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Description

Explore different feelings and start a conversation about mental health with this simple activity.
source: https://www.scouts.org.uk/activities/learn-about-what-makes-you-happy/

Resources

A4 paper
Coloured pens or pencils
Blocks, such as Jenga blocks, Lego bricks, milk bottle tops or pieces of paper
Sticky tack, sticky tape or masking tape
Stickers (optional)

Instructions

PLANNING THIS ACTIVITY
Prepare the blocks by writing different feelings on each of them. Try to include a mix of feelings, such as, happy, sad, upset, angry and so on. You could write directly onto the blocks.
Alternatively, you could write on sticky labels and peel and stick them on to the blocks.
You could also write the feelings onto paper, cut them out and use sticky tape, masking tape or sticky tack to attach the paper to the blocks.

OFFERING SUPPORT FOR THIS ACTIVITY
You could look out for key dates in the calendar that you could plan your talk around, such as World Mental Health Day or Children's Mental Health Week.
This might be the first time that a young person has explored the issue of mental health or thought about speaking with someone about this. If a young person shares their own mental health problems, let them know they can talk to you afterwards and that they can get support from Childline (call 0800 1111 or go to childline.org.uk).
Remember to follow the ‘Young People First’ code of practice (the Yellow Card) in any conversations, and read our guidance on supporting mental health in Scouts.

TALK ABOUT FEELINGS
1. Gather everyone into a circle and tell everyone you’re going to do an activity all about feelings. You could get into smaller groups if you want to and if you have enough adult helpers

2. Arrange the blocks in the middle of the circle.

3. Everyone should take it in turns to take one block and describe the feeling on it. Adult helpers or young leaders can help anyone who may need it with reading.

4. If anyone wants and feels comfortable to, they could talk about a time when they’ve experienced the feeling or emotion on their block. This could include young leaders and adult volunteers sharing their experiences of their feelings too.

5. Remind the group that everybody can experience a whole range of feelings. They’re natural and part of our mental health. However, experiencing some feelings, such as anger or sadness, for too long can mean that someone’s mental wellbeing is low. They should take action to improve it or get support.

6. Everyone can share ideas on where to go for support. This could be talking to someone they trust, such as family, friends or a teacher, contacting Childline or speaking to their GP.

7. Ask everyone to think about how they can create happy feelings, especially when they’re feeling sad, upset or angry. People may think about what makes them feel happier, such as playing football with their sister, watching their favourite cartoon, reading their favourite book or cuddling a pet.

8. Ask everyone to think about who they can speak to when they’re feeling sad, upset or angry. People may say a parent or carer, a friend, a sibling, a pet, a doctor or charity or a teacher.

9. Now, everyone should write down or draw a happiness poster. It should be full of things that make them happy or people they can speak to when they feel sad. Everyone’s ideas will be a bit different and that’s OK.

10. When you’re finished, bring the posters together. Ask if anyone wants to talk about their poster if they’re happy and comfortable to. No-one has to share or show their poster if they don’t want to and they can keep it private.

11. Tell everyone that we can keep our posters to remind us of what makes us happy and who we can speak to for help.

REFLECTION
This activity helped everyone to explore some different feelings and hopefully feel more confident or able to identify and communicate their own feelings. Being comfortable talking about how we feel can improve our wellbeing and make us happier.

It also started everyone thinking about things that improve and support their wellbeing. Did anyone learn something about themselves that they’re comfortable to share? Does anyone want to use their ideas in the future – for example, are there any activities they want to do more of or plan into their lives more regularly?
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extra source for types of emotions:
The patterns of emotion that we found corresponded to 25 different categories of emotion: admiration, adoration, appreciation of beauty, amusement, anger, anxiety, awe, awkwardness, boredom, calmness, confusion, craving, disgust, empathic pain, entrancement, excitement, fear, horror, interest, joy, nostalgia, relief, sadness, satisfaction, and surprise.
https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2018.00015#:~:text=The%20patterns%20of%20emotion%20that,%2C%20joy%2C%20nostalgia%2C%20relief%2C

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