CHEERLEADING FOR PRESCHOOLERS learning and practicing Superkid Power positive self talk Skills means having experiences so they KNOW for themselves.
We drummed to the song about what we think impacts our feelings and bodies.
WHEN I THINK I CAN’T, I FEEL I CAN’T! WHEN I THINK I CAN, I KNOW AND FEEL I CAN! AND THEN I’M A SUPERKID!!!!!!!
“I can’t” thought doesn’t feel good. “I can” and “I will try” trickle down from the mental voice into the emotional feelings and body sensations. I also provided some icky smelling old food to make the point if we could smell our bad thoughts, then this is what they would smell like inside us. Then immediately had each child smell a cotton pad with orange essential oil that smells uplifting. Their faces completely changed (noses certainly relaxed more with the orange scent…haha) and they KNEW the difference of how negative and positive self talk impacts their inner world.
The olfactory sense is the oldest active sense in human beings. Associations are made through that sense. For example, every time I smell a box of crayons an image come of kindergarten and Sister Proxeda letting us use them frequently. The whole classroom smelled like crayons.
I wish I would have had someone looking at me like the picture above and cheerleading me for using skills when I was a preschooler. Imagine how that would feel and how it impacts children truly feeling like SUPERKIDS because they are using their own internal resources. What’s more, it has impact on academic achievement while nourishing social emotional learning!!! Win/Win/Win
