The Importance of Student Wellbeing Activities
Student wellbeing, although often glorified as a luxury offered by fancier schools, is much more than a trend. It is and should be an essential part of every school to ensure that students are healthy & happy individuals, ready to perform academically without any negativity holding them back.
When students are not physically, emotionally, or mentally in a good place, it’s hard for them to focus on their studies. So, by prioritizing student wellbeing, we are setting the stage for improved concentration, engagement, and, ultimately, better academic performance.
Apart from academic performance, student wellbeing activities also contribute to overall satisfaction and resilience in the class. Happy, healthy students create positive learning environments for everyone. Recognizing the power of student wellbeing is crucial for nurturing their potential and creating thriving classrooms that foster positive growth.
Mindfulness in students can:
- Mitigate the effects of bullying
- Enhance focus in children with ADHD
- Reduce attention problems
- Improve mental health and wellbeing
- Improve social skills when well taught and practised with children and adolescents
Wellbeing Activities for Preschoolers
If you think that wellbeing is a thing we start paying attention to only in primary or secondary schools – you’re wrong. Children who learn about emotions and have access to resources that teach them how to describe their emotions are on track to becoming healthy and happy individuals later in life, research proves. Here are some examples to foster wellbeing in preschoolers:
Emotion Check-in
Emotion check-ins can be a great tool after presenting our preschoolers with some images of emotions or providing them with an emotion board or emotion emojis so they can assimilate moods with their feelings. You can do a circle each day for the beginning and end of the class, encouraging them to point to a mood from the emotion board to describe their feelings.
Reading Books about Emotions
Preschoolers can connect their feelings to incidents that occur in real life through reading books. Self-esteem, mental wellbeing, and the ability to recognise feelings are all promoted in books. Here are some book examples that talk about feelings, age-appropriate for preschoolers:
Exercise and Physical Movement
Exercise and physical activity are essential for the healthy development of children. Children who participate in regular physical activity can benefit from improved physical, mental, cognitive, and social development and lay the foundation for a lifelong healthy lifestyle.
Wellbeing Activities for Primary Students
Primary students are already on a more advanced level when it comes to wellbeing than preschoolers are. By the time students are in primary school, they should have the foundational knowledge of their emotions and moods and be able to build upon that knowledge with new methods and activities.
Having an Attitude of Gratitude
By teaching children the skill of appreciating what they are grateful for, we are offering them a gift. Gratitude can be expressed verbally, in writing, openly or privately. In the classroom, we enjoy taking some time at the start of each day to write down three things for which we are thankful in a gratitude journal. This helps students so that they recognise the importance of this practice and the positive effects it can have on everyone.
Experiencing Nature
Our connection to nature can greatly impact our general well-being. While outside breathing in the fresh air, students can engage in activities that promote mindfulness. Activities like these include but are not limited to observing different types of plants, watching the clouds, or snapping pictures of insects or beautiful scenery.
Self-expression
In Primary school, students are on a path to discovering themselves and their personality. What they like, what annoys them, what feelings are and how they affect them, and so on. We should allow primary students to express themselves and their feelings in any way they feel comfortable, whether through art, writing, verbally, etc.
Wellbeing Activities for High School Students
High school, being the time of adolescence, comes with ups and downs. This is the period when students are truly discovering themselves and their feelings. It is also the time when they learn to put into practice what they learned about emotions and wellbeing so far. In high school, students start becoming more self-aware, and they start observing other people’s feelings and emotions, too. They learn how to be vulnerable and how to overcome certain emotions. Help from the school, or teachers might make a valuable difference in their social development and is encouraged in every school. Some examples of activities that encourage wellbeing in high schoolers are:
Mental Health Check-In Questions
Are often used by counsellors, teachers, mental health representatives and such to determine whether a person might be struggling in any area of their lives. By conducting a mental check-in on our students, we are putting them in touch with their inner selves. We are also giving them a chance to open up, helping them release pressure and making them feel heard.
Volunteering
Students can give back to their communities and feel good about themselves by volunteering. This kind of activity can improve pupils’ self-esteem and sense of purpose. It can also foster the development of empathy and compassion in them.
Circle Discussions
Circles are a great way to involve a classroom in a quick chat about everyone’s mood at the moment of the circle and any other random topic to start a casual conversation between students. Not every discussion about feelings needs to be serious. And events like these, if done regularly, make talking about emotions a natural routine for students. This makes it easier for them to ask for help when needed.
Online vs. Offline Student Wellbeing Activities
While offline wellbeing activities are common and easy to do like walking in nature or having a circle discussion, online activities do not have to suffer just because people are not in the same space physically. Online wellbeing activities can be planned where students meet together and perform a circle discussion. Alternatively, schools can organise online game nights to boost student morale. Or there can be a digital mood board for the class to use. The possibilities are endless.
Next Steps
As a hybrid high school, Spark is running a school-wide wellbeing activity where students can sign up and walk for a social cause. This fosters teamwork, as they walk in groups of 4, and a sense of community as they walk together for a great cause. How does your school nurture student wellbeing?
Contact us and discover the wellbeing framework that we put together at Spark to provide our students with more than just academic support!
Student Wellbeing Activities FAQ
What activities can you do for wellbeing?
Activities for wellbeing include mindfulness exercises, emotion check-ins, reading books about emotions, exercise and physical movement, gratitude practices, experiencing nature, and promoting self-expression.
How do you promote students’ wellbeing?
Promoting student wellbeing involves creating a safe and welcoming environment, prioritizing physical, emotional, and mental health, and offering activities that enhance overall satisfaction, resilience, and academic performance.
How do you promote emotional wellbeing in the classroom?
Emotional wellbeing in the classroom can be promoted through activities like emotion check-ins, reading books about emotions, self-expression opportunities, and gratitude practices. Additionally, providing a supportive and nurturing environment is crucial for emotional wellbeing.
