Há algum tempo que tenho andado a pensar qual seria a melhor brincadeira para falar sobre as emoções com o Tomás. Este tema não surgiu por nenhuma questão cronológica mas sim porque ultimamente ele começou a identificar quando as personagens dos desenhos animados estão tristes. A primeira vez que isso aconteceu foi quando vimos a curta metragem "Voar" da Disney Pixar. Apesar de provavelmente ele não compreender a totalidade da mensagem que a história pretende passar ele compreendeu as emoções e disse-me "mamã tá tiste o bebé". Se não conhecem vale muita a pena ver, é incrível como se conseguem passar de forma tão bem conseguida tantos sentimentos em menos de 10 minutos.
I have been thinking for some time what would be the best
game to talk about emotions with Tomás. This theme did not arise for any
chronological question but because lately he started to identify when the
cartoon characters are sad. The first time this happened was when we saw the
short film "Fly" by Disney Pixar. Although he probably did not fully
understand the message that it tells, he understood the emotions and said "mommy
the baby is sad". If you have never
seen it, it is definitely worth seeing, it’s amazing how you can get through so
many feelings in less than 10 minutes.
Mas quando pensava em emoções pensava em caras com as diferentes expressões ou com uma boca que dá para rodar para ficar feliz ou contente e nenhuma das opções me estava a convencer tendo em conta que ele tem apenas dois anos e meio. Fiz uma breve pesquisa mas nada me convenceu, talvez estivesse a pensar nisto cedo demais.
Até que, no Carnaval, depois de ver o nosso Sr Cabeça de Batata a educadora do Tomás sugeriu que explorássemos os elementos que constituem a cara assim como as emoções dando várias ideias de caras, sendo que a que mais gostei foi a que tinha uma forma oval numa folha e depois os vários elementos da cara eram feitos com plasticina. Mas ainda assim não estava totalmente convencida. Ok era boa altura para falar de emoções, aliás sabemos que a capacidade de identificar emoções (nossas e dos outros) é uma competência social importante e na fase em que estamos faz todo o sentido explorar este tema com o Tomás. Ele gosta de plasticina mas para já o que gosta é de fazer bolinhas e quando me distraio de a comer. Decidi pesquisar mais um bocado, se calhar precisava só de uma atividade introdutória e depois podia passar à plasticina.
Nas pesquisas encontrei umas imagens de uns monstrinhos que achei muito giras e pensei que podia fazer cartas com os monstrinhos para ele agrupar, quando cliquei na imagem vi que a pocket of preschool tinha exatamente essa atividade delineada. Desenhei os meus monstrinhos com base nestes e fiz dois de cada emoção, sendo que selecionei apenas o feliz, o triste, o zangado e o assutado. Fiz então duas "cartas" com monstrinhos iguais para cada uma das emoções. A ideia era ter metade das cartas na mesa e dar a outra metade ao Tomás para ele fazer a correspondência. Preparei ainda um monstrinho grande sem cor, e pares de olhos e bocas separados para que depois ele pudesse montar ele os monstros das emoções.
Até que, no Carnaval, depois de ver o nosso Sr Cabeça de Batata a educadora do Tomás sugeriu que explorássemos os elementos que constituem a cara assim como as emoções dando várias ideias de caras, sendo que a que mais gostei foi a que tinha uma forma oval numa folha e depois os vários elementos da cara eram feitos com plasticina. Mas ainda assim não estava totalmente convencida. Ok era boa altura para falar de emoções, aliás sabemos que a capacidade de identificar emoções (nossas e dos outros) é uma competência social importante e na fase em que estamos faz todo o sentido explorar este tema com o Tomás. Ele gosta de plasticina mas para já o que gosta é de fazer bolinhas e quando me distraio de a comer. Decidi pesquisar mais um bocado, se calhar precisava só de uma atividade introdutória e depois podia passar à plasticina.
