Happy Schools - Skryne

Welcome to Happy Schools!

This is a space for us to take care of ourselves, each other and the planet.

You’ll find all our resources, guided practices and worksheets on this page. Please use what fits well with you and feel free to be creative with these practices.

Teachers & Parents: for a guide to Happy Schools and our core themes, download ‘About Happy Schools’.

We always start by stopping!

Here we explore two practices to get us into our bodies and noticing how we are feeling.

Practice 1: Weather

Discover what your Inside Weather feels like. Is it different to the Outside Weather?

There are lots of ways that we can explore our Weather.

• You can draw your weather.

• You can find a Weather Buddy and discover what their weather is.

• As a class or family you can use sticky notes and make a big map of all your weathers.

• You can notice your weather for a whole day and draw all the weathers you felt.

• As a class or family, you can do a weather check to understand how we’re all feeling.

• In class, we can also:

  • learn more about the language of weather

  • sing our weather - what does ‘sunny’ sound like? what does ‘stormy’?

  • find out about weather in different countries

  • draw the different seasons in Ireland with the type of weather each has

  • discover why the weathers on the planet are changing (hint: Global Warming. How and why does that happen?)

Colouring sheets

You can download these sheets or simply take inspiration from them and let the children create their own art.

Practice 2: Rabbit

In this practice we get to use our imagination and discover what it’s like to be a rabbit. Then, we be an explorer - of our breath! Happy exploring :-)

In this session we focus on nutrition, focusing on happiness and our food.

Practice 1: Catch Happy

We can catch happiness, just like we catch a cold!

Practice 2: Alien Snack

In this practice we let ourselves have nothing to do but enjoy our food.

In this session, we focus on our powers of gratitude and appreciation.

Practice 1: Flower watering

This imaginative practice helps us appreciate the good in our lives.

Practice 2: Deep Belly Breathing

This is a practical support for any moments of anger, anxiety and worry. We keep our focus on our lower belly and exhale a little longer than we inhale.

During your exhalation is when your body knows that it is safe. By focusing more on your exhalation, you send your nervous system an important message: It’s okay. you are so safe.

Session 3 - Colouring sheets

This week we practice chair swimming and moving our bodies so that we can feel energy and zest. We’ll do deep belly breathing again, to help us learn how to take care of ourselves when we feel scared or angry.

We will also learn another song ‘Breathing in, breathing out’ - this goes really well with Pebble Meditation, which helps us connect with four qualities (freshness, stability, clarity and freedom). Pebble Meditation is something that we can do at home (you can use pebbles, lego, uncooked pasta, coins - any four objects). With practice, you’ll be able to draw on the quality that you need - when you’re tired, draw in the freshness of a young flower; when you’re distracted or scared, draw in the solidity of a mountain.

This week we focus on the power of hope and explore some tips for having a great summer!