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Our Cosy Peace Corner
Every child should have an area they can take themselves to when they need some space away from everyone else. We were lucky with the help of some fundraising from our whānau to purchase a lovely cosy rug and some cushions to soften up a corner in our environment.
Leo came in and spotted it and was truly blown away – “this is amazing,” he said as he rubbed the soft carpet.
We have a little table that has some materials on it – this includes a glitter jar, some lavender in a bag and some colourful stones. While making the glitter jar with the tamariki we read a book called “Moody Cow”. In this book, it brings us through the process of making the glitter jar for a “moody cow” called Peter. It states that the water represents our mind, and the glitter represents our angry and sad thoughts.
When we shake the glitter jar all the angry and sad thoughts swish around inside the jar – the tamariki then sit and watch the glitter fall to the bottom of the jar – the angry and sad thoughts slowly disappearing to the bottom. Once all the glitter has fallen to the bottom the tamariki should feel calmer.
They can shake the glitter jar as much, and as often as they want – the goal it to make sure they leave the peace corner feeling better.
The lavender in the bag is there to smell – lavender is such a calming scent and perfect for the kind of corner we were trying to create.
Lastly the stones, they are all different colours and soft to touch – some having bumpy edges – really adding to that sensory feeling.
Later in the day as I walked past the peace corner, I noticed Leo had positioned himself right in the middle of the cushions – we shared a smile and I kept walking. Sometimes just sitting and observing is calming enough.
We will change up the materials every now and then in the corner so the tamariki have other materials to engage in.
Every child needs this space – we’re very lucky we could incorporate this.