Dwarf workshop
Text and photos: Maria Cîinaru
The first Saturday of many more Saturdays full of joy, play, song and excitement. It was a day full of positive emotions, we got to know each other and the children sang happy birthday to a wonderful little girl, Lilly, and we were so glad she chose to spend such a special day with us, only once she turned 3.
The snowman also came to visit us, wanting not to be alone. Together with the most skilful children, we made them playmates, sorry, dance partners, making sure they were well dressed with scarves and hats. We know that snowmen dance, don't we?The snowmen got tired, so after we finished the practical activity, we did relaxation exercises and to relax and not to get our feet upset we danced, playing "Musical statues '', a reason for joy and amusement, sometimes becoming moving statues.
Towards the end we built a snowman place and realized we wished we had more time to play.
Play and personal development
Text and photos by Raluca Tudorache
We had an effervescent Saturday after the winter break. We were back in the drama room where there are many temptations and distractions, but we tried, sometimes hard, to stick to what we set out to do.
It was a merry-go-round of emotions and games, but all in all we had a lot to learn and even during the break when we had the opportunity to listen to our favourite music, as is our custom, we discussed the messages of the songs and the emotions expressed between the lines.
We helped the children to recognise their emotions better, to be more attentive when they experience them and to recognise the less pleasant, not necessarily negative, emotions.
Using an exercise we called "Funny Animals" we made up stories about our favourite animals and detected what kind of emotions animals have when hunting or being hunted or resting or playing. Our intimate life can sometimes be like a jungle, and emotions are animals, you don't know who you're running into sometimes. It's good to become aware and be prepared for tigers as well as monkeys.
Then, with the help of objects, we improvised instruments with which we made all kinds of sounds just like in a jungle, trying to reach a common rhythm and coordinate.
We ended up with an exercise - a game called "The Bird Translator" on partners, where one of the children was an alien who came with an urgent message and another child tried to translate, thus improvising a story. Improvising some alien or translator costumes, we managed to get a little bit of understanding on the gibberish.After the break and the discussion about our favourite music and the emotions it conveys, we energized with a tug-of-war contest, i.e. power and enthusiasm. We had hurts and dramas and upsets and all sorts of ups and downs, but I took the opportunity to ask the kids very seriously where they think all these urges, emotions and feelings come from. We have come to understand that it is very important to cultivate positive emotions that lighten your spirit rather than getting angry with each other all the time for not good enough reasons.
