Little Hands Learning | Feelings Box Review

 “A monthly subscription box, inspired by the magic of books.”

Expect a few Little Hands Learning Box posts in quick succession, as we’ve worked our way through the last three boxes and one of our Christmas ones has already arrived.

Talking of which, we are now less than 50 days away from the big day and these boxes really do make the perfect gifts – you can even get them gift wrapped, to save wrapping yourself! My discount code will be below, as always, but there are three options for Christmas boxes this year – Winter Treasures, The Reindeer Express and Pick a Pine Tree. We received The Reindeer Express last year, and it was beautiful.

Anyway, back to September’s box – which was a Feelings box, also known as the Healthy Minds box. It was the ideal month to release this one with starting school (or for others, back to school) – not that we had anything to worry about, and Alfie has since had a glowing report at parents’ evening – but it is an emotional time and another important milestone.

The Feelings Box was inspired by the book ‘Sometimes: A book of Feelings’, written by Stephanie Stansbie and illustrated by Elisa Paganelli. I always mention how beautiful the books are, and this one is no different. It follows two children about their day – through the highs and the lows, as they go through all the emotions: fear, anger, embarrassment, bravery, peace… the illustrations are stunning, and the book even offers tips for helping children understand different and difficult emotions.

The four activities were:

• Playdough faces
• Make your own affirmation cards
• Craft an emotions chart
• Create a kindness jar

Spread a little kindness

The kindness jar was the second activity we did together, but it was the firm favourite from this box – Alfie was even excited to finish the strawberry jam, so we had a glass jar to use! We sat down together, and I asked him what kinds of things we could write on the post-it notes – encouraging him to suggest ideas that would make him, as well as others, smile.

The first one he suggested was “buy someone flowers” as my friend had been over that day and bought me two bunches of flowers. Alfie was really good at offering ideas, and then I helped him – before adding a couple of notes that were aimed at him that would make us happy!

We ended up having loads and used all but two of the post-its. I then folded them up and Alfie put them in the jar, but we enjoyed taking it turns to pick out a random act of kindness. Not only did this get us to think, but it was nice to actually follow through with the cards and make someone else’s day!

Let’s talk about feelings

The hot air balloon activity was a great way to share how you’re feeling at any given time. I’ve always been interested in colour profiling/mapping, and I love how colours are linked to different emotions too.

We had four balloons to work with, and multiple sheets of tissue paper. I asked Alfie first how he was feeling, and he immediately chose red – not because it’s his favourite colour, but because (in his words): “I’m angry because I want lunch now” (it was definitely only 10am). He then gave me pink because it is my favourite colour. We used blue and yellow for the final two balloons – just for a contrast between sad and happy.

We then went back through the book to talk about the different emotions and colours used on the pages to signify feelings.

You are special, you are loved

The affirmation cards were such a good idea – and even better that we could then make our own on the back. It was so nice to be able to do it together, as we could talk about our positive qualities and how they make others feel. I tried to get Alfie to write some, but he ended up telling me what to write. The kind of things we wrote were:

• You make us laugh
• You are generous
• You always share

Once we finished the activity, it made us feel good about ourselves and it’s a nice one to revisit when having a bad day, or not feeling too good. Like the other day – Alfie struggled with a word in his phonics books and gave up saying he couldn’t do it and he was rubbish. The cards gave him a confidence boost, and he carried on, without struggling. I was proud of his resilience and wrote that in his reading record.

If you're interested in purchasing a one-off box or even subscribing, visit the website. And if you're looking for a discount on a future box or anything in the shop, use code: LUCYLOCKET – and in the notes, mention that I sent you.

For sneak peeks of future boxes, as well as other crafty and educational ideas, follow Little Hands Learning on Instagram.

Love, Lucy xx