Kids Create: What's Your Forecast?

Spring has lived up to its reputation for being a rain-filled season, but we’ve also had some wonderful days filled with sunshine.

We’re able to easily recognize weather changes when we look outside, but what about some of the emotional weather changes we’re dealing with on the inside? Making connections between the weather and our emotions can give kids the opportunity to identify how they are feeling.

At Sunset Park we recently read some books about weather and the kids had a great time shouting out how each kind of weather made them feel.  They shared moments of feeling happy like rainbows, or feeling sad like rain. Things got especially exciting when one kid said, “But the rain makes me happy! I like to jump in puddles!”

We talked about how it is hard sometimes to tell people how we are feeling on the inside and that sometimes, we might not even understand why we feel the way we do, but that’s okay! Feelings are temporary. They come and they go!

Afterwards, we used tempura paint and water colors to paint our internal weather on canvas.

For books that can help you explain emotions to your child, check out this booklist.  

* This program was inspired by a free digital book titled My Inside Weather created by Book Dash. Book Dash gathers creative volunteers to create new African storybooks that anyone can freely print, translate and distribute. For more information or to download a copy of the book visit their website.