Morris The Bear
The aim of our Morris sessions are to help reduce anxiety, build confidence and enhance family life and have fun whilst learning and playing together.
The sessions are held at schools and cover the key Protective Behaviours themes throughout. Through simple art and craft activities, the participants discover how three puppet characters feel in different situations in a light hearted and engaging environment.
Case study
Below is a case study about how Morris the Bear workshop has helped a school:
7 children and their parent/s were referred by the school to Morris workshops. The school described the needs of the children as ‘speech, confidence, understanding feelings, frustration, quick temper, over-sensitive’
During the first session, all the children took part and although feeling very shy one girl came over to Morris to show him her art. There was lots of sharing of feelings and one parent commented how nice it was to have some time doing this sort of stuff with her child, she found it enjoyable and felt very welcome by the school. After the first session children were talking about Morris at home. In the second session children made a colourful rainbow, created their own safe places and shared their work with Morris and his friends. One Dad discovered that his son likes the colour blue.
During the third session the children had some great ideas as to why Morris and his friends were not feeling happy and made puppets to show them. One parent thought their son only knows one feeling: Happy. Their son went on to show empathy for Morris feeling grumpy by giving him a hug and a gentle stroke. He talked about Morris not being in a good mood and that Matilda feels sad and talked about different feelings.
On the last session the parents shared how nice it had been having some time with their child, talking about feelings and how they had liked the puppets. The children liked having their own folders and sharing their creations with the characters and seemed very proud of their certificates.
I can talk better with my mum about my feelings. I told her I even enjoy the workshops because I feel safe to say what I want about my feelings. I like Matilda and mum’s getting me one for Christmas. It was particularly useful breaking down Teddy’s feelings (Morris) into simple terms to help my son understand. It will help me to use different language when discussing how they are feeling. Also, reminding me that I need to let them know how I am feeling. My son particularly enjoyed the one to one with me.Morris workshop
Parent who attended Morris
