The River by Tom Percival
Look together at the front cover of this book. Point out the words: “Feelings flow and change like the river” and discuss what this might mean. You might like to have a water bottle with you to help the children visualise the changes we can see in water, i.e. it can be calm and still, but if it’s shaken it can seem to be wild and angry.
Explain that this book is about feelings which like a river, are always changing.
Key Questions to ask after reading the book:
Have you got a favourite page in this book? How is Rowan feeling on this page? Do we know why? How does it make you feel?
It may not be immediately obvious to a young child that the dog has died, but in my experience a bereaved child will know that Rowan is sad because someone has died. They may presume it’s Rowan’s parent and not the dog if a parental death is their known experience.
What changes when someone dies?
Is it ok to have fun after someone has died?
Remind the children that we can often feel a mix of feelings at one time in response to something happening in our lives.
Activity: Decorating a stone/pebble
Use pens or chalks to decorate a stone with a focus on our feelings. You could use a rock painting kit from a craft shop or use pens or chalks you have in school. Explain that this activity is about showing our feelings from different times in our lives and we can choose which ones we want to explore today.
Model how you might decorate your stone or stones as if you were Rowan from the story. Start by selecting a couple of stones or dividing a big one into two sections (you may want to consider more stones or more sections to show more than two feelings, but a couple is a good starting point). Look back at a page in the book which shows a very clear emotion and discuss how Rowan is feeling as well as the state of the river which mirrors this. Do we know why Rowan is feeling like that? Then express those feelings in an illustration or words on one of your stones or in one of the sections on a large stone. Your words and illustrations could be literal, e.g. the word ‘angry’ and/or a picture of someone being angry. Your words and illustrations could be abstract, e.g. choosing a colour and drawing shapes which you associate with the feeling of anger. Invite an exploration of feelings using a variety of words and phrases so that you model articulating an expression of strong emotions verbally as well as creatively in a stone decoration.
Ending the session:
The River is a book about feelings and learning that, like a river, our feelings flow and change throughout our lives. Play a recording of Yiruma’s beautiful piano piece: ‘River Flows In You’ and discuss how a pianist has expressed the different states of flow for his river. If the children feel comfortable talking about their feelings, ask them to share their thoughts on today’s activity and what they would like to do with their decorated stones - they could be placed by or in a school pond, taken home to put in a special place or even thrown far into a river when they next visit one.