Fostering self-care and wellbeing through the world of reading

Nicola Schofield
A teacher sat outdoors with young students looking at a book togethr
Reading time: 6 minutes

Growing up is an exciting time. Children are curious and open-minded, and every day welcomes a new thing to learn. They are constantly exploring and discovering themselves and the world around them. But children also have to face many challenging times too as they get older. It is, therefore, important that we teach our young people to be aware of their own wellbeing and self-care, what they can do to lead a balanced and healthy life, and give them the tools they need to help them in difficult times, both mentally and physically.

Boosting children's wellbeing with reading
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What are thekey factors to a child’s wellbeing?

Have a look at below. Itdescribespeople’sbasic needs for good mental and physical wellbeing.

Self-actualization– Children need to be aware of their own feelingsand understand how to process them.

Esteem –Children need to growinconfidence, feel valued and receive praise for their achievements. Having hobbies and intereststoo is key.

Love/belonging –Children need to develop meaningful relationships or feel part of a community. This could be friendships, family, a class,acluborschool.

Safety– Children must feel safe in their surroundings.

Physiological–Children must have a home and access to food, water, sleep and exercise.

However, do childrenknow how to look after their wellbeing?

Ask them to make a list and share your ideas together as a class or as a family.What do they do to look after their mental and physical health?Are there any things thattheydo lots of or don’t do enough of? What can they start doing or try to do more of?

Alternatively, you could also ask themtoput the followingitemsin order of importance. Ask them,‘What makes you happy?’,‘What is important to you?’

  • Food
  • Water
  • House
  • School
  • Friends
  • Family
  • Exercise
  • Sleep
  • Hobbies

HowcanDisney Kids Readers help children’s wellbeing?

Let’srefer backto the hierarchy of needs and see how they can link into reading.

Self-actualization–Disney Kids Readerscan help increaseempathy and self-awarenessthrough reading about other characters’ emotions and putting ourselves in their shoes. It can help us to understand and process our own emotions too. For example, in Inside Out, we see Riley struggle with her emotions when her family moves to San Francisco. Through the characters of Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust, we can see how normal it is to feel a range of emotions and not feel happy all the time.

Esteem –Disney Kids Readersalso help children to develop confidence and self-esteem as they progress through thelevels. By completing the wide range of activities at the end of the books, children can see that they are learning and improving their English skills as well as havingfun reading a book.

Readers can also help us navigate difficult moments in life and teach us resilience and strength in challenging times. When we read the stories, we see how the characters overcome obstacles and deal with their problems. This can teach children key lessons and help them tackle their own problems in the real world.

For example, many of the charactersgo through difficult times to which children can relate. InThe Jungle Book, Mowgli is scared but then his friend Baloo comes to help him.In Frozen II, Elsa goes on a difficult journey to restore justice for the people of Arendelle andThe Enchanted Forest.

Love/belonging –Reading Disney Kids Readers as a class, in pairs, or as a family can really strengthen relationships and a sense of belonging, which is such an important part of children’s development.Sharing a book is something specialthatcanallow people todevelop common interests andthereforemake children feel that they are part of a wider community.

Safety– Childrencan feel safe and more secure when a parent or a caregiver reads to them before bed.Disney Kids Readersare perfect bedtime stories and help children to fall asleep listening to theirfavoriteDisney characters on exciting adventures.Also, in times of stress,reading can help reduceanxiety,allowing children toenjoy the presentmomentand escape the real world for a little while.

Physiological– Reading exercises your brain. In addition to physical exercise, reading isanexcellent mental workout which is so important to children’s health. Ask the children tomemorizesome pages from the reader and recite it without looking or ask them tomemorizethe phonics rhyme on the phonics page. You could also ask them to memorize the key words from the glossary list and see how many they remember.

Explore our range of readers and get inspired

Activity ideas

Now try out some of the activities below which can be linked to the Readers which will help your children/young learners focus on their wellbeing.

1. Paint a scene

This activity is calm, relaxing and mindful for the children to complete. The world is a busy place, and this activity links in with the idea of self-actualization and esteem. Painting or drawing keeps our mind focused on one task, and reduces stress and anxiety. It can help us process difficult emotions and can cheer us up when we are feeling down.

Encourage your young learners to paint or draw a peaceful scene that they can imagine themselves in. It could be a beach, a forest, or even outer space. This activity allows children to express their creativity and imagination while also promoting relaxation and mindfulness.

Need:Self-actualization, Esteem

2. Reading emotion diary

Self-awarenessis such a useful toolfor our wellbeing– through this activity, the children take a moment each dayto read a few pages of a book and thenlook insidethemselvestothink about how they are feelingbefore and afterreading. This is powerful, as over time the children will understand that reading is a good way to calm the mindand manage emotions–something that can help them improve their own wellbeing and feel safe.

Encourage your learner to write down their feelings in a diary after reading and reflect on how the reading has affected their emotions. This activity promotes self-awareness and emotional intelligence, which are crucial for maintaining good mental health.

Need: Self-actualization,Safety

3. Reading emotions

Emotional intelligence is suchanimportant part of life. Understanding how someone is feeling through body language, such as facial expressions, gestures and body movements, can be useful when someone is sad, angry or upset. It can help us decide what they need and can help them feel listened to, loved and valued. In this activity, the children practice this by analyzingthe characters’ emotions.It will help children build confidence when dealing with difficult or sensitive topics with family and friends.

