honoring transitions: journal prompts for your children

journal entry by Milo, 4 years (now he's in 4th grade!)

With summer coming to an end AND with a new academic year approaching, we can all experience a wide variety of emotions.  It's so exciting for some of us to relish in the anticipation of a new year and yet, this can also, naturally, bring about anxiety.

It's helpful, especially during times of transition, to set aside some extra time for activities that are grounding.  For some of us, one of these activities can be creating.  I have found that children are naturally grounded while they can be creative.  You may observe this when you catch them humming or singing to themselves while they are drawing.

By the way, did you know that the physical act of humming has been physiologically proven to connect the right and left hemispheres of the brain?

If your children have attended a handful of my classes, my guess is they have a sketchbook around the house that has a few empty pages.  Here are a few prompts to choose from if your child needs a bit of structure or direction before sitting down to draw or create.

• my favorite things to see, smell, hear, and taste in summer (4 different prompts)
• all the things I learned this summer
• my favorite fruit/vegetable
• my favorite joke
• if I could pack a picnic basket all by myself, what would I bring?
• what was I doing on the 4th of July?
• my three favorite flavors of ice cream
• draw a map of somewhere I went this summer
• my favorite activity at the playground
• my favorite song
• my favorite party I attended this summer
• my favorite book, topic to read about or character
• the best surprise this summer
• my favorite summer memory

Some children may want to rush through journal prompts and quickly fill empty pages.  If your child has a tendency to do this, try to encourage them to elaborate more on the same topic/page.  Perhaps they can add words to their drawings or clippings from magazines.

Wishing you all much joy and ease as you transition into a new school year.

To read more about the benefits of journaling for children, visit this link.