a fun and creative activity designed by Thameside Primary School students and teachers in response to their Magical Days Out at Checkendon Equestrian Centre and regularly using their Toolbox for Schools.

We like it so much at INSIDE OUT that we’ve added it to our Toolbox. It’s a follow-up activity to our popular Feeling the Weather (FBW). The purpose is to reinforce with children how to relate to their own feelings/weather inside and the feelings/weather inside of other children back in the classroom or at home. And to encourage them to accept that whatever they are experiencing is fine.

• Print an A4 sheet with the words ‘How do you feel today?’

• Mount a colour paper banner onto an available classroom/or home wall and put the A4 sheet in the centre.

• Print out some photos of different weather scenes (i.e. Snow, Fog, Stormy, Sunny, Rain, and Breezy) and put them up on the wall.

• Ask children to write underneath each one what they think the corresponding feeling inside would be if they felt that weather inside — i.e. Afraid (with Fog), Angry (Stormy), Excited (Breezy), etc.

• Then ask children to choose a weather/feeling and draw or paint a picture of what it feels like to them.

• Display artwork alongside photos.