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Social Emotional Education for Kids

Emotions are high as we continue to practice social distancing and follow stay-at-home orders, in our best efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19. Many of us are experiencing feelings of anxiety, helplessness, frustration, and worry – all as a natural response to the stress involved in our current global circumstances. All these emotions can be difficult to navigate, and especially so for children who are looking to us adults for comfort and security while they continue learning from home and are missing their friends and extended family members. It can be difficult to manage such big emotions!

It got me really thinking about some effective practices for managing stress and the negative emotions that often come with it. I wanted to have some activities ready for a moment when any one of my children might need some extra comfort or help with addressing their fears or worries. Dealing with depression myself, I know the importance of being able to talk about my struggles with someone I trust and to be able to level my emotions so I can more easily manage them. I wanted to be able to use some of these techniques in a child-friendly way while also integrating some bilingual education and simple facial recognition activities.

Sample pages from Emotions Workbook

I created a 20 page workbook that’s all about emotions! I’ve included some of the most common emotions we experience from day-to-day, and created some activities for recognizing, discussing, and managing these emotions in healthy ways. Included are social emotional activity ideas, coloring pages, reading and writing practice, drawing activities, illustrative journal pages, and, of course, bilingual vocabulary practice. You’ll have the opportunity to open up to each other and address the big emotions your children (and you!) may be experiencing – and set in place great emotional health practices for years to come!

You can find the downloadable workbook here in our online store. The material supports bilingual education in English and Korean languages, but can be completed and enjoyed by our monolingual friends, as well!

Here’s to maintaining our mental (and physical) health! Stay safe, everyone!

Teach Your Child Life Science at Home

Being home from work and school is an important public safety measure during our current pandemic, but it can be rough – for all of us. Kids and adults alike are trying their best to transition from their usual school and work environments to working remotely, from the comfort of their homes… where their TV and all their favorite snacks are… where the couch is comfortable and Lego sets beg to be played with. It can be a real struggle to focus!

We’ve been trying to keep our kids on track with their virtual classrooms, while also entertaining them in quiet times between classwork. The balancing act between parent, employee, home-school teacher, and chef is leaving most of us feeling… well, unbalanced. Fortunately, I’ve found some activities that have successfully entertained (and educated) my younger kids – and it isn’t over in a mere five minutes!

Every Spring, we tend to our vegetable garden. The kids love to help me clean out old dead plants, turn the soil, look for worms – all of it. But this year, our weather hasn’t exactly been cooperative. It’s the middle of April and we still have snow – YIKES! We haven’t been able to shake off our desire to get planting, though, so we started some seeds indoors. This has been great for teaching our sons how plants grow, observing the parts of a plant, and using a small magnifying glass to take a close look at roots and germinating seeds. And it doesn’t stop there!

Sample sheets from How Plants Grow Workbook

I’ve put together a 20 page workbook to go along with this activity. The workbook includes coloring sheets, bilingual vocabulary practice, a Plant Growth Process wheel, cut-and-paste charts, matching games… enough to last a week or so. You’ll be able to teach your child about the parts of a plant, about the growth process, practice reading and writing, solve puzzles, and play games – all while watching it happen in front of them! It’s a hands-on learning experience that is sure to fill in some of the gaps of their remote learning!

You can find the downloadable workbook here in our online store. The material supports bilingual education in English and Korean languages, but can be completed and enjoyed by our monolingual friends, as well!

Stay safe and healthy, friends! We are in this together!