Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children
Number 411
Journalling
Hello Everyone
Do you keep a diary?
Did you get a diary as a present and found it is full of fascinating facts about scouting or horse riding or keeping rabbits?
ls it your New Year’s resolution to keep a diary?
lf there is lots of room to write in your diary, you may want to start journalling.
That means writing paragraphs of text instead of brief notes like ‘went to school’.
Journalling can be a very useful thing to do.
Writing in a journal is really like having a conversation with yourself.
lf you ever have a problem to solve or a decision to make, the very best person to get advice from is often yourself.
You know if something feels right or not.
Getting a situation out of your head and down onto paper is often a helpful thing to do in order to make a decision.
lt can help you see much more clearly what has to be decided upon.
Write lots of questions down quickly. Then write down answers.
You may be surprised at how well this works.
You can use your journal in different ways.
Freewriting, for example, is a technique whereby you write down whatever comes into your mind.
Start with a blank page and a pen.
Just keep writing and writing, and just for a change, don’t worry about writing full stops at the end of sentences – your teacher won’t be reading this.
Just let your thoughts flow out without stopping to analyse what you have written.
Don’t judge anything or worry about where you are going with it all – just keep going.
When you come to a natural stop and you can’t think of anything else to write, read back what you have written.
lt might all surprise you.
You may have uncovered something, found an answer to something or decided against taking certain action.
The more you do this exercise the easier it may become.
Lots of wisdom may be looking back at you from your page.
You don’t have to do this in a diary, you could use a notepad or piece of paper – you may need a lot of space to write everything down.
This is a good exercise to do when you feel bad too.
You might feel angry or frustrated or upset that something unfair has happened to you.
Someone may have said something upsetting to you.
Let all your negative emotions flow out onto the paper.
You don’t need to feel embarrassed about your feelings because only you will read what is written there.
When you write in a journal, you don’t have to feel that you are endlessly moaning to your friends about something – the paper never gets fed up with your moaning.
You can get everything out into the open as soon as the pen hits the paper.
You can write things like:-
l fear that…
l hate that…
When you have written and written and written so much that there is nothing left to say and you have got everything out of your system – let it all go.
Don’t read it back to yourself – your job is done. lt is like a brain dump.
And lastly, a lot of people keep gratitude journals.
They write down at least three things they have got to be grateful for every day – not the same three things every single day perhaps, but they find their mood improves if they keep doing this.
So, this means that you can offload bad things into your journal and reflect good things and solutions back to yourself.
You only have to try this a few times to see how you can make it work for you.
lf you like my blog, please support it by telling all your friends and followers about it.
Thank you!
And see you again next Fun Friday!
Love and kisses
Salty Sam
www.christina-sinclair.com
Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week
Bob: Why aren’t you listening to me Bill? l am trying to tell you about my new diary.
Bill: Because it’s going in one year and out the other.
Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.
Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com
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THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK
If you are planning a New Year’s party you may be planning to have a bowl of punch especially for children. It might be made with fruit juices and lemonade, or even ginger beer, to give it some fizz and sparkle.
A really nice idea to make your punch more festive is to cut very thin slices of melon and then cut into them with a small cookie cutter.
Then you can have tiny, coloured stars, or even flowers, in your celebratory drinks!
Have a look at Blog Post 382 for some children’s cocktail recipes…
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Quick Quiz
What do these phrases mean?
- turning over a new leaf
- a real page turner
- a golden age
- to draw a line in the sand
- a house of cards
- a red letter day
- a wake up call
- donkey’s years
- like night and day
- to call it a day
- rough seas
- a new dawn
lt’s the Weekend!
HOW TO MAKE A BEDROOM SOFT FURNlSHlNGS SET FOR A 12” DOLL
If you had a knitting set as a present this year, you will be itching to start making some projects.
If you have a bedroom for your 12” doll that she likes lounging around in, you may like to make this set to decorate her bed.
These colours are very strong and very groovy but you may choose to use pinks and whites instead.
THROW FOR BOTTOM OF BED (KNIT ONE)
Using 4mm knitting needles and green dk yarn cast on 17 stitches
Slip 1 (knit 1, purl 1) repeat last two stitches to the end of the row
Repeat the last row 69 times (70 rows of moss stitch)
Cast off
TO MAKE UP
Tidy the two ends of yarn by threading them into the edges of the knitting.
SQUARE CUSHIONS (KNIT FOUR)
Using 4mm knitting needles and purple dk yarn cast on 16 stitches
Knit 20 rows of stocking stitch
Cast off
TO MAKE UP
Sew around the edges with wrong sides together to make the sides of the cushion nice and crisp. Put a little bit of stuffing in just before you seal up the fourth side.
BOLSTER (KNIT ONE)
Using 4mm knitting needles and green dk yarn cast on 20 stitches
Knit 30 rows of garter stitch
Cast off
BOLSTER ENDS (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and green dk yarn cast on 30 stitches
Cast off
TO MAKE UP
Curl the strips of knitting round and sew across them again and again to make a solid coil of knitting.
Sew the cast on edge to the cast off edge of the centre part of the bolster together using over-sew stitching.
Insert one end into place and sew around edges.
Stuff the bolster.
Sew second end into place.
Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use and for use in classrooms only.
It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.
Use of the toys and projects is at your own risk.
©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015
Quick Quiz Answers
- turning over a new leaf – start a new beginning in your life/improving your behaviour
- a real page turner – an exciting book
- a golden age (for something) – an era when a country/activity/fashion was popular/successful
- to draw a line in the sand – to say enough is enough and put an end to a situation or create a boundary/limit that someone should not cross
- a house of cards – an organization with a weak structure that is likely to collapse
- a red letter day – a day when something important is likely to happen/a day when something memorable happened
- a wake up call – something happens which makes you realize that you need to change something in your life – maybe the way you do something or your behaviour
- donkey’s years – many years/a long time
- like night and day – two things that are totally different when compared
- to call it a day – to decide to stop work for the day
- rough seas – troubled times
- a new dawn – a new beginning
So much content here! I love it all!
Thank you for writing in with your kind comment Libra1.