Choose a Reader with a diverse range of characters and ask your learner to identify and describe the emotions shown by each character. This activity promotes empathy, communication skills and social-emotional learning.

Need: Love/belonging, Esteem

4. Guess the scene meditation

This activity is a great exercise for the brain. It helps children tovisualizeand picture different surroundings in their minds and imagine different smells, sounds and textures, and bring them to life. As the children’s minds are focused on one thing, they begin to relax and feel calm. This activity can be a great tool to use before bedtime to help children fall asleep peacefully.

Guide your learners through a guided meditation where they imagine themselves in different peaceful scenes. You can also ask them to create their own scene and describe it in detail. This activity promotes relaxation, mindfulness and creativity.

Need: Self-actualization, Safety

5. Develop resilience

In every story there is a lesson to be learned, and through this activity childrenlearn how to deal with difficult situations through the characters.It teaches children thatalthoughthere are hard times in life, if we are patient, work togetherandshow resilience, then wecanwork through our problems.

Choose a Reader with characters facing challenges and discuss with your learners how the characters handle the situation. Encourage them to think of ways they can apply this to their own lives when facing difficulties.

Need:Belonging, Esteem

6. Create an exercise routine

This activity is creative and fun and will get the children moving and laughing at the same time. Physical exercise is so important to our wellbeing,so what is better than doing a workout with yourfavoriteDisney character?The children can do these workouts in small groups, with family or as a class.This activity promotes physical health and social bonding.

Choose a few Disney characters and create simple exercises for each one. You can also use props or make it into a game by having the children take turns being different characters.

Need: Physiological

Read our blog post 'How to motivate reluctant readers' for more reading tips and ideas.

Explore our range of readers and get inspired

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    Praise in the classroom is a valuable resource that every teacher has in their toolbox.It can encourage struggling students and reward learners who have been studying diligently and working hard on their language skills.

    But not all types of praise have the same effect. Let’s take a look at different types of praise and how you can use it to boost your learners’ motivation andself-esteem.

    Different types of praise in the classroom

    There are three types of praise that teachers commonly engage in - but they’re not all equal and are not all desirable:

    • Personal praise: Here you praise a student for a specific ability or quality. For example, you might say something like,“You have a great memory for vocabulary”.
    • Effort-based praise: Thisis when you comment on a student’s efforts. For example, you could say,“I can see you tried really hard with this vocabulary homework – well done.”
    • Behavior-based praise:This type of praiseis where you comment on how a student is acting, an example would be,“You were really paying attention during the vocabulary lesson – good job.”

    So how – and when – should we use these types of praise in the classroom?

    Try not to praise ability

    The first type of praise – personal praise – should be avoided in the classroom.has shown that this type of praise doesn’t have a beneficial effect on motivation.

    In fact, praise for intelligence actually has a detrimental effect on student achievement. When students were praised for their intelligence, they tended to care more about their performance goals – the score they achieved on a test, for example. Learning goals, like mastering a new skill, became less important to them.

    Moreover, personal praise has been shown to undermine student resilience in the face of failure. Students showed less persistence when it came to challenging tasks and less enjoyment of the challenge. They also performed more poorly than children praised for effort.

    Furthermore, when you praise students for their ability, they also tend to see intelligence or aptitude as a fixed trait. However, students who are praised for effort are more likely to see ability as something they can improve on. This feeds into the development of a growth mindset vs a fixed mindset.It’s important toinstilla growth mindset in learners to enable them to reach their full potential.

    How to praise effort and behavior

    When it comes to praising effort and behavior, what’s the most effective way to do it? Here are some techniques to employ:

    1. Be specific

    General praise such as “Good job” isn’t nearly as effective as a comment that shows you’ve been paying attention to what the student is doing. A precise compliment will make a much bigger impact on a student, for example:“I was really impressed at how hard you concentrated during the listening exercise. Well done.”

    2. Give praise in the moment

    Immediate praise doesn’t need to be disruptive, but it shows students that you are paying attention and noticing good behavior and effort.

    3. Avoid comparisons with other students

    Instead of saying, “You got the best mark in the class – well done!” say something like,“You got a really high score in the reading test. Your hard work has really paid off this term.”

    4. Keep track of praise

    Before your class, choose three or four students you’re going to praise that day. That way, you can be sure that each and every student will benefit from the motivational power of effective classroom praise!

    5. Personalize your praise, depending on the student

    Young students enjoy being praised publicly, but shy students, older children and teenagers prefer positive feedback to be given quietly.

    Don’t overpraise and watch your positive bias

    It’s important to be sincere. Older children, especially adolescents, have an extremely low tolerance of insincerity. So, don’t be tempted to praise students too often, or too effusively – it can actually have a negative impact on your relationship with your whole class. Insincere praise can lead students to question your judgement.

    It’s also really important to be aware of your positive bias.that teachers consistently give students of color more positive feedback on their work. It’s done with good intentions, but it can actually be harmful. If you regularly overpraise students for minor achievements, it can imply that you have low expectations for these students. And, this can make your students feel like they might not be capable of fulfilling the high expectations that you should have of them.

    So, instead of overpraising, focus on giving specific, immediate praise to motivate your students, boost theirself-esteem and unlock their potential.

    Find out how tonurture creativity in your learnersand this post will tell you how topromote student happinessand wellbeing.

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