Practical Ideas for Promoting Wellbeing During Children’s Mental Health Week
Written by Kapow Primary's RSE Team
Published on 20th January 2025
Last Updated: 20th January 2025
Children’s Mental Health Week is an annual initiative dedicated to highlighting the importance of mental health in children and young people. Schools can use this event to teach about wellbeing by introducing activities and lessons that enhance emotional awareness, build resilience, and strengthen positive relationships.
Why Should We Teach Wellbeing?
Research by Oxford Impact highlights several benefits of developing children’s wellbeing:
- Improved academic outcomes: Children with enhanced wellbeing show better concentration, motivation, and academic performance.
- Stronger relationships: Wellbeing development leads to better peer and teacher relationships.
- Resilience and coping skills: It equips children with skills to handle challenges effectively.
- Long-term success: Wellbeing supports personal and professional achievements.
The report emphasises the value of whole-school approaches and integrating wellbeing into the curriculum for lasting positive impacts.
Below are some suggestions for teaching Wellbeing to primary-age children, not just during Children’s Mental Health Week but all year round.
Develop Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is the cornerstone of emotional intelligence. Help pupils reflect on their emotions and strengths with activities such as:
- Self-reflection journals: Provide prompts such as “What made you happy today?” or “What’s one thing you’re proud of?”
- Feelings check-ins: Use a visual emotions chart where pupils can identify how they’re feeling at the start of the day.
- ‘All about me’ posters: Encourage pupils to celebrate their unique qualities and goals.
Tip: Incorporate activities into morning routines to help pupils start the day with a positive mindset.
Build Resilience Through Play
Resilience is the ability to bounce back from challenges, and it’s a skill that can be taught. Incorporate activities that promote perseverance and problem-solving:
- Growth mindset games: Demonstrate how practice leads to improvement using examples such as those found in Year 2: Discover: Perseverance and Year 4: Discover: Resilience.
- Problem-solving scenarios: Pose real-life challenges for pupils to discuss and solve as a group.
- Role-play exercises: Act out situations where pupils practise handling disappointment or conflict.
For more ideas, read our blog on Building Resilience In Primary School Children.
Tip: Praise effort rather than outcomes to reinforce the value of persistence.
Integrate Mindfulness and Relaxation
Mindfulness helps children manage stress and stay focused. Use these simple techniques:
- Guided visualisation: Lead pupils through imagining a happy, peaceful place using sensory prompts, for example, “What do you see?” and “What do you hear?” Try this Year 4 RSE & PSHE lesson on Relaxation: Visualisation.
- Breathing exercises: Teach pupils to practise ‘balloon breathing’, where they imagine inflating and deflating a balloon with each breath.
- Relaxation corners: Create a quiet space in your classroom with calming resources such as books or sensory tools.
Tip: Schedule short mindfulness breaks throughout the day to help pupils reset and refocus.
The ‘Take notice’ lessons in the Kapow Primary Wellbeing scheme of work feature mindfulness and relaxation techniques for children.
Encourage Peer Support
Strong peer relationships build a sense of belonging and mutual care. Promote empathy and kindness with:
- Buddy systems: Pair pupils to support one another during activities or transitions.
- Kindness challenges: Encourage pupils to perform random acts of kindness or write positive compliments or messages with classmates.
- Sharing circles: Provide a space where pupils can openly share their feelings and listen to others.
Tip: Use assemblies to celebrate acts of kindness and highlight the importance of mutual respect.
The ‘Connect’ lessons in our FREE Wellbeing scheme support pupils with friendships and developing relationships.
Bringing Parents into the Conversation
Parents are key partners in supporting children’s mental health. We’ve created a Wellbeing curriculum guide for parents and carers to encourage parents to:
- Talk about feelings: Choose quiet, uninterrupted moments to ask open-ended questions such as “How are you feeling today?”
- Listen without judgement: Show empathy and patience when children share their thoughts.
- Reinforce strengths: Celebrate children’s achievements and remind them of their ability to overcome challenges.
Tip: Share resources with parents from trusted organisations such as Place2Be, Young Minds, and the NSPCC to empower parents with practical tools.
Linking Wellbeing to British Values
Children’s Mental Health Week aligns naturally with the British Values of democracy, respect, and tolerance:
- Democracy: Encourage pupil voice through activities such as circle time or class discussions. Citizenship lessons from the Kapow Primary RSE & PSHE scheme of work guide KS1 and KS2 pupils through different aspects of democracy:
Year 1 Democratic decisions
Year 2 School council
Year 3 Local democracy
Year 4 Local councillors
Year 5 Parliament
Year 6 National democracy
- Individual liberty: Help pupils understand and take ownership of their personal growth and understand the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. Year 5: Discover: Growth mindset
- Mutual respect and tolerance: Celebrate diversity through storytelling and collaborative activities.
Try this Wellbeing lesson to teach KS1 pupils about respect: Year 1: Give: Sharing.
Support Upper KS2 children with understanding tolerance: Year 6: Connect: Community.
Tip: Use storytelling and group work to reinforce these values while teaching emotional resilience.
Incorporating wellbeing into daily school life, not just during Children’s Mental Health Week but year-round, has a transformative impact on children’s mental health, relationships, and academic success. By nurturing self-awareness, resilience, mindfulness, and peer support, schools can equip pupils with essential life skills that support their long-term development. Start exploring these practical ideas today and make wellbeing an integral part of your curriculum!
