ABSTRACT
Teachers are sometimes puzzled and frustrated by some children’s difficulties and troubles as these children respond aggressively when feeling that peers crowd too close or seem ‘threatening’. This article provides a variety of bodily games to help children become more aware of how their bodies and muscles work. The activities suggested are pleasurable and they also enhance children’s interpersonal and behavioral self-control skills. Ideas are suggested so that teachers can use the activities specifically to boost and encourage children’s creative imagination and, as well, increase children’s feelings of being in charge of their own movements and bodily responses.
Young children may have difficulty understanding emotions as well as motives and actions of others. In a study of recognition of happy, fearful, and angry expressions, three-year-olds confused fear and anger. And they significantly more often interpreted neutral expressions as ‘happy’ (Bayet, Behrendt, Cataldo, Westerlund, & Nelson, Citation2018). When children are unable to interpret emotions, they may be more likely to think of an action as ‘scary.’ Thus, one child painting at the easel, lashed out at a peer who moved in ‘too close.’. The peer was simply curious about the easel painting. The child at the easel felt that curious peer was standing too close physically and told the teacher ‘he was crowding me.’
A parent reported that when her son plopped down on the couch next to his younger sibling, so they could both watch a TV program together, the younger sibling yelled angrily and loudly that older brother was ‘pushing’ him. Some children feel uncomfortable with body boundaries that seem threatening to them, even when no hurtful intent was meant.
In a childcare gymnasium, a child whirled, with fists clenched, and punched the peer who had just brushed by him lightly. She had spied an empty tricycle and was hurrying to get there, in order to have a turn to ride that trike. The child who raised clenched fists assumed that he was being ‘knocked into on purpose.’
High anxiety, high family stress, feelings of frustration with classroom routines and expectations – all can galvanize young children to behave in ways that mystify peers as well as caregivers, and cause hurt. Helping children with tense bodies to calm themselves is an important goal for care providers. Helping children develop ‘executive skills’ to control negative behavior when upset and find other ways to respond, is a challenging task. These strong feelings that another child is invading one's bodily space or ‘means’ to harm or hurt may be more prevalent in some children. How can teachers help children realize how bodies and feelings work, so that they can become more aware of and more accurately assess and respond to the intentions, emotions, and bodily actions of others?
Some caregivers provide arm massages with soothing lotion for tense children who have troubles with peers. Some teachers program daily exercise times to help children learn specific exercises to ‘let off steam’ (Honig, Citation2017). Body exercises send positive endorphins to our brains and promote feelings of well-being.
In some classrooms, teachers specifically help children learn to recognize and talk about many different emotions (www.talaris.org) and also scenarios associated with a variety of different feelings. Teachers display posters showing different facial expressions, including: worry, anger, puzzlement, disbelief, embarrassment, fury, jealousy, resentment, happiness, surprise, shame, discomfort, joy, guilt, and sadness.
By labelling children's own expressions, when they look pleased, surprised, mad, satisfied, worried, scared, or otherwise upset, caregivers help children learn more accurately to identify different emotions. Using puppets to act out different emotions in special scenarios, and then asking young children how each puppet feels, is another technique to promote awareness of emotions.
When teachers respond in warm and accepting ways to life stories that children share, then children sometimes feel more comfortable to share times when difficult feelings may lead to sudden, worrisome bodily responses. Mr. Rogers, in his TV program, wisely helps adults guide young children to talk about ‘What can you do with the mad that you feel?’ This video can help further support children's talking about what different actions and words they can try when there are strong negative feelings.
Talk with children about how some kids do not mind being close together. Others get worried and may tense up, when feeling ‘crowded’ by a peer who may truly be fascinated, standing very close by, for example, to see how a classmate is building a block tower taller and taller. Talk about how sometimes kids need to think ahead of time to be more careful. A wild swipe of the arm can bring a Lego construction crashing down even though that child did not ‘on purpose’ intend to destroy a peer's construction.
