What does ‘Express Yourself’ mean?

‘Express Yourself’ is about finding creative ways to share feelings, thoughts, or ideas, through things like art, writing, music, dance and doing things that make you feel good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfbOkWFTRAw

 

Why does finding healthy ways to ‘Express Yourself’ matter?

Finding creative, enjoyable ways to share our thoughts, feelings and ideas can make us feel good and help our mental health, especially when we face tough situations or difficult times.

It matters because when we feel good about ourselves, it can help our mental health and wellbeing.

Self-expression is a great way to relieve yourself of stress and free your mind. Self-expression can help you to reflect on your life, actions, decisions, relationships, beliefs, and thoughts — rather than keep them buried deep down.

 

What does mental health and wellbeing mean?

Just as we look after our physical health (our bodies) by doing things like exercising, eating well and getting enough sleep, we also need to look after our mental health (our minds). One way of caring for our mental health is to notice and share how we are feeling.

Expressing ourselves in creative ways can help us do this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl1NW7h7lrY

 

How does being creative and expressing yourself make you feel?

We are all different and will find different creative ways to express ourselves. 

Finding healthy ways to express ourselves can make us feel good, happy, relaxed, excited, connected ...

 

How does expressing ourselves help us feel connected to others?

By expressing ourselves thoughtfully, we can better communicate, collaborate and build a community with others. At times of crisis, people come together to express themselves individually, and as a group, through the arts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWSXD2HGuwA&feature=emb_logo

 

Virtual Circle Time

Imagine you were stuck on an island for a day, can you answer the questions below?

 

Story Time

 

 

 

Activity 1: Squiggle Game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozKW1M97JXE&feature=youtu.be

 

Activity 2: Expression in my Heart

 

Activity 3: Feelings Catcher

Step 1:  Draw outline of feeling catcher and decorate

Step 2: Write any negative feelings, thoughts or experiences you’ve felt this week.

Step 3: Trap those negative feelings, thoughts and experiences

Step 4: Around your ‘Feeling Catcher’, write positive thoughts, strengths, positive traits and activities that allow you to express yourself.

 

Activity 4: Be Creative

Come up with your own creative challenges this week. This could be using art materials, music, words, dance, digital design, or growing and planting seeds (creating an indoor garden), and creating recipes etc.

How could you encourage and support your friends to try something creative?

Share your creative challenges with your family, friends and teacher!

 

Dress to Express

On Friday 5th February ‘Dress to Express’ and express yourself through your clothes, hair, etc.

Wear your favourite colour or wear a range of colours to express your feelings.

Colours can be very personal and mean different things to different people, so this is a great opportunity to encourage self-expression and celebrate a diverse range of emotions.