The guide suggests that, whilst the practice of the 5 Heart-Mind qualities can be invisible when things are going well, “it’s when the going gets tough and we feel less than our best that we may notice that one or more areas of Heart-Mind well-being are lacking in our lives – which may show up as relationship difficulties, out of control emotions, underachieving, or stress,” as much for children as adults.

The guide uses simple, child-friendly language to suggest activities parents/caregivers and children can do together to strengthen these essential qualities.

The five qualities are:

·      Secure and Calm: A video in this section showcases the benefits of reading books with children to build secure adult-child connections that help children feel calm and secure and promote the development of emotional literacy. A mother and her 2-year-old daughter read stories together and talk about how the characters in the books are feeling. The child is then invited to explore her own feelings within the context of the story and the safety of the parent-child relationship.

·      Compassionate and Kind: This section uses the Story Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes and a large paper heart cut-out as an example of how to talk about the connection between words, actions and feelings.

·      Alert and Engaged: This section uses role play with puppets to assist in externalizing children’s own feelings which can produce a degree of vulnerability, and explores age-appropriate self-regulation skills

·      Gets Along with Others: This section uses the What Colour is Your Heart exercise to create a vocabulary to discuss feelings and social interactions, and includes a video of the activity in action in a classroom situation.

·      Solves Problems Peacefully: This section includes ideas for developing and filming short skits to demonstrate ways of solving problems in peaceful ways.

Suggestions for using the guide include:

·      Reading the descriptions of the qualities and inviting the child to act out each quality, e.g. showing the emotions on their face and through their body.

·      Reading stories, and creating stories in which characters use Heart-Mind qualities to overcome challenges or solve a problem.

·      Drawing pictures of the qualities to put on the wall or fridge, or to create a picture book

·      Making Heart-Mind Valentines (a good activity for all year round!)