Emphasize empathy
More than talking together about common feelings is sometimes needed. Teachers' talks can further children's understanding of body motions that can be helpful, harmful, or signal other emotions to their peers. Children will copy adult prosocial models (Wittmer & Honig, Citation1994). They also need adult supports to help them understand how empathy helps everyone figure out ways to get along peaceably with each other. When some children show poor body boundary recognition and regulation, then teachers more urgently need to help children become more aware of their body muscles, feelings, and bodily comfort in relation to the motions and stances of others.
Body awareness learning
Try to set aside some time each day to carry out activities to enhance children's ability to feel how different parts of the body work. Focus on a variety of body parts, such as shoulder blades, abductor muscles (the outside of the thighs), eyebrow muscles, wrist muscles, adductor muscles (insides of thighs), jaws, hamstrings (back of the thighs), shins, neck muscles, biceps and triceps, quads (tops of the thighs) upper arm triceps and biceps and other body parts. As they become aware of how each body part works, children can begin to realize more about the effects of their actions, such as striking with fists or feet, or patting gently with hands. As they gain more control over muscles, children can feel more powerful and prouder of their growing ability to decide to use their muscles and strength to help others, rather than hurt.
When children have been using feet or hands to lash out, adults can remind them how expert they already are at being in charge of body muscles for so many actions – such as getting a spoonful of food to their mouths without spilling. They have already learned expertly how to pull a sweater over the head, put socks on each foot, and successfully use the potty or toilet. Adults explain that the children can also become really strong experts in charge of how to use other body parts including hands and feet so that all children feel safe and can fix problems with words, and with teacher help, rather than by punching.
Quadriceps and hamstrings at work
Give seated children a chance to feel how much they are in charge of different body muscles. Ask them to put a hand gently on the upper thigh and feel their upper thigh muscle working powerfully hard as they slowly stretch a leg way out in front of the body and raise that leg higher and higher with the sole of the foot facing the opposite wall. As the leg moves higher, children also feel how their calf muscle (back of the lower leg) work is working so hard! Now try that with the other leg and then with both legs together. As the feet reach the flor again, ask the children to rotate each ankle in turn a few times and then point and flex toes on each foot in turn.
Children who kick out at others need to learn more about their work of all of their leg muscles so that they can decide to use those amazing muscles for growing stronger and more graceful in sports or dance. As the children lower that leg, ask them to swing the leg way back as far as possible underneath the chair. Now what muscle is working hard? The hamstring, underneath the thigh. Helping children become aware of how their bodies work and what muscles they are using can be the first step in helping them learn how to direct and control the use of muscles for kind and helping actions, for example, lifting up a chair that toppled over when someone accidentally happened to knock into it while running in the classroom. Be sure to give each leg a turn so children can appreciate having muscles work on both sides of their bodies. While seated doing several fast ‘Jumping Jacks’, children spread legs widely apart and then quickly bring them close together. This exercise helps children realize and relish the control they have of those upper leg and thigh muscles.
Caregivers raise children's awareness of what parts of their bodies tense up under different circumstances. As they sit and stretch both arms parallel to each other in front children slowly turn their palms up facing parallel to the opposite wall, so the children feel stretches in their wrist and shoulder muscles. Interlacing fingers with hands held high above the head and inner palms facing the ceiling, children also feel a big stretch in their wrist, shoulder and armpit muscles. Clasping hands together behind the back, children squeeze their solder blades together as they lean forward in a chair. Children may want to tell you what a struggle it is to try squeezing those shoulder blades closer and closer.
Mid-body muscles
Tummy twists
Ask seated children to feel with their fingers where their rib cage ends below the chest. Then ask each seated child slowly to turn as far as possible to the right and then slowly to the left several times. The children feel how rib cage and waist muscles are working as they move and twist the body in each direction. Increase awareness of tummy muscles. Ask seated children to place the thumb of each hand under the bottom of each set of ribs, at the bottom of the rib cage. They place the second finger on top of where they feel the tummy begins. Then each child leans forward, bends way over, and feels how the space shrinks between the two fingers. As children straighten up again, they feel how that space grows larger between the fingers. More muscles at work!
