This free mental health lesson plan explores ways children can become more connected to their peers and community in meaningful, fulfilling ways. It also explores how pupils can connect with themselves to overcome the challenges they may face.
It’s great to use during Children’s Mental Health Week in February, Mental Health Awareness Week in May, Empathy Day in June or as part of your World Mental Health Day activities in October.
Mental health lesson plan objectives
- Use nature to improve connections with the school community
- Learn about the power of adopting a growth mindset and positive self-talk
- Explore the importance of kindness to form meaningful connections and what that looks like in action
Starter activity
Introduce the theme of connection, which you then discuss through a ‘relationship ripple’ activity.
On paper, get everyone to draw themselves. They then draw a circle around this, which represents the first ‘ripple’ where the people most important to them exist. This should be labelled (e.g. ‘immediate family’).
Next, they should draw another circle to create a wider ripple representing close to them (such as friends). Draw a final bigger ripple for the people they interact with in their community, such as teachers or neighbours.
They don’t have to share their work, but it should act as a reminder of how many lovely connections they already have.
Emily Azouelos is a former primary school teacher turned freelance writer and consultant, creating educational resources and creative learning materials for a range of settings.
