At NurtureStars, building healthy body and mind starts at the pre-Nursery level with frequent activities to help them further develop their gross motor skills. The activities are designed to initiate whole body movement involving the core muscles as well as eye-hand coordination to perform everyday functions, and over time, to carry out more complex skills such as play soccer, basketball and other games.

Recently, at NurtureStars @ SAFRA Punggol the Pre-Nursery 1 Stars children were introduced to an activity that was stimulating for both mind and body.  Listening to the song “If you’re happy and you know it”, children performed physical movements and at the same time learned about various emotions as well, such a being happy, angry or sad.

Three rectangles, each with a sticker showing different facial expressions, were drawn on the floor. The teachers explained and demonstrated the activity, after which the children were told to listen to the song and clap their hands. Whenever the music stopped, the PN 1 Stars would be asked to stand inside one of the drawn boxes.

The teacher would then walk to each group and ask the children to act out the emotion of the “face” in the box. They were encouraged to say how they feel and make faces of the emotion shown on the facial illustration.

The activity is designed to help the children recognize and express their feelings in a fun physical activity.