CHARLIE’S TALES: PEGGY AND THE FANTASTIC FOOTBALL EDUCATORS’ KIT

References

Elements of this educator’s plan are derived from the Achieving Body Confidence for Young Children (ABC-4-YC) program. Damiano, S.R., Yager, Z., McLean, S.A., Paxton, S.J. (2017). Achieving Body Confidence for Young Children (ABC-4-YC) Teacher Handbook: Foundation to Year 2, Edition 2. Melbourne: EMBodIED Research Team. Hart LM, Damiano SR, Paxton SJ & Jorm AF. Preventing body dissatisfaction and unhealthy eating patterns in children:

Strategies for parents of preschoolers. La Trobe University, Melbourne 2014. McCabe, M. P., Mellor, D., & Mealey, A. (2016). An educational programme for parents on the body image of preschool-aged boys. Journal of health psychology, 21(7), 1241-1248.

Other initiatives and resources

‘Confident Body Confident Child’ is an evidenced-based resource providing parents with strategies to promote positive body image, healthy eating, and physical activity in children aged 2 to 6 years. You will likely find the resources on that website useful for your teaching of body image also. Visit www.confidentbody.net for more information.

BODY IMAGE OVERVIEW

What is body image?• Body Image is the mental image we have of our bodies (shape, size, skin colour, facial characteristics etc.) and our thoughts and

feelings about that image.

• Having an unhealthy body image is called body dissatisfaction and means disliking your body and is related to feelings of shame.

• Having a healthy body image means that you accept your body and appearance, most of the time.

What impact does an unhealthy body image have on young children? During the preschool and early school years, a child’s body image begins to develop and may be shaped by their early experiences. Children begin to notice how they are different from others in the preschool years. Children who develop a healthy body image feel good or accept the way they look. They may feel more positive about themselves, and have a healthy attitude towards food and eating.

A child who feels dissatisfied with their body may:

• Have low self-esteem

• Shy away or become withdrawn

• Worry about the way that they look or what others think of them, and feel sad and unhappy with their body

• Be at risk for disordered eating in the future

Why is promoting body satisfaction important for all children? Body satisfaction is associated with good self-esteem, self-acceptance, healthy eating behaviours, and physical activity. Research shows that the more individuals are dissatisfied with their body the less likely they are to engage in healthy eating and fun physical activity. So promoting positive body image in all children is important, including girls and boys of all shapes and sizes.

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY:

References

Elements of this educator’s plan are derived from the Achieving Body Confidence for Young Children (ABC-4-YC) program. Damiano, S.R., Yager, Z., McLean, S.A., Paxton, S.J. (2017). Achieving Body Confidence for Young Children (ABC-4-YC) Teacher Handbook: Foundation to Year 2, Edition 2. Melbourne: EMBodIED Research Team. Hart LM, Damiano SR, Paxton SJ & Jorm AF. Preventing body dissatisfaction and unhealthy eating patterns in children:

Strategies for parents of preschoolers. La Trobe University, Melbourne 2014. McCabe, M. P., Mellor, D., & Mealey, A. (2016). An educational programme for parents on the body image of preschool-aged boys. Journal of health psychology, 21(7), 1241-1248.

Other initiatives and resources

‘Confident Body Confident Child’ is an evidenced-based resource providing parents with strategies to promote positive body image, healthy eating, and physical activity in children aged 2 to 6 years. You will likely find the resources on that website useful for your teaching of body image also. Visit www.confidentbody.net for more information.

General tips for talking about the body:The following tips are not specific to the content of the lesson but may come up in related discussions with your class.

Acceptance of diversity

• In your class, try to celebrate that every BODY is different and encourage children not to make judgements about people or treat people a certain way because of how they look.

• Aim to avoid making negative comments about the appearance or body shape/size of others.

• Avoid reinforcing the stereotype that people who are overweight do not look after themselves. One of the strongest ways our society stigmatises larger bodies is to assume that someone who has a larger body does not look after themselves (in terms of healthy eating and physical activity).

Health is more important than appearance

• Promote opportunities to achieve physical and mental health for all children, regardless of their size and weight.

• Encourage ALL children to have healthy habits (i.e. to be healthy through balanced eating (and this includes ‘sometimes’ foods in moderation) and fun physical activity). Ensure average weight and smaller children are not excluded from considerations about healthy eating and physical activity.

• Avoid equating someone’s body size or shape with health.

• Avoid endorsing the idea that weight is something that can be controlled with diet and physical activity. A healthy balanced diet and regular and fun physical activity will help an individual be healthy, but that’s at any size.

• Thus, aim to avoid promoting that exercise will help an individual to get thin/lean/muscular and that ‘sometimes’ foods (those high in fat and sugar) make you fat. We want to avoid promoting to children that they should want to look a certain way and that they can and should change their body to look that way.

Remember that you are a good role model

• Be a good body confidence role model, by trying to be aware of your attitudes about body weight, shape, appearance and health, and think about how you might be conveying this to your students.

• Try to speak respectfully about your own body and appearance.

• Try to avoid making negative comments about your own weight or appearance because this may encourage your students to develop the belief that certain body types are unacceptable.

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY:

LESSON PLAN

Helping children to develop an understanding that our bodies are amazing and allow us to do lots of wonderful things. This focus on functionality is a key element of developing a positive body image. It is also important to encourage children to be inclusive when playing games and sports. Finally, an emphasis is placed on trying new things and having fun whilst playing games and sports. The focus of the lesson is to explore the value of our functional abilities and encourage children to be confident and have fun when trying something new.

Learning ObjectivesStudents will be able to:

• Appreciate the amazing things our bodies allow us to do.

• Recognise the importance of having confidence in yourself and giving things a go.

