This week for Red Nose Day we learnt about the importance of laughter. Being mindful or aware of what makes us laugh and feel happy can help us manage more challenging times and uncomfortable emotions. As a group we spoke about what makes us laugh and how we feel after laughing. We recognised that noticing how we feel when we laugh and feel happy can help us engage with these moments more deeply and really feel the benefits. We shared stories of what makes us laugh and what makes us happy in our lives and completed a laughter mindfulness sheet.

After discussing what makes us laugh we took some photos of our big smiles!

This week we welcomed a new group for Spirituality and Mindfulness. They enjoyed learning about what spirituality means and how mindfulness activities are good for calming our mind. We spoke about the importance of regulating our breathing when trying to remain calm. We then made our own Octopus Breathing Cups.

In our final session today we went outside to take part in a senses scavenger hunt. Mindfulness is defined as calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. This activity helped us focus on the things we could see, hear, and feel in the environment.

This week during Enrichment Friday we focused on gratitude. We shared as a group experiences we had been grateful for over the past half term and then discussed the people in our lives we are grateful for. After this, we each designed a  “Hand of Gratitude” which portrayed everything and everyone we are grateful for.

Today in Enrichment we made breathing wands. In our enrichment group we always discuss the importance of breathing to calm and focus our minds. We explored belly breathing this week and then made our own breathing wands. Breathing wands can be used to calm our minds in situations we find difficult or situations that bring anxiety. Some of us decided to tie them around our wrists so they were easy for us to use and some of us made them for our friends and family.

Today we learnt about Zentangle art. We learnt about the word “zen” and how this means calm. After this, we designed our own zentangle patterns which will be used in some art work next week.

Today we started in our new enrichment groups. Spirituality and Mindfulness group made breathing cups. They discussed how they could use the cup to calm their mind when experiencing high emotions and how the cup allows them to focus their minds.