who made a difference in their day. This creative process helps children recognise the kindness they’ve received and understand that expressing gratitude is a powerful way to strengthen relationships. As they choose colours, shapes, and words that show appreciation, students practise vulnerability by acknowledging their feelings and the people who helped them through them.
Sharing the cards, whether quietly slipping them into a bag, handing them directly to a friend, or taking them home for a family member, becomes a meaningful act of connection. Students learn that saying thank you is more than good manners; it’s a way of honouring the warmth and care others have shown them. When the group reflects on why they chose their helpers, the classroom fills with stories of kindness and courage. Linked to the lessons from Venus, this activity reminds students that gratitude blossoms when we let others know how much their support matters. Thank You Cards for Helpers leaves the class feeling appreciative, connected, and proud of their ability to give kindness back.
Respectful Relationships
1. Emotional Literacy
- Students reflect on moments when they felt shy, sad, nervous, or unsure and identify the emotions involved.
- They learn to connect emotional experiences with supportive actions from others.
- Writing or drawing their gratitude helps students articulate feelings of relief, appreciation, and connection.
2. Personal Strengths
- Students practise courage and vulnerability when recalling and expressing times they needed help.
- They recognise relational strengths, kindness, empathy, helpfulness, in the people they choose to thank.
- Creating and giving a card builds confidence in expressing genuine appreciation.
3. Positive Coping
- Reflecting on past supportive moments teaches students that asking for and receiving help is a healthy coping strategy.
- Remembering times when others cared for them reinforces emotional resilience and a sense of safety.
- Gratitude-based activities reduce stress and strengthen positive thinking.
4. Problem-Solving
- Students think about what helped them during a difficult moment and how supportive behaviours can resolve or ease emotional conflict.
- They begin to understand the role of seeking help in overcoming emotional challenges.
- The activity encourages students to see gratitude as part of maintaining healthy, peaceful relationships.
5. Stress Management
- Creating cards and reflecting quietly is a calming, mindful activity that supports emotional regulation.
- Remembering supportive interactions lowers emotional tension and fosters a sense of belonging.
- Expressing thanks reinforces the idea that strong social connections help reduce stress.
6. Gender and Identity
- Students choose helpers based on emotional experience, not stereotypes around who can support or be thanked.
- The activity validates each student’s identity by encouraging personal, authentic emotional expression.
- Sharing diverse stories highlights inclusive, non-gendered examples of care and kindness.
7. Positive Relationships
- Students actively strengthen relationships by expressing appreciation to someone who supported them.
- The activity reinforces empathy, respect, and gratitude, core elements of healthy friendships and family connections.
- Sharing why they chose a helper deepens trust and connection within the classroom community.
8. Help-Seeking
- Students reflect on real-life times when they received help, normalising the act of reaching out during vulnerability.
- The activity reinforces that it is safe, appropriate, and brave to ask for support.
- Recognising helpers promotes awareness of a personal support network they can rely on.
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