These soft toys with various expressions have captivated me since I first spotted them on Twitter! They are so popular that Twinkl have made resources out of them. Now I’m pleased to be able to recommend them to PYM blog readers!
The Stars
We all know that the ability to express and control our own emotions is an essential social skill. Recognising emotions in others is equally important. However, for the young child or for children on the autism spectrum trying to communicate feelings can be difficult and frustrating.
The soft, tactile My Mood Stars are named – Timid, Sad, Angry, Happy, Sleepy, Surprised, Scared and Silly – but their names can be changed to fit in with the user’s vocabulary.
Where did they start?
In her spare time, Wendy sewed – she started to make little toys and rattles for the children, cutting out their names in felt and made them into fridge magnets. To help support the children’s emotional development, she made little felt stars depicting different emotions such as sad, happy,
surprised, timid, angry, sleepy, silly, and scared.
In 2016, Wendy had her Ofsted inspection. The Ofsted inspector noticed the felt stars with the faces on and remarked on how engaged the children were whilst playing with them. He went on to suggest that the Mood Stars (as they had become known) were marketed. On retiring, Wendy decided to take her Ofsted inspector up on his suggestion and sourced a factory in China with the ethos and sustainability that Wendy wanted.
In 2018, ‘My Mood Stars’ were born.
The benefits
The choice of these emotions are because they are the most used amongst children and basic enough for children to relate to.
The My Mood Stars are simply Stars with expressions, so there is no distraction of culture, age or gender.
My Mood Stars can be used at home or in schools. Children play with their My Mood Stars like they would play their favourite soft toy, often talking to them and reconciling their own feeling with those of the Stars.
Stars in your setting
Early years setting are the perfect place to start learning about them. If children can explain how they are feeling and understand the emotions of others, they will have the best start to their school experience.
I honestly can’t explain how special and helpful they’ve been for children to help them in expressing themselves. They’re used daily throughout the day by all of the children and they just seem to connect with them in ways that they don’t with dolls and visuals etc.
Ellie Auger
If you make talking about emotions a priority in your classroom, our youngest children learn early on how to self-regulate and express themselves.
Here are 5 reasons that children need to learn to talk about emotions:
- Understanding the reason behind the emotion
- To help them feel more in control
- Negative emotions can lead to negative thoughts
- It means they can ask for help
- It helps them to be a better friend
Every teacher has experienced a frustrated child who can’t explain how they feel. They show angry, physical behaviour towards adults and other children without understanding why. You can help your children understand the emotions behind their behaviour. My Mood Stars are the perfect tool for this!
Such a wonderful resource to help teach my little ones about Emotions / Feelings, we love incorporating the use of these into our story time each day. Beautifully made, and such amazing quality.
Butterfly Childcare
As children get older, it is important they move on from putting everything into these two groups. For example, understanding that someone might feel scared, rather than sad, will help them learn how to respond appropriately.
It’s very human to try to minimise or ignore negative feelings, after all, we want our children to feel happy. But the only way to get children understanding is to talk openly about all of them. Dismissing unhappy feelings doesn’t make them go away.
Some children will come to school already able to express themselves. Others will need your help. Boys in particular may have experienced the old-fashioned idea that showing emotions is a bad thing. It’s crucial to show them it’s healthy to talk about feelings. My Mood Stars can support communication for older pupils as well.
With each set of My Mood Stars there is a 4 page activity download available on the website to help you get the very best out of your set of My Mood Stars.
My Mood Stars in action
As a SENCO, I love My Mood Stars so much that I have a set for my 4 year old at home and also a set for every class in our school. We use them in different ways to help the children learn about and process their emotions
Penny Whelan
Where can you find them?
Website – https://www.wendywoo.uk/
Twitter – www.twitter.com/mymoodstars
Facebook – www.facebook.com/mymoodstars
Instagram – www.instagram.com/mymoodstars41
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/motherofmoodstars
If you have any questions for Wendy, please do not hesitate to contact her either via her website or on social media channels – her D.M is always open!
Thanks for reading!
Lynn
(This is a promotion)