Nas pesquisas encontrei umas imagens de uns monstrinhos que achei muito giras e pensei que podia fazer cartas com os monstrinhos para ele agrupar, quando cliquei na imagem vi que a pocket of preschool tinha exatamente essa atividade delineada. Desenhei os meus monstrinhos com base nestes e fiz dois de cada emoção, sendo que selecionei apenas o feliz, o triste, o zangado e o assutado. Fiz então duas "cartas" com monstrinhos iguais para cada uma das emoções. A ideia era ter metade das cartas na mesa e dar a outra metade ao Tomás para ele fazer a correspondência. Preparei ainda um monstrinho grande sem cor, e pares de olhos e bocas separados para que depois ele pudesse montar ele os monstros das emoções.
Everytime I though about it I thought about emotions all I could think off
were faces with different expressions or with a mouth that can be rotated to be
happy or sad and none of these options was convincing me because he is only two
and a half years old. I did a little research but nothing convinced me, maybe I
was thinking about it too early.
But at Carnival, after seeing our Mr Potato Head Tomás’ teatcher suggested we explored the elements of a face as the emotions. She sents us several suggestions and the one I liked the most was the one that simply had a circle on a piece of paper and then the various elements of the face were made with play dough. But I was still not entirely convinced. Ok but this ment that it was a good time to talk about emotions, in fact we know that the ability to identify emotions (ours and others) is an important social competence and taking in consideration everything around us right now, it makes perfect sense to explore this topic with Tomás. He likes play dough but for now what he likes is making balls and whenever I am not looking he also likes to eat it. This being said I decided to do some more research, maybe I just needed an introductory activity and then I could move on to play dough emotions.
While looking out for ideas I found some images of little monsters that I found very cute and I thought I could make some flashcards with the little monsters for him to pair up. When I clicked on the image I saw that the pocket of preschool had exactly this activity outlined. I drew my little monsters based on these and made two of each emotion; I selected only the happy, the sad, the angry and the frightened. I made two "cards" with little monsters for each of the emotions. The idea was to have half the cards on the table and give Tomás the other half for him to pair up. I also prepared a large monster and separate pairs of eyes and mouths so that afterwards he could build up the emotion monsters.
But at Carnival, after seeing our Mr Potato Head Tomás’ teatcher suggested we explored the elements of a face as the emotions. She sents us several suggestions and the one I liked the most was the one that simply had a circle on a piece of paper and then the various elements of the face were made with play dough. But I was still not entirely convinced. Ok but this ment that it was a good time to talk about emotions, in fact we know that the ability to identify emotions (ours and others) is an important social competence and taking in consideration everything around us right now, it makes perfect sense to explore this topic with Tomás. He likes play dough but for now what he likes is making balls and whenever I am not looking he also likes to eat it. This being said I decided to do some more research, maybe I just needed an introductory activity and then I could move on to play dough emotions.
While looking out for ideas I found some images of little monsters that I found very cute and I thought I could make some flashcards with the little monsters for him to pair up. When I clicked on the image I saw that the pocket of preschool had exactly this activity outlined. I drew my little monsters based on these and made two of each emotion; I selected only the happy, the sad, the angry and the frightened. I made two "cards" with little monsters for each of the emotions. The idea was to have half the cards on the table and give Tomás the other half for him to pair up. I also prepared a large monster and separate pairs of eyes and mouths so that afterwards he could build up the emotion monsters.
Mal eu sabia que isto do monstro das emoções é todo um mundo. Quando mostrei à educadora ela sugeriu-me logo esta música e esta história para complementar a atividade. E foi aí que percebi que há imensas coisas à volta do monstro das cores (ou das emoções como eu o batizei).
Quando o Tomás acordou ainda estava meio ensonado e então começamos pela música e ele adorou, quis ouvir segunda vez; depois passamos à história e aconteceu o mesmo "outa dêz mamã".
Depois disso passamos aos conjuntos de monstrinhos e ao monstrinho grande. A brincadeira correu muito bem.
Quando o Tomás acordou ainda estava meio ensonado e então começamos pela música e ele adorou, quis ouvir segunda vez; depois passamos à história e aconteceu o mesmo "outa dêz mamã".
Depois disso passamos aos conjuntos de monstrinhos e ao monstrinho grande. A brincadeira correu muito bem.
Little did I know that this emotion monster was really a
thing. When I showed my monsters to his teatcher, she immediately suggested
this song and this story to complement the activity. And that's when I realized
that there are a lot of things around the colout monster (or the emotion monster
as I called it).
When Tomás woke up he was still sleepy so we started with music and he loved it, he wanted to hear it a second time; then we moved on to the story and the same "again mommy" happened.
After that we moved on to the monster sets and the big monster. This playtime went very well.
When Tomás woke up he was still sleepy so we started with music and he loved it, he wanted to hear it a second time; then we moved on to the story and the same "again mommy" happened.
After that we moved on to the monster sets and the big monster. This playtime went very well.
Continuamos a ouvir a música e a história a pedido dele e dois dias depois preparei uma nova atividade com os monstrinhos para ele. Pintei quatro rolos de papel higiénico e preparei bocas, olhos e orelhas para ele montar os monstrinhos. Ele colou o monstro feliz, o triste e o zangado e depois pediu-me para eu colar o assustado. À medida que ia fazendo os monstrinhos juntava a carta com o monstrinho correspondente. Desta vez ele não esteve propriamente entretido muito tempo mas deu voltarmos a falar das emoções e claro a ouvir a música e a história. Claro está que durante estas brincadeiras também falamos muito das cores. Nos dias seguintes os monstrinhos andarem sempre atrás dele de um lado para o outro. E noutro dia lembrou-se e foi buscar o monstro grande e montou as caras do zangado, do assustado e do feliz. O monstro preferido dele é o zangado.
We continued to listen to the music and the story at his
request and two days later I prepared a new activity with the little monsters
for him. I painted four rolls of toilet paper and prepared mouths, eyes and
ears for him to assemble the little monsters. He made the happy, sad and angry
monsters and then asked me to finish the scared one. As he would finish each
monster we would pair it with the corresponding flashcard. This time he was not
entertained for a long time but he did talk about emotions and of course listen
to the music and the story once again. Of course, during these games we also
talk a lot about colors. In the following days the little monsters were always
with him all around the house. And the other day he remembered and went to get
the big monster and made the faces of the angry, the scared and the happy. His
favorite monster is the angry one, this was true in all the games we played.
Passados uns dias resolvi manter a explorar este tema e usei tampinhas de iogurte para desenhar caras e duas folhas de cartolina para desenhar os bonecos onde ele tinha que colocar as caras. Aqui já tínhamos também algumas expressões corporais associadas às expressões faciais. O boneco assustado tinha as mãos na cara, o zangado tinha as mãos na cinta e o feliz tinha os braços no ar e as pernas também.
Ele gostou da atividade e desta vez a brincadeira chamou a atenção da avó que também quis brincar. Ele dava as tampinhas uma a uma à avó e ela ia pondo no sítio sendo que ele muitas vezes lhe dizia logo qual era o sítio. Há uns dias lembrou-se e foi novamente buscar esta brincadeira, deu as tampinhas brancas e a folha correspondente à avó e ele ficou com a roxa. E a verdade é que demoraram sensivelmente o mesmo tempo a por todas as tampinhas. Depois quisemos que eles trocassem as folhas e as tampinhas mas ele disse logo que não queria as brancas, as dele eram as roxas.
After a few days I decided to keep exploring this theme and
used yogurt bottle caps to draw faces and two sheets of white cardboard to draw
the dolls where he had to put the faces. With this game we could explore not
only facial expression but also some body language. The frightened doll had his
hands on his face, the angry one had his hands on his waist and the happy one
had his arms in the air and his legs too.
He liked the game and this time the game caught the attention of the grandmother who also wanted to play. He gave her the caps one by one and she would put them in the place, though he would often tell her right away what the place was. A few days ago he remembered this game and went to get it again. He gave the white caps and the corresponding sheet to grandmother and he got the purple one. And the truth is that it took roughly the same time for both of them to put all the caps on the right places. Then we wanted them to exchange the sets, but he said right away that he didn't want the white ones, his were the purple ones!
He liked the game and this time the game caught the attention of the grandmother who also wanted to play. He gave her the caps one by one and she would put them in the place, though he would often tell her right away what the place was. A few days ago he remembered this game and went to get it again. He gave the white caps and the corresponding sheet to grandmother and he got the purple one. And the truth is that it took roughly the same time for both of them to put all the caps on the right places. Then we wanted them to exchange the sets, but he said right away that he didn't want the white ones, his were the purple ones!
Esta semana decidi voltar às emoções e agora sim experimentar as caras com plasticina. Desenhei um circulo numa folha branca e para ajudar preparei logo algumas bolinhas e rolinhos para os olhos, boca, cabelos etc. A primeira cara fiz com ele e depois deixei-o explorar livremente. Claro está que depois de fazermos os dois juntos a primeira cara ele disse-me logo que faltavam orelhas e nariz e por isso la tratamos de fazer duas orelhas e um nariz. À medida que brincamos íamos dizendo que emoções estávamos a retratar.
This week I decided to come back to this theme and finally try
the playdough faces. I drew a circle on a white sheet and to help kick off the
game I prepared some balls and curlers for the eyes, mouth, hair etc. We
build up the first face together and then I just let him explore freely. Of
course, after we both made the first face together, he told me right away that
ears and nose were missing so we had to make two ears and a nose. As we played,
we were saying what emotions we were portraying.
Ele gostou e entusiasmou-se a fazer algumas expressões, ia apertando a plasticina, esmagando contra o papel e a certa altura distraiu-se completamente com a plasticina e já só estava a brincar com a plasticina sem foco nas emoções. Tudo a correr lindamente até que olhei para o lado uns segundos e ele decidiu enfiar um rolinho azul de plasticina, dos que usamos para os cabelos, por uma narina acima. Claro que depois ficou aflito e disse "Mamã tem dói dói, tira, tira!" por momentos estava a ver que íamos começar o dia numa viagem às urgências mas felizmente com calma e algum choro lá consegui tirar a plasticina com uma pinça. Ufa... Depois disto disse-me "Na qué mais monsto mamã!" que basicamente era ele a dizer não quero brincar mais a isto, com referência aos monstros porque foram os protagonistas da primeira brincadeira que fizemos relacionada com as emoções.
He liked and was excited to make some faces, off course at
some point he started to press all the playdough details, crushing it against
the paper and at one point he was completely distracted with the playdough and
was just playing with it without focusing on emotions, and that was just great
as well. Everything went beautifully until I looked away for a few seconds and he decided to stick
a blue roll of playdiugh, the kind we use for hair, up his nose. Of course,
afterwards he was distressed and said "Mom it hurts it hurts, take it off,
take it off!" for a moment I feared that we were going to start the day with
a trip to the emergency room, but fortunately I managed to remove it with
tweezers. Phew ... After that, he said to me "Mummy I don’t want monsters
anymore!" that basically him saying he did not want to play this game
anymore. Though we were not playing with monsters it was the first game we made
on emotions and so he correlated both activities.
Estas brincadeiras tiveram claramente um efeito positivo na capacidade do Tomás em reconhecer emoções e isso notou-se no dia-a-dia. Noutro dia ele estava a deitar os Kiconicos na cama e disse-me "mamã o Kico está feliz, este kico tamém está feliz..." para além disso quando vemos bonecos animados ele já reconhece e verbaliza quando as personagens estão assustadas, zangadas ou felizes e não apenas quando estão tristes.
Posto isto, este conjunto de brincadeiras foi claramente bem sucedido para além de muito divertido.
These games clearly had a positive effect on Tomás' ability
to recognize emotions and this was clear on a daily basis. The other day he was
laying his Kiconicos (teddy bears) on the bed and told me "mom Kico is
happy, this kico is also happy ..." in addition to that when we see
animated movies he already recognizes and verbalizes when the characters are
scared, angry or happy and not just when they are sad.
That being said, in addition to being a lot of fun this set of games was also clearly successful.
That being said, in addition to being a lot of fun this set of games was also clearly successful.