Activities · «Sadness and Love»
Turn your whirlwind into harmony
Draw, breathe and transform the strokes in your own way.
What is it for?
Sometimes an intense emotion is hard to put into words. Drawing free strokes, breathing slowly and then transforming the drawing gives the child a way to express what they feel without having to explain it.
For the adult it is also a way of keeping company without pressing: it is enough to watch how the child draws and be by their side. The point is not to interpret the drawing, but to let the child say about it whatever they want.
How to do it
Invite the child to draw free strokes with a colour that expresses what is hard to explain. It doesn't have to be pretty. You can draw next to them on another sheet: seeing the adult do it too usually takes the pressure off.
Then pause and breathe slowly. Children often find it hard to breathe out slowly. A simple way is to imagine that the fingers of one hand are five candles and blow them out one by one in a single long breath out. The idea is for the breath out to be longer than the breath in; there is no need to count or to do it perfectly. If it is hard for the child, a paper pinwheel or a feather to blow on can also help.
Finally, the child can touch up the drawing in their own way, with the thicker marker and the colours they like. That there is no «right» way to finish it is part of the activity. You can repeat the activity whenever the emotion comes back: every drawing will be different.
If the child wants to talk about their drawing, you can ask, without insisting:
«What colour did you choose for what you feel today?»
«Where do you notice it in your body?»
«Would you like to tell me something about your drawing, or shall we just look at it in silence?»
If they don't answer, that's fine: keeping company in silence counts too.
What can the child experience or learn?
They can discover that what they feel can be expressed and that, like the drawing, it can also change little by little, without their having to stop feeling.
Adding colours or changing the strokes does not erase what they feel, nor does it mean they have to stop being sad or angry. It is a way of observing what they feel with calm and discovering that, like the drawing, the way we live an emotion can also change.
This activity keeps company, but does not replace the help of a professional when a child needs it. When to look for help.
Carry on with another activity
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