Coordinating motions
Observe how well the children can coordinate different body motions with each leg or arm. Can they swing one leg forward while the other swings back in under the chair? Can they raise one arm up and down while the other arm is going forward and backward? Coordination of body motions is so important for agility in sports. Children can create more coordination games where they suggest safe and interesting patterns to use legs and arms on each side of the body in different ways.
Creative imagination and body awareness
Body awareness experiences can also become a way for teachers to enhance children’ imagination abilities. Here are some ideas to try:
Appreciating music with quick feet and shin work
Ask the children to imagine that they have just heard a musician play a wonderful solo- on the drum, or blowing a horn, or on guitar. They want to show, not only with hand clapping, how enthusiastically they relished this musical talent. Ask the seated children to tap both feet up and down on the floor as FAST as they can move their feet up and down. Where do they feel the vibrations most? They should feel strongly aware of their shin muscles after this foot stamping to show appreciation.
Pretend concert piano playing
Children can also pretend to be musicians themselves. As ‘concert pianists’, they swiftly move fingers back and forth on a pretend grand piano keyboard. The children can picture themselves on a stage entertaining a huge audience. Up and down the imaginary keyboard their fingers swiftly fly from the lowest to the highest notes and back again. Every finger muscle is working in harmony to create glorious music. Imagine how much applause those fast flying fingers playing beautiful music are gathering from their appreciative audience!
Luring a little bird to nibble some yummy seeds from your fingers
Ask seated children to stretch one arm way out to the side; then raise the other arm to shoulder and hook thumb and forefinger in a little circle to form a pretend tiny dish filled with sunflower seeds – treats for birds. Now use the stretched-out arm to pretend to ‘fly’ with wiggly swooping fingers as if that arm is a bird flitting in front of the body to reach those delicious seeds to eat. But the bird gets skittish and flies back. Start that arm going again, moving the fingers like a little bird, longing to swoop up to snatch some of those seed to munch. After three tries, let the ‘little bird’ grab those seeds and enjoy them. Now try this scenario with the opposite hand serving as the seed holder and the other hand serving as the little bird fluttering up to reach for a tiny tasty snack.
Eagle sweeps
Ask the children to stand each a good distance from one another and pretend to be splendid eagles soaring way high in the sky, while flapping great outstretched arm wings slowly and purposefully in wide circles. Enjoy feeling like powerful flying birds making great slow swooping circles in the air with their ‘wings’. The children may want to describe the landscapes they might be seeing as they fly up high over the countryside.
Playing with a slippery large balloon
Pretending to keep a firm grip on an imaginary slippery balloon at midline with both hands, each child carefully spreads both hands apart slowly as the colorful balloon magically keeps growing bigger and rounder. As that pretend slippery balloon keeps expanding, growing ever larger, the children move their hands slowly and carefully apart when their arms are fully extended and their chest muscles are fully expanded, they feel that they can no longer hold on, then imagine gently letting go and watching the now giant balloons drift high up and float away.
Fishing net pulls
As children sit sideways in a chair, ask them lean forward and stretch out arms in front as they pretend to cast a large fishing net into splashing ocean waves to try to gather some fish to fry for dinner. Now they pull back arms strenuously as far as possible in toward the body in order to drag that heavy net now loaded with fish they have captured in that pretend net. Next ask them to swivel the body to face the opposite classroom wall. Children stretch bodies forward again pretending to wrestle with high waves. With strong efforts they pretend to pull in heavy nets full of flapping fish. Encourage them to feel the stretches under arm pits and in waist muscles. Children need to use lots of muscles for a successful ‘fishing expedition’.
Face funnies
Learning how facial muscles work is harder, because we can feel but not see these muscles at work, unless we stand in front of a mirror. Create games to wrinkle the nose, as if sniffing clean mountain air – or maybe the children want to try making a yucky face as if smelling rotten eggs!
