Positive Posts - Gratitude Journal 6 – Enjoyment

It's important to remember to appreciate the things you enjoy, no matter how simple, so here's a page about enjoyment; you might think of something you like doing/seeing/hearing/eating/feeling etc: 

   

Positive Posts - Gratitude Journal – 5 Dealing with Negative Emotions

 Whilst it’s important to be positive, it’s also important to remember that it’s OK to feel sad, anxious, angry, lonely, scared… negative emotions are valid and need to be recognised and worked through before we can move on to the positives.

Children as well as adults need to be able to express their negative emotions, in a way that is not harmful to them or to those around them. Being ‘heard’ is especially helpful, without judgement or belittling of their feelings.

Talking, drawing pictures, writing about their feelings can all help. Today’s Gratitude Journal page reflects on finding a positive way to deal with ‘bad’ feelings.

Positive Posts - Gratitude Journal - 4

This is a difficult day for so many people, the anniversary of the dreadful terrorist attacks in New York that rocked the world. 

However, it's important to remember some positives, and to keep working towards a better future for humanity. It's especially important to reassure our children that there is still mostly good in the world.

So here's a page for today's Gratitude Journal post:

Positive Posts - Gratitude Journal - 3

 Today, I've made a page to appreciate a person in your life:

 

Positive Posts - Gratitude Journal - 2

Today, I'll post the first 'printable page' - in black-and-white and a few colour versions. 

Also, here's a list of some topics to get you thinking about the kind of things you may like to write about, today or any other day. You can add your own topics - and if you can't think of anything that happened today to be thankful about, you could write a plan to make something positive happen tomorrow!

Some ideas for things you may be grateful for:

Did you learn something useful today?

Did you feel that you connected with someone?

Did you stop for a minute and enjoy the moment? What was good about it?

Did you enjoy something in nature today?

Did you see a beautiful picture today?

Did you enjoy some music today?

Were you able to work on making a dream or a project come true?

Were you able to help someone else today, even in a small way?

Did you say something nice to someone today (in person, on the phone, sms, online by snail mail?)

Do you have something to look forward to tomorrow?

Do you have something to look forward to next week/next month?

Did you appreciate sunshine/rain/breeze/shelter today?

What did you enjoy eating today?

Did you laugh today?

Did something make you smile today?

Did you make someone else smile or laugh today?

Here are the printable pages - click on the picture to open the .PDF - 

Positive Posts - Gratitude Journal - 1

We're still in lockdown here (Victoria, Australia) because of the pandemic, and we've been told it will be continuing for some time - so I've decided to do some Positive Posts. I'll be trying to do one a day (if my sick computer allows) on the Facebook "Free Fun and Games" page, and the reading/literacy resources will be posted here.

I thought a 'Gratitude Journal' would be a good thing for children to keep, to promote positivity, and also encourage self-expression and writing skills. This blog is about reading skills, but expression, writing and spelling are also very valuable in developing reading ability.

Any kind of write-in book can be used as a journal, or children can make their own from any available paper, but I've been working on some printable pages to make it more fun. They will be in A4 page format, so they can be put in a normal folder/ringbinder/display book etc.

Today, I'll post some cover ideas, and in subsequent days I'll post some printable pages. You can use them or make your own. I'll do some colour versions and also greyscale/black & white to save your printer ink and to encourage children to add their own colours or designs. 

If your child is too young to write, they can dictate to you so that you can write their responses, and/or  they may wish to draw a picture. They may also like to paste in extra photos, pictures from magazines, even leaves, dried flowers, gift cards or paper, etc.

So, here are some cover ideas, in colour or a variety of black-and-white designs to colour in. 

Click on the pictures to download the printable .pdf page:

Tomorrow, I'll start adding pages to print and fill in ... or you can think of your own ideas.

"I Spy" - animals

This is the last of the "I Spy" sheets I've made.

"I Spy" sheet 4 - Animals

It has a list of "Animal I Spy" questions that you can download/print if you like.

"I Spy" Questions for sheet 4 - Animals