Emotional literacy activities for young people can have a powerful impact on confidence, communication, and wellbeing. What makes this work so special is that emotional literacy alongside English and Maths support is about so much more than schoolwork.
Many of the young people we work with have had hard experiences with learning. Over time, they can start to believe they’re just “not good at school.” That’s why learning a completely new skill, something with no pressure attached, can be so powerful. It gives them a chance to succeed and feel proud.
One young person in our program was usually calm, happy, and eager to please. But when learning felt too hard, that overwhelm sometimes came out as scribbling on work or tearing paper. When we talked about it, we realised they didn’t really understand why it was happening and neither did the adults around them.
So we explored it together.
Introducing Wobbles the Koala
We started with Wobble the Koala, a story about a little koala who finds school tricky too.
Then we did something a little different, we crocheted a koala together!
Crochet wasn’t the goal. It was simply a safe way to try something new, work through frustration, and experience success. And they absolutely nailed it. If you want to try to make the Koala I have shared what we used below.
Koala pattern
Yarn used with a 3mm Hook
Safety eyes
As we stitched, we talked about how different brains work, what overwhelm feels like, and how to notice those feelings before they get too big. When we finished, we made a couple of baby koalas from playdough to represent Wobble’s three different brains and help make those big ideas easier to understand and talk about.
Together, we created a simple support sheet to help explain:
- what might trigger the overwhlelmed feeling at school
- what helps and that they could do in a classroom.
This is what our Emotional Koala Program is all about, helping young people understand themselves, build confidence, and find better ways to communicate their needs. Creative emotional literacy activities for young people provide opportunities to build self-awareness, practise emotional regulation, and experience success in a safe and supportive environment.
Because sometimes the best learning doesn’t start with English or maths.
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