It’s September, so it’s back to school time!

Within the European project Health Common Good, as volunteers we went to do some fun activities with the school children.

We had the opportunity to go to two different schools, going through several classes. Since the topic we work on is mental health, we decided to start with the first step for a good mental health: emotions. It is fundamental to be able to understand, express and embrace our emotions, so we prepared some fun games related to that.

First of all, we went to the "Madre Teresa di Calcutta" school, where we were able to carry out the prepared activities in three different classes with children between 9 and 10 years old.

Before starting the activities, the volunteers and students took time to get to know each other. People, whether adults or children, are usually curious about the volunteers they meet.
In the school setting, this introduction was especially interesting because it became somewhat educational. We introduced ourselves in English, sharing our names, ages, nationalities, and hobbies, while the students attempted to translate these into Italian.
This exchange not only helped the children learn new English words but also allowed us, the volunteers, to expand our knowledge of Italian.

For the Energizer, we selected a simple and fun game called “James Bond”. This game encourages full participation, requiring three people at a time to perform different tasks, making it an excellent icebreaker and a great way to create bonds early on.

For the main activities, we focused on activities related to mental health and the expression of emotions. Inspired by the animated movie Inside Out, we created cards depicting various emotions, such as happiness, sadness, shame, and more.

One student would act out the emotion on the card, and the rest of the class had to guess which emotion was being portrayed. This game helps children better understand different emotions and encourages them to express their own feelings more freely. Teaching children that expressing emotions and talking about them is completely normal and healthy is crucial from an early age.

Additionally, the emotion names were written on the cards in both English and Italian, providing a fun opportunity for the students to learn new vocabulary while reinforcing language skills for both them and the volunteers.

The next activity was also centered on emotions. Activities that involve painting and music are always fun and help participants enjoy themselves. With this in mind, we combined both elements in the following activity: students listened to different pieces of music—some energetic, some happy, some sad, etc.
Afterward, they were asked to draw whatever came to mind based on how the music made them feel. This activity is valuable because it encourages emotional expression through creative outlets like art and music.
Music can evoke a wide range of emotions, and allowing children to interpret those emotions visually through drawing helps them process and express their feelings in a non-verbal way.

Experience has shown us that guessing countries by song is an interesting and fun activity, so we decided to use it at the school as well, with a small modification to make it more engaging for the children. Each group received cards with the names of different countries written on them, and when they heard a song, they had to select the card with the correct country and give their answer.
This small change made the game even more enjoyable, and the students had a great time participating. The use of cards adds an element of teamwork, as they have to discuss and select the right answer together and this promotes cooperation.

This activity is beneficial because it combines fun with cultural learning. By listening to music and guessing which country it’s from, students are exposed to different cultures in an enjoyable and engaging way.

But this did not stop here, as we were also able to share these activities with the kids from the "Tommaso Fiore" middle school, specifically with two classes with kids around 13, 14 years old. Here, to adapt it to the age and improving, we decided to change the activities a little bit.

First of all, for the presentation, we prepared a human bingo, where, to complete it we all had to mingle and get to know each other better. And we continued with the acting emotions game, but we changed it a little bit. We made three rows, where the second one had to guess which emotion the first one played until the row was completed.

And as for the second activity of the day, instead of drawing the emotions, we danced them! And of course, we closed the day with our guess the country game, musical edition.

With this we closed our activities in the schools, it was getting close to the end of the project, but what a great time we had working on emotions in a fun way with the children!

I volontari svolgono un progetto di volontariato grazie al finanziamento del Corpo Europeo di Solidarietà, assegnato all'associazione Link dall'Agenzia Italiana per la Gioventù.