• Understand the importance of being inclusive.

What you will need:- The Storybook: Charlie’s Tales, Peggy and the Fantastic Football

- Whiteboard for brainstorming ideas

- Activity worksheets (1 per child)

- Coloured textas/crayons/pencils

Read (10 minutes)• Tell the students that you are going to read Charlie’s Tales, Peggy and the Fantastic Football

• Read Charlie’s Tales, Peggy and the Fantastic Football

Discussion Questions (10 minutes)• Go through discussion questions 1-8 in the storybook

• It is recommended that you jot down responses on a whiteboard to consolidate learning and help guide review.

LESSON OVERVIEW

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY:

1. How do you think Peggy felt after the boy elves said she couldn’t play football?

Key learning points:

• Discuss that being left out of games or activities can make people feel sad, angry, and not feel good about themselves. You may like to prompt your students to think about how they feel when they are left out of playing with friends/family, and how they feel when they are included.

• Explore the benefits of allowing everyone to feel special by including them and encourage your students to do this in the future.

• You may like to link this to previous class content about inclusiveness, if relevant.

2. In what ways was William kind to Peggy?

Key learning points:

• Discuss with your students how William helped Peggy

- he invited Peggy to join in

- he helped Peggy feel confident to take part in the game

- he provided a spare ball when Peggy thought the ball had been lost

• Friends should help to “pick each other up”, so it was very kind of William to help Peggy believe in herself so that she could do amazing things.

3. What could you do or say if you saw someone being left out of a game or sport, or if you were being left out of a game or sport?

Key learning points:

• Discuss some helpful and practical strategies your students could use. These may include, but are not limited to:

- speaking up when they can see that someone is being excluded

- explaining that it is nicer and more fun to include everyone

- speaking to an adult they trust and telling them what’s happening

• It’s also important that if any students are being excluded that they know it isn’t their fault.

4. Peggy showed everyone that girls can play football. What are some of the amazing things that Peggy’s body could do?

Key learning points:

• Explore the different things that Peggy’s body could do (e.g., run, kick, laugh, smile).

• Emphasise that boys and girls both have amazing bodies so they can both play any sports they like.

5. What are some of the amazing things that your body can do?

Key learning points:

• Encourage your students to think of the physical and functional qualities of their body that they really enjoy (e.g., allowing us to see, hear, sing, run, dance, play, draw etc). Then reinforce that it is amazing that their body allows them to do and enjoy those things.

• You may also like to provide some of your own examples of things you like doing with your body e.g., playing games with your students, hugging people you love. (Please note: if something you enjoy doing is physical exercise or going to the gym, avoid focusing on this being about gaining muscle, losing weight or becoming thinner. Instead, focus on how physical exercise helps you feel strong and helps your heart stay healthy).

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY:

6. What did Peggy mean when she said, “I don’t need a fantastic football to play with everyone”?

Key learning points:

• Discuss how Peggy realised that the ball wasn’t magical after all. She just needed to have confidence in herself to join in with everyone.

• Remind your students that sometimes people need others to support and believe in them, which helps people feel good. You may also like to explore the importance of believing in yourself and giving things a try.

7. What can you tell someone (or yourself) if they feel like they might not be good enough to try a sport or game?Key learning points:

• Remind your students that you don’t know until you try. Emphasise the importance of trying new things and discuss how you may find something that you really love by trying new things.

• You may like to discuss examples of how people are good at different things and the value of this. For example, you could talk about your family and each individual’s hobbies or abilities and how this makes your family different and interesting. You could also mention how the differences allow family members to help each other out, making you a good team.

• Remember, it doesn’t matter if you aren’t the best at everything. It is more important to just enjoy yourself and have fun!

8. Peggy wanted to try football and enjoyed it once she played. What sports or games do you want to try?

Key learning points:

• Explore different sports or games that your students could try (e.g., dance, swimming, running, skipping, football etc).

•An emphasis on non-competitive sports may be helpful here also to ensure the focus is on having fun.

Activity (20 minutes)

• Introduce the ‘My Amazing Body’ activity by highlighting that from the story of Charlie’s Tales, Peggy and the Fantastic Football we have learnt our bodies are all amazing and can do lots of wonderful things.

• Instruct students to draw a picture of something they can do/enjoy doing with their body.

• Provide each student with a copy of the worksheet: MY AMAZING BODY

• Guide a sharing circle and encourage each student to present their drawing to the class and describe what special thing they can do with their body.

• Summarise the activity by demonstrating the variety in students’ drawings (e.g., different activities they were doing, each drawing looking unique (e.g., shapes, colours, etc.)).

• If there is time, you can undertake the additional activity sheets with your students.

Review (10 minutes)

• Display students’ activity sheets on the walls of the classroom and encourage students to admire the different things each student can do with their body throughout the day.

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY:

PEGGY AND THE FANTASTIC FOOTBALL

Peggy used her body to do amazing things like play football and kick a goal. In the football below, draw or write about something amazing that your body can do.

ACTIVITY: MY AMAZING BODY

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY:

PEGGY AND THE FANTASTIC FOOTBALLADDITIONAL ACTIVITY 1: INCLUSION

It’s important to be kind and not to leave anyone out. Colour in the footballs that show how William was kind to Peggy in the story.

William told Peggy she can’t play

William didn’t let Peggy kick the ball

William believed Peggy could play football

William gave Peggy another football

William allowed Peggy to play in his team

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY:

Image of Peggy holdiing up footbal to be supplied

PEGGY AND THE FANTASTIC FOOTBALL

Only after playing football, Peggy realised that she enjoyed it. In the football below, draw or write about a sport or game that you would like to try?

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITY 2: GIVE IT A TRY

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY: