Kimochis Educator's Tool Kit

Product Description

Communicative 5

Skills

• Visual attention, which is important in appropriate conversation (e.g. making eye contact), is reinforced when selecting a pillow to express feelings and share them with others.
• Kimochis may teach children social awareness to help recognize and understand what others are feeling.
• Children can practice their self-awareness using the Kimochis because they can help identify needs and feelings in the moment. 

Play Ideas

• A caregiver can have pictures of family members to show a child. Have that child select a Kimochis pillow or Kimochis character that best describes each family member’s personality.
• When a child is emotional and is having trouble expressing feelings, have him select a Kimochis pillow to share how he is feeling. A caregiver can countdown and use visual number cues (e.g. hands, number cards, etc) until he needs to be back on task. This gives him a specific amount of time to regulate feelings.
• Have a child pick up a Kimochis pillow of her choice and try to mimic that facial expression in the mirror. 

Cognitive 4

Skills

• Color recognition and identification opportunities are available with the colors of the Kimochis pillows and different colors on the Kimochis characters.
• The recognition of facial expressions, facial features, and word associations on the Kimochis pillows can assist with making abstract thoughts and feelings more concrete.
• Memory and recall are utilized when a child learns the stories and feelings of the Kimochis characters.

Play Ideas

• Have one child write a story and another act it out with the Kimochis characters and pillows. This may utilize memory and recall skills.
• A caregiver can ask the child to pick out a pillow that fits his feelings and then have him make the same face as the pillow. Take a photo to compare. This will also help identify what a child is feeling when he is making specific expressions.
• The child can keep a journal of his feelings by writing and/or drawing out the way he felt during the day. A caregiver can debrief with him after it is completed. 

Social/Emotional 4

Skills

• Kimochis can be used to model proper behavior with regards to personal space and appropriate touch especially through the Kimochis “So Much Love” YouTube video by Huggtopus.
• Kimochis can help children learn about social awareness and become conscious of other people and the individual issues they face.
• Through pretend play, children can become more self aware of how they act and react to different situations. Pretend play enables children to re-play the situation and learn different ways to handle themselves and different ways to respond.

Play Ideas

• A caregiver can guide a “compliments” game using the Kimochis pillows. Each child must select a positive Kimochis pillow to give to someone else and explain why they chose this pillow.
• Play “pass the pillow” to create a story at dinner. For example, the Kimochis pillow chosen is “mad”- I am mad because my mashed potatoes are gone. Then the