Emotional Health in Children: The Power of Relationship and Play

Private Workshop – Ottawa, ON

Emotional Health in Children: The Power of Relationship and Play

AM Session:
Children are more anxious, aggressive, and shut down than ever. As educators we often feel at a loss for what to do as our students’ challenging behaviours can get in the way of our attempts to build relationships and teach. Our culture is no longer taking care of children’s emotional health and we are seeing clear signs of it in our classrooms. When we understand what is happening under the surface, it helps us to see what our students need. Kids need a place to feel safe and a safe place to feel. Emotional safety is not only the foundation of all learning, it is the foundation of developmental growth and discovery. But what type of leadership helps kids to feel safe? And how can we as educators build relationships with even our most prickly, challenging students? How can we become their compass point?

Join Hannah for a session that will support you in learning practical relationship-based strategies you can use in your classroom every day to shift individual relationships with your students as well as the class. Discover the vital importance of your caring leadership in the lives of children and why it is needed now, more than ever.

PM Session:
The research is clear: young children learn best through play. In this workshop, we’ll unpack the science behind why play is the perfect medium for young children to learn about their world. We will explore how play increases natural curiosity and
engagement with learning, bolsters communication skills, lowers anxiety and aggression, builds resilience and fosters social and emotional health. We will provide key strategies for how to create a nourishing play-based environment as well as practical applications and playful activities we can use to support children in deepening and digesting their learning. Discover fluid, nonlinear and indirect ways to harness the power of how young children learn and grow best – through play!

Participant outcomes:

• Understand the science behind the importance of play-based learning for young children.
• Develop frameworks for creating a nurturing, play-based learning environment at school.
• Gain insight into the link between the loss of play and the increase in behavioural and emotional health problems we are seeing in children.