Wellness day 2 grades 7+ learning activities

Time: 5 minutes

Trivia question: What is the national food of Canada?

Mindfulness activity:

• Find your pulse on your neck or your wrist.
• Count the number of heart beats for 15 seconds (use a phone or watch to time yourself).
• How many beats did you count? If you multiply that number by 4, that’s how many times your heart beats in a minute. That’s your heart rate.

Time: 10 – 15 minutes

Supplies: Pencil

Note: You can do this activity with friends over video chat such as Skype, Zoom or Facetime. If you can’t access one of these, connect with someone who lives with you.

The more you know your own strengths, the better you can pick the right situations. Focus on your strengths over your weaknesses. This will help you build confidence and a positive attitude about who you are.

Look at the definition of strengths below, and discuss the following questions with your friends.

Strengths are:

• Features, abilities, or personality traits of a person;
• Courage or frame of mind in the face of moral or social pressure.

Debrief Questions:

• What are some things that you find easy to do, or easy to learn?
• What are some things that make you feel strong?
• What are some things that you look forward to doing?
• What are some things that seem to make time go by faster?
• What are you really good at?
• What are you passionate about?

Time: 10 – 15 minutes

Supplies:

• Blank paper
• Pencil or pen

Note: You can do this activity with friends over video chat such as Skype, Zoom or Facetime. If you can’t access one of these, connect with someone who lives with you.

Take a blank piece of paper and fold it into thirds.

• Choose three of the strengths from the list below that you think are your strongest qualities.
• Write one strength at the top of each section, like a title.
• Under each title, write the activities you like to do that need the strength you chose.
• Last, write down one way you would like to use that strength in the future.

Strengths to choose from:

• Achieving – you have more energy and more goals than other people. You love to get things done.
• Caring – in your heart, helping people is very important. You want to make the world better by helping people in small ways or big ways.
• Competing – you see many things in life as a game, and you feel great joy when you win. You truly hate to lose because you are always striving for first place.
• Confidence – You believe in yourself and what you can do. This helps you take on challenges because you feel like you can succeed.
• Dependability – Trust is important to you, and you care about being seen as responsible and trustworthy. People count on you to do what you say you will do. When you make a promise, you mean to keep it.
• Curious – A thinker and learner, you are excited about exploring ideas and making connections. You like to ask the questions “How?” and “Why?”
• Future Thinker – Your mind loves to think and dream about the future. You are a person who thinks about what is possible, not what is impossible.
• Organizer – Scheduling, planning, and organizing your world makes it better. People count on you to get the details right and pull a plan together.
• Presence – You were born to be at the front of the room telling stories and taking the lead. Other people watch you and listen to you.
• Relating – You like to start friendships and keep them for a long time - maybe even your whole life. You widen the circle of friends for yourself and others.

If you want to explore your strengths further, do these two activities:

• Create a self-portrait collage using art supplies and magazine headlines and pictures that show your strengths in action.
• Use the internet to find songs, music or poems that highlight one or more of your strengths.

Time: 10 – 15 minutes

Note: You can do this activity with friends over video chat such as Skype, Zoom or Facetime. If you can’t access one of these, connect with someone who lives with you.

Share the three strengths you chose for yourself with your friends. Talk to them about the following questions:

• Do you usually focus on your strengths or your weaknesses?
• What are some of the positive or helpful points of your strengths?
• What famous people, living or dead, real or fictitious, share the same strengths as you?
• Who are some people you admire most? What are some of their strengths? Do you have any strengths in common with them?
• Is there something you think you aren’t good at? Why do you think that?
• What subjects are hard for you at school? How can your strengths help you improve in these subjects?
• When have you been able to use your strengths at school? At home? With your friends?
• What are some ways you could use your strengths that you’ve never tried before?
• How do you think your strengths will help you in the future?

Time: 5 minutes

Trivia question: What is the national animal of Canada?
A. Moose
B. Eagle
C. Beaver

Mindfulness activity:

• Find your pulse on your neck or your wrist.
• Count it for 15 seconds
• Breathe fast 10 times and take your pulse again.
• Which time was your pulse higher?

Time: 20 – 25 minutes

Supplies:

• Blank paper
• Pencil
• Markers

Note: You can do this activity with friends over video chat such as Skype, Zoom or Facetime. If you can’t access one of these, connect with someone who lives with you.

Your values are the principles you stand by when deciding what is right and wrong. For this activity, draw a coat of arms that represents your values. First, draw the outline for your coat of arms and write your name in the banner on the bottom. Then, answer these questions:

• What was your greatest success in the past year?
• What was your happiest moment in the past year?
• If you had one year to live and could be successful at anything you tried, what would you do?
• What is something you are good at doing?
• If you died today, what three qualities would you want to be remembered for?
• What is something you’d like to become better at doing?

Choose four key words from your answers to represent your values and write them at the top of the four sections of your coat of arms. Next, draw a picture to represent the value in each section.

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Time: 10 - 15 minutes

Note: You can do this activity with friends over video chat such as Skype, Zoom or Facetime. If you can’t access one of these, connect with someone who lives with you.

When you're finished your coat of arms, talk with your friends about your four sections and the values you chose. Listen while your friends explain their coat of arms.​

Mindfulness Activity 1: Poutine

Mindfulness Activity 2: C Beaver​