Frances England - "Carefree"- Calming Music and An Activity To Help An Upset Child
- Mamatomo Mama
- Sep 12, 2018
- 3 min read
Life for kids can be hard sometimes. The activity that I have created to use alongside today's music is definitely aimed at the preschool/early years set but the music is not. I, personally, have been listening to today's recommended music repeatedly and cannot get enough. My kids are loving it too.
The Music
When I heard the beautifully dreamy new album by Frances England, I immediately thought that this was great music for an upset child. The first song on the album 'Carefree' immediately takes you to a calm and beautiful place. This song, accompanied by a really nice, peaceful sensory activity, is the ideal combination to bring calm and order back to your home or classroom.
Frances England is a grammy-nominated San Fransisco-based artist (check out her You Tube channel ). The new album, which is out now, features Dan Liebowitz (ALO, Jack Johnson) and is produced by Dean Jones and Frances England. The vibe and music itself could be aimed at anyone but, if you listen closely, the themes that Frances sings about are empathetic to the issues of young people. 'Carefree', for example, creates a lovely atmosphere whereby you remember all those perfect days when life was good but it then goes on to talk about the days where things aren't so easy. Coping with the downs as well as enjoying the ups is a skill that we need to teach kids -it's a skill a lot of us need to work on even as adults!
The Activity
This is actually really quite a simple activity. You could do it with kids or prepare it ahead for them.
You will need:plastic jars
washi tape (to wrap round the lids)
a glue gun or good, strong glue
water beads
glitter glue
glitter
beads of your choice
cord (if you want to hang them from the lid)
Fill the bottom of the jar with glitter glue. If you add a lot, the mixture will be thicker and your beads and sparkles will float more slowly down. It will, however, make the mixture more opaque so you won't be able to see through to the other side. What I found to be the perfect amount is pictured. Probably about a tenth is about right.
Add glitter and some warm water - do not fill all the way up. Shake hard to get the glitter glue to dissolve in the water. If it doesn't dissolve you can heat the mixture gently in the microwave. This worked for me with some old glue that wasn't dissolving.
Fill up with water and add beads and sequins. As pictured, I threaded some beads onto some cord and hot glued them onto the lid so they would float through the water. You can skip this step if you are doing it with kids.
Add water beads if you wish and wait for them to expand. Do not add too many or you will just end up with a jar of water beads! I added probably only about 20 beads and waited overnight for them to grow to size.
Screw the lid on tightly and hot glue it shut. Use washi tape to decorate the lid.
Try gluing something interesting to the lid of the jar for added interest:
I wanted to take the sensory bottle to a new level and so glued on a little wire sculpture that I made one night. You could ask the upset child how many rainbows they could see and this would focus their attention on counting rather than on whatever upset them. It's made from wire, twisted with coloured beads and glued onto a painted rock. For this, you need to put in less glitter glue mixture or you won't be able to see it because the water will be too cloudy. Also, leave out the water beads and the sequins/beads. Water and glitter glue work just fine. I added different coloured glitter too, to recreate the rainbow colours.
How to calm an upset child
If you have an upset child, try playing some music like Frances England's 'Carefree' song. If you have made one of the calming bottles above, pick it up, look into it, shake it, turn it over in your hands. The child will eventually notice that you are busy and begin to watch you. You are giving them a chance to come to you rather than crowding them and rushing them to feel better. Hopefully their crying will start to subside, and after the child has watched you for a while, they might choose to join you. If they don't that is ok.
Good luck! Let me know if you tried this and how it went!
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