Positive Psychology for Children

The Seeds of Happiness is a fun and engaging course, where children learn more about the science of happiness, and how they can positively impact their own happiness levels by the actions they take. Each lesson contains ‘missions’ for the children and teacher to carry out, where they take practical steps to improve their wellbeing. 

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The Seeds of Happines is being turned into an online course and will be ready in Autumn 2020. Watch this space! 

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The Seeds of Happiness is comprised of the following lessons:

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Lesson 1 – Your Elastic Plastic Brain

·         Understand what neuroplasticity is and how the brain changes every time you learn something new.

·         Learn how sleep and exercise impact on your ability to learn.

·         Develop your resilience by knowing what to do when we face a setback or we fail.

·         Be introduced to the ‘Stretch Zone’ where we learn to step outside of our comfort zones, embrace challenges and

learn from our mistakes.

Lesson 2 – Positive Mindsets

·         Learn about our brain’s ‘negativity bias’ and how it helped our ancestors survive but how it can undermine our

happiness now.

·         Better understand what positive and negative emotions are, why we have them, and how they impact on our lives.

·         Experience more positive emotions through activities that have been proven to help rewire our brains to notice and

savour the positive more.

Lesson 3 – Positive Relationships

·         Discover more about our ‘social brain’ and how we can learn and feel better when we work as part of a team.

·         Uncover what qualities and values successful teams have and what we can do to work better as a class team.

·         Reflect on who we can turn to when we need help or are struggling with something, and start to develop our

support network.

·         Learn how gratitude for others positively impacts our health and wellbeing.

Lesson 4 – Mindfulness

·         Be introduced to mindfulness, what it is and what it isn’t.

Take part in some simple mindfulness practices.

·         Learn how mindfulness affects the brain and positively changes certain parts of it.

·         Understand how mindfulness is not just about meditation but how we can pay attention to every aspect of our lives in a new way.

Lesson 5 - Kindfulness

·         Learn what kindness is and what conditions help us to be more kind.

Understand the link between being mindful and being kind.

·         Study how acts of kindness are contagious and what happy hormones are released when we carry them out.

·         Start to incorporate more small acts of kindness into our day.

Lesson 6 – The Superhero in You

·         Understand what ‘flow’ is and reflect on when we experience it the most. Take part in activities where we

experience flow so we know what it feels like.

·         Know what character strengths are and how we can achieve our best when we start to use our strengths more in

our day-to-day lives.

·         Reflect on our own character strengths and create a comic strip about when we have used our strengths.

Lesson 7 – Pulling it all Together

·         Share with the group times when we have used our strengths and been at our best.

·         Take part in the ‘science of happiness quiz’, consolidating what we have learned over the whole course in a fun and interactive way.

·         Explore ways that we can use what we have learned to take action and grow our happiness now and in the future.

·         Graduate from the course with your Seeds of Happiness certificate.

 

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