Worksheet, Activities & Students Work

KAWA- River Worksheet

This KAWA river is representative of the children's life. They can use markers, colored pencils, newspapers, magazines or computers on PowerPoint to make their river.

As you start to fill in your river, keep in mind the intensity of the environment, task, and individual. The bigger the rock or driftwood might be, the larger it affects your flow. You can have small rocks and driftwood if they seem small to you in your life but are still prominent. The small rocks might direct the flow in other ways or create a new path for the water.

Review: Reflect on how much flow you have in your river. Do you need to clean some space out for your flow?

PDF: (Worksheet & Color in)

KAWA Model for ESA.pdf

Color in A-Z and 1-10

Project description:

Coloring is a therapeutic activity to self-regulate. The alphabet and numbers will be used as visuals in the Nature-Base Sensory Path. Visuals for students help with calming down, as the child can predict the next letter or number. 1-10 can be used as a calming skill to self-regulate.

Alphabet

Numbers

See, Touch, Hear, Smell, and Reflect

I create a running Journal every time the student goes through the path. This worksheet also has modifications. This can be completed at the Bench and Chimes station.

Nature Journal

Poem/Story/Song/Mad libs of Nature

People gravitate to nature. Writing a poem, song, story, or mad lib about the experience helps connect and reflect.

Mad Lip: PsychCreatives | Self-Esteem Mad Lib

Example from the website: Mad Lib and worksheet

Looking outside for 5 minutes

Attention Restoration Therapy (ART) is the hypothesis that nature uses involuntary aspects of our concentration. ART allows the parts of the brain related to directed attention the opportunity to rest. Especially for young adults, to increase higher-order cognitive functions, including selective attention, problem-solving, inhibition, and multitasking skills. Studies have shown to reduce heart rate and blood pressure and improve short-term memory by 14% (Atchley et al.; Bratman et al.)

Reference

Atchley, R.A., Strayer, D.L. & Atchley, P. (2012). Creativity in the wild: Improving creative reasoning through immersion in natural settings. PLoS ONE, 7(12), e51474. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0051474

Bratman, G.N., Hamilton, P., & Daily, G.C. (2012). The impacts of nature experience on human cognitive function and mental health. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1249(1), 118-136. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06400.x