The Lost Sun Mental Health Resource for 5-8 yr olds review by Becky Lawrence

The Lost Sun Mental Health Resource for 5-8 yr olds review by Becky Lawrence, Youth and Kids worker St Mark’s MK and founder Youthwork+

Mental health resources for kids and young people are a key part of any youth or kids workers toolkit.  It’s really important we help children and young people to be emotionally literate and to understand and be able to articulate how they feel.  When we approach this holistically we have to cover the topics of emotions and wellbeing.  Especially as we believe God cares deeply about how we feel – if we don’t cover it – we are missing telling children something vital about who God is.   If we cover this effectively we equip children to know what to do if they struggle with their emotions or wellbeing and that God cares and wants to help them through it.

The Lost Sun is a resource by Scripture Union which is part of their Mental Health and Wellbeing toolkit and can be used as a tool to cover some of the emotions we feel as human beings in a friendly way with children.  The resource features a ready made 70 minute session outline.  It uses animation to help bring the topic to life and helps children relate to a character as well as interactive activities, self reflection and an invitiation to participate in creative prayer.  It is designed for use with small groups but can be used with larger groups too.  There are lots of tips in the resource pack for leading the session including websites for leaders and to signpost to any children/families who might need them.

Heres what SU say about it:

“The Lost Sun is a resource that can be used to effectively help children explore and express challenges, such as fear, worry and anxiety, in their personal lives. This session outline lasts for around 70 minutes, and is intended for use with those aged 5 to 8. The session includes the animated poetic story of Daisy, along with creative activities which provide a way to for children to reflect on the themes in Daisy’s story. We recommend using this session in a small group context. But it can be used with larger groups with more adults to assist any children needing one-to-one time.

Within the session outline you will find information on getting additional support around mental health and wellbeing, as well as a list of key concepts to keep in mind when exploring these issues with children. We strongly recommend that the session leader takes time to thoroughly read these pages before delivering this material.”