Utilizing the TRAILS to Wellness classroom lessons in Self-Care-- you will see how you can encourage self-care for your student's grade and development level.
Below you fill find self-care options for Kindergarten through 2nd grade, 3rd through 5th grade, 6th through 8th grade, and 9th through 12th grade (including adults). Depending on each individual emotional development of the student, there may be some over-lap of grades and how to discuss self-care.
What do humans need to stay healthy?
When creating a self-care plan for younger students, it's important to stick to the basics. Focus on one or two things in each area: Body, Mind, and Heart. Our bodies are like engines--they need good fuel to run and work all day long. Students can draw or write their self-care plan!
What can you do to take good care of your body?
*examples: eating breakfast, exercise, eating vegetables, going to sleep early, taking a bath, brushing your teeth...
What activities can you do to help calm their minds?
*examples: balloon belly breathing, tightening and relaxing muscles, tracing our fingers, doing the opposite, using our 5 senses...
What activities can you do to make you feel happy?
*examples: Playing tag with friends, going for a walk, petting/snuggling with a pet, looking at a book, doing a puzzle...
Now we are beginning to expand on how the three different types of self-care are related and to focus first on our body, then heart, then mind. We are also thinking about the barriers/challenges that make self-care difficult to do.
Mind: Taking care of your thoughts and managing strong feelings. (squashing unhelpful thoughts, one things at a time...)
Heart: Doing things that make you feel good and connected to others. (spending time with friends/family, pets, making a card for someone...)
Body: Taking care of your physical body. (getting enough sleep, eating healthy foods, drinking water, playing basketball, taking a bath...)
This age group can more easily plan and incorporate these healthy habits into routines on their own without as much help.
3rd through 5th grade is when Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs are introduced. Just like a house, we need to take care of the floors, walls, and roof otherwise it could "collapse," or it wouldn't be as strong, warm, or safe. Focusing on our physical needs and safety first (body), we then can look at the next area (heart), then feeling like our best self (mind).
It's important to remember that Self-Care looks different for everyone because we all have different personalities and have had different experiences. Utilizing Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to create a Self-Care Plan, students will also benefit from the videos below. In middle school, students are hearing the importance of physical and mental health.
This is when Self-care is explained as a unique set of healthy activities we do for ourselves to care for our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Sometimes we see it in the media as taking bubble baths or shopping, but usually, self-care isn’t that glamorous or exciting.
Just like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, the Self-Care Pyramid shows us the needs all humans have and that we must meet certain needs, like having food and water, before we’re able to meet other, more complex needs, like making sure we have healthy relationships or making sure we do our best in school. Similarly, if we aren’t taking care of our physical bodies, it’s going to be that much harder to experience positive emotions or set and accomplish our goals.
Basic needs: sleeping 8 hours per night, drinking water regularly, limiting junk food, wearing clothing appropriate for the season, exercising
Emotional needs: prioritizing time to spend with supportive family members and friends, joining a club or sports team with similar interests to yours, sending a card to someone (or doing another kind act), changing or ending unhelpful relationships
Spiritual needs: practicing basketball, drawing or a skill of interest for 15 minutes daily, learning a new language, reading for leisure daily, working with a teacher to improve math grades.
