tell me everything. Alison talks to the experts – you!

I shouldn’t be at all surprised by the creative ways Innovative Resources’ tools are used in classrooms, in the playground, in groups, or on the family fridge. But every time I deliver training or a workshop, I hear incredibly innovative stories from people—social workers, teachers, early years educators, counsellors, parents and others—about how they’re using the cards in unexpected ways.

So, I thought I’d share a few stories with you. Hopefully they inspire you, as they’ve inspired me.

can do!

In a recent tools workshop, we were unpacking new resources and I asked the educators to open up the Can-Do Dinosaurs (one of my favourites). Almost straight away, I could hear people talking about how the cards would resonate with the children they worked with.

Once we were settled, I asked them to choose two cards for a child they were currently working alongside, and then ask themselves, ‘What have you noticed?’

As the educators shared their stories, what really resonated with me were the smiles on their faces.

I then asked, ‘How do you share what you notice?’ and, ‘How do children share what they notice about others?’

After giving this some thought, one educator said, ‘We have the digital resources, we could create a set of lanyards that children could be given when we noticed an act of kindness—if they were a good friend, or they were careful, or helpful.’

The educators spoke about the logistics and how they would involve the families. They talked about creating a photo wall with the children wearing their lanyards.

Then one educator said, ‘Wow, imagine if the children were able to give lanyards to their peers when they notice them using a strength, like being brave or listening.’

I really enjoyed hearing the educators move beyond their first instincts and ideas … expanding their thinking to empower the children.

We know that if the children embed their learning in actions and are encouraged to proactively look for examples of peers using their strengths, it creates neural pathways and those behaviours start to become normalised.

And what a fun way to do it!

using card sets with our favourite books

In a recent workshop, a Grade One teacher (6/7-year-olds) spoke about reading the book, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (one of my children’s favourites).

When they came to the last page, as the bear was wandering into a dark horizon (sorry, spoilers), a child stood up and got a pack of The Bears cards.

He then asked the other children, ‘How’s the bear feeling?’

The teacher recalled how, in that moment, she decided to sit back and let the children run the room. She spoke about watching them creating space for everyone to have a chance to speak.

The children all described how they thought the bear in the book was feeling, from sad, to mad, to really sad. Then, after some discussion, the children spoke about how the bear was exhausted and needed to get home ‘cos’ he was late and he needed to be there tomorrow to make a new friend.

The teacher then talked to the children about how we may all be looking at the same bear, but because of our different life experiences, we may interpret what the bear is feeling differently.

WOW!