happenings
Emotional Health & Character
Development Teaching Tools
The path to adulthood has always been fraught with pitfalls, but today’s young people are confronted with a variety of challenges resulting in adverse and alarming effects on their mental health. In recent years, rates of suicide and incidents of self-harm among young people have risen dramatically. Disruption and loss caused by the pandemic, fears of violence, and negative social media influences, in addition to academic and financial pressures, are all contributing factors.
Assisting young people in navigating these challenges is essential. Helping them build positive self-esteem, create and maintain healthy relationships, and develop coping and resiliency skills are key to better life-long social and emotional health.
If you are an educator working with young people, Health Edco has character development education materials to help you help them build the traits and skills they need for better social and emotional health. Read on to learn more about some of our engaging social and emotional health teaching tools!
Social and Emotional Health Throw & Know™ Activity Ball
Sometimes, a hands-on activity is the best way to get students to open up! Our new Social and Emotional Health Throw & Know™ Activity Ball is designed to help students in grades 2 through 8 explore their thoughts, feelings, and values as they develop their social and emotional maturity and awareness.
The large (16" diameter; 24" arc length), inflatable ball is covered with 48 open-ended questions that are ideal to break the ice, promote discussion, and help young people better understand how to value themselves and build meaningful relationships with those around them. Questions on the ball deal with a variety of social and emotional health topics, including bullying, online safety, developing self-esteem, building positive relationships at home and at school, dealing with feelings in positive and productive ways, and more.
Using the ball is easy and provides facilitators with the versatility to modify its use to meet the specific needs of different individuals or groups. Coming with an activity guide, the ball is meant to be tossed and caught, with players who catch the ball either asking the question underneath or closest to their right thumb to the group or answering the question themselves. Facilitators can modify use of the ball for group play, for values clarification, or for individual reflection, allowing students to write down their responses privately.
Your New Body Folding Displays
Created specifically for young audiences, our newly updated Your New Body: Girls Folding Display and Your New Body: Boys Folding Display help young people understand the many emotional as well as physical changes of puberty.
Addressing young people with compassion and encouragement, both folding displays cover the physical changes that occur during puberty. Each folding display also discusses the importance of online safety; dealing with emotions; getting along with parents and adults; avoiding alcohol, drugs, and tobacco (including e-cigarettes); and choosing friends wisely who care about what’s best for you.
Both displays encourage young people to talk to a trusted adult if they experience ongoing feelings of depression, anger, or anxiety. Each display comes with a reproducible set of review questions to assess young people’s understanding of what they’ve learned.
Teen Stress Folding Displays
Our Teen Stress Folding Display helps teens navigate life’s pressures while validating the fact that, sometimes, just being a teen is stressful!
This three-panel folding display focuses on providing teens with practical, healthful suggestions for dealing with stress. It also identifies common causes of stress, describes how the body responds to stress, and explains how stress isn’t necessarily always a negative thing because it can motivate teens to accomplish their goals. Emphasizing the avoidance of unhealthy ways of coping with stress, such as using drugs or alcohol or developing unhealthy eating habits, the folding display urges young people to seek help to manage stress when it becomes overwhelming. The display’s reproducible review questions offer student assessment of the information in the display.
Reach Young People With More Great Teaching Tools
Whether you are teaching young people about the changes of puberty. the dangers of drugs, alcohol, and all tobacco products; or the importance of nutrition and physical activity, Health Edco has exciting activities and educational resources to reach young people on a full-range of health topics. Check back often to see our new and updated teaching tools.
The information contained in this newsletter is not intended to replace the advice of a healthcare professional.
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