Themed Idea
Keeping the Blues away during lockdown
- Press play to watch the video, learn the song and sing along.
Activity Slideshow
Here are the lyrics and some learning ideas to go with the song.
Click the arrows to browse through the slides. Watch in full-screen mode by clicking on the first slide and then selecting the full screen mode icon.
Slide 1: Read through the lyrics – notice the pattern of the song and where the activity words change.
Slide 2: Talk about and choose 6 Regulation activities or strategies that could help you feel better if you get the Lockdown Blues.
Slide 3: Some Regulation Strategy symbols
Slide 4: An alternative set of song lyrics written by someone who finds it helpful to read, run and chill when they’re feeling blue.
Slide 5: We remind you that feel good-triggers can also be helpful regulation strategies.
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Fischy Music Online Assembly
Sing and share at your own virtual assembly
We know your school assemblies haven’t been the same recently, with no big gatherings allowed and no singing, which we think is a really sad thing.
But maybe this can be a time to sing again if your school is planning virtual assemblies during lockdown because we’re allowed to sing at home – hooray! Maybe some of you might feel brave enough to perform your own version of the song live or on video and send it to your teacher to share. Don’t forget to add some actions to go with your words so everyone can join in from home too.
MORE ACTIVITIES ACROSS DIFFERENT LEVELS
Browse all ideas by scrolling down the page, or click a button to go directly to your level
Nursery and Lower Primary
EARLY LEVEL ACTIVITIES
Use socks to spell out words for feeling blue
Can you think of 5 other emotion words that are similar to the feeling ‘blue’. Check with a parent how to spell your 5 words and ask them to write them down for you, or write them yourself.
Gather a collection of socks and use them to spell out the words. Don’t forget to pair the socks and put them away again once you’ve finished!
What other items could you use to make big words on the floor?
Blue Cog Flower
Draw around something round to make a circle on thin card or paper. Add cog teeth on the outside before cutting out, or leave as a smooth circle if you prefer. Draw and cut out petal shapes and write or draw a regulation activity on each one. Stick on your petals with glue or tape, or just lay around the outside. Use your flower to help you choose something when you’re feeling down, fed-up or blue.
Who else in your family might like to have a blue cog flower too?
Gratitude Sun
Here’s an idea to help you think about your own feel-good triggers. When we think about or do things that make us happy we’re more likely to stay in a good mood and keep the blues away. Being thankful about these things is called ‘gratitude’.
Think about what you’re grateful for and make a gratitude sun for yourself and someone else you know.
Talk about a gratitude-a-day at tea time with your family during Lockdown.
Middle Primary
First LEVEL ACTIVITIES
'Blue' object art
Search for objects in your home that are blue. Gather together a selection that you could use to spell out the word ‘blue’.
Next write synonyms and stretch words that have similar meanings to add to your object art.
Trick question: Can you explain to your parent or teacher why this piece of work is an Orange Cog task??
Build a bridge over some troubled waters
Use this artwork as inspiration to set up a scene in your living room with some ‘troubled waters’ and a bridge over the top. Put your words for feeling blue in the water area. Will you use furniture or junk modelling for each side of your bridge? Do you have building blocks or books you could use? Maybe lego? Think about a regulation strategy or a feel-good trigger for each brick or part of your bridge.
Zoom-call a friend in your class to show them your bridge and troubled water creation or send a photo to your teacher.
Gratitude Graph
Interview each person you live with or telephone friends or grandparents. Ask everyone to name as many things they can think of that they were grateful for yesterday. In other words – how many feel-good triggers did they have in a day?
Plot the results on a pictograph or bar chart.
Did the people who reported the most gratitudes seem in a better mood?
Upper Primary
Second LEVEL ACTIVITIES
Blue triggers and ratings
Create a similar diagram as the ones shown above, using the word ‘blue’, ‘down’ or ‘fed-up’ at the center, or another word with a similar meaning.
Add 10 triggers around the ouside for your chosen feeling. To add some Grey Cog learning into this task, add a rating from 0-10 for how intensely blue, down or fed-up each trigger would affect you.
Now, to cheer yourself up, do the same for a positive emotion!
3D Emotional Coronacoaster
Can you create a 3D Coronacoaster? Add emotion words to show the different feelings you experienced in 2020. Choose where to put words for positive and negative feelings and moods. Would ‘low’ be in a low place and ‘high’ up high? Or will your words go in the order of your journey through the year?
If you search up ‘Rollercoater STEM activity’ you can browse some science & technology ideas for making a 3D rollercoaster, then you can figure out how to add your emotion words.
Bridge Over Troubled Water song lyrics
Search on Youtube for a version of this song that you like. There are lots to choose from.
Look up the lyrics and read through with ‘Coggles’ on. Can you spot
- any emotion words (orange cog)
- any sensation words (red cog)
- references to emotional behaviours (green cog)
- emotion triggers or life circumstances (yellow or purple cog)
The main message in the song is a blue cog message. What is the supportive strategy that is being offered?
Write out the lyrics with coloured references to the Emotion Cogs.
wow it was cool
For those of you who have been asking about Emotion Works packages for when schools return – please see this post about our trial and full school packages
https://www.emotionworks.org.uk/emotion-works-primary-school-packages-2021/