*WATCH THE VIDEO* Make a friendship bracelet to remind yourself of the people who care about you.
What you’ll need: Old magazines, scissors, glue, straw and a piece of yarn or string
What’s it for?
This activity will help you to appreciate people in your family, at school, clubs and friends who care about you and are there for you. Knowing that you have people you can rely on will help you to be more resilient and build even stronger relationships.
Check In:
Notice how you’re feeling right now. Close your eyes and notice what’s going on inside your mind and body.
How are you feeling?
What are you thinking?
How does your body feel?
Method:
Make a list of people in your life who care about you. These might be your parents, carers, siblings, friends or other relations.
Now it’s time to make the beads for your bracelet! Choose a magazine page with the colours you like as this will determine the design of your beads. You could choose a different page or colour for each person from your list.
Cut out long and thin triangle shapes across the page. The base of the triangle will be the bead width so you can decide how wide you would like it to be.
Starting with the base of the triangle, wrap it around the straw while adding the glue. Keep wrapping and gluing it around the straw until you get to the top of the triangle strip.
Now carefully slide it off the straw and leave it to dry or you could leave the straw inside the bead instead by trimming it along the sides of the bead.
When you have enough beads, feed them through a piece of yarn or a string (long enough to fit your hand) and tie both ends of the yarn securely.
Extra Activity: Show your Friendship Bracelet to the people that represent each bead. If they’re not in your household, you could send them a picture of it, or show them online. See how they react. You could also make a friendship bracelet for someone you care about and give it to them as a gift.
When you’ve finished, spend a moment reflecting on the activity and ask yourself the following questions:
Did you learn anything new about yourself while you did this activity?
How do you feel about the people you listed while making the beads?
Do they share similar qualities?
What do they do to make you feel that they care about you?
How does it make you feel knowing that people care about you?
How would you show someone that you care about them?
What colours did you choose for each person? What might this suggest?
Where did you choose to keep your bracelet when you are not wearing it?
If you showed your friendship bracelet to the people you included, how did they react? How did it make you and them feel?
Conclusion:
This activity helps you to recognise and appreciate people in your life who care about you. Having supportive people around you can help you build resilience and stronger relationships. By expressing your gratitude for something they have done through words, actions or gifts, you are making them feel appreciated and valuable. You will not only make their world a better place, but you will also enrich yours.
Take a moment to notice how you are feeling at the end of this activity. Did you discover anything surprising? What can you take away to make you feel better about yourself from this activity?
If you would like to, share something about your experience with this activity with someone you live with! Ask the person who looks after you to send us an email if you have any questions or comments about the activity or would like to send us any pictures (info@catcorner.co.uk). Don't forget to subscribe for more fun CAT activities!
Created by Karolina Koman © May 2020
Creative Arts Used: Art
Psychological Areas Explored: Relationships, Emotional Wellbeing, Resilience
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These activities could be done by children of all ages, but some may need the support of their parent or carer to read the instructions or complete the activity safely.
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