It’s all about language this week at The Children’s House; the children will be making nursery rhyme books, and we will be promoting language through songs, rhymes and stories – one of these stories will be about the worry dolls, which the children will then make. These are a traditional Guatemalan peg doll that the children can confide their worries in and the dolls are meant to take the worries away. We always reiterate to the children that they should always tell their parents/guardians/teachers about their worries, but if for instance they are awake in the middle of the night and need a bit of comfort, the worry dolls are a lovely support.

Sometimes at this time of year, some children might feel a bit worried or stressed about the imminent change on their horizon of transitioning to primary school, and this is a good way to bring up the topic of how we deal with stress and worries. All year long we have been promoting the idea of emotional self-regulation, for example by asking the children when upset ‘what might help you feel better?’, to encourage them to look for solutions themselves when they find themselves in emotionally stressful situations, and give them the confidence to know they can help themselves.

ABC Song

A, b, c, d, e, f, g…
H, i, j, k , l, m, n, o, p…
Q, r, s… t, u, v…w, x, y and z…
Now I know my a, b, c…
Next time won’t you sing with me?!