Ask the children to imagine that they just received a HUGE surprise; then open the mouth as wide as possible to show how surprised they feel. Share with each other what funny scenes they can imagine that would cause jaw-dropping surprise feelings. Now raise eyebrows, then lower them a few times as if they just saw something even more surprising.
Feel how each jaw muscle can stretch from side to side. Then ask the children to puff out each cheek in turn. Try to fold the upper lip over lower; now fold the lower lip over upper lip. Curl the lower lip over the chin as if pouting. What ‘disappointment’ can the children imagine that can cause a person to pout? Pause between each action, so that each child can feel in charge of facial muscles to control each action.
Challenge the children to try firmly to touch the tip of the tongue toward the roof of the mouth and also swallow. Hard to do! End the facial muscle exercises by having each child scrunch up every face muscle tight and then suddenly relax the face completely. What a relief! Try that scrunch and relaxation of all facial muscles once more. Ask children for their ideas about what might be happening so a person feels like scrunching up the whole face.
Emotional improvisations
After the children feel comfortable with body awareness activities, ask them to imagine situations where emotions might be strong, and bodies respond in different ways, but nobody gets hurt. Some scenarios could include seeing a peer fall and get a bloody knee on the playground; being called a nasty name; having a peer snatch a toy; getting a compliment; or receiving a longed- for gift at a birthday celebration. Ask children to show with their bodies how they might respond to each scenario. Children themselves can create ‘improvisation’ scenarios and show how they can used each set of muscles to respond emotionally without using hurting actions toward another person. Ask about feelings first: Anger? Worry? Fear? Indignation? Joy? Puzzlement? What can each child tell you about the feeling she or he is now acting out facially and in body language in a pose in front of you?
If a particular child has difficulties with body awareness understandings, you might try to find some one-on-one time to sit with that child in front of a mirror so the child can see each body motion and felt emotion in the mirror.
Empower children to create their own body motion activities
You can further empower children by asking each child to think of an imaginative pose that the child could teach to peers to act out while using body stretches and movements. For example, one child thought of pretending to be rabbits hopping around while wrinkling noses as if sniffing for tasty greens to eat. Another child suggested stretching the way her family dog stretches with his paw reaching way up on a tree trunk when he spies a squirrel on a branch. Another child showed his peers how to act out the family washing machine, with unbalanced laundry inside, as the machine rocked back and forth when it was in the spin cycle Another child asked peers to put one foot directly and carefully in front of the other and walk forward slowly with arms outspread, while pretending they were tightrope walkers on a high wire at the circus. Kids can combine their imaginative ideas with their increased awareness of body muscles and movements as they use body motions in more imaginative and positive ways.
Conclusion
Express admiration for how well children are learning to control different muscles in every part of the body. Ask children to share scenarios of their own where they could use their stronger muscles to be helpful and kind. One child mentioned that the family dog had arthritis. He confided that now he felt strong enough to lift his precious pet and carry the dog upstairs to lie on the floor near his bed at night. As you create more and more interesting body awareness activities and stretch children's abilities to imagine different scenarios, you can talk more and more about how strong and powerful their muscles are getting so they can feel more in charge of acting in kind and helpful ways with each other.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Dr. Alice Sterling Honig, Professor Emerita of Child Development at Syracuse University, is the author of over 600 articles and two dozen books. She has lectured widely in many countries. In Beijing, she was honored to present the ‘Dr. Alice Honig award’ to a Chinese pediatrician chosen by peers. Dr. Honig is also a clinician in private practice. At Syracuse University, she was awarded the the Chancellor’s Citation for Academic Excellence.
References
- Bayet, L., Behrendt, H. F., Cataldo, J. K., Westerlund, A., & Nelson, C. A. (2018). Recognition of facial emotions s of varying intensities bv three-year-olds. Developmental Psychology. doi: 10.1037/dev0000588
- Honig, A. S. (2017). Exercise times enhance child skill building. Early Child Development and Care. doi: 10.1080/03004430.2017.1388353
- Wittmer, D. S., & Honig, A. S. (1994). Encouraging positive social development in young children. Part I. Strategies for teachers. Young Children, 49(5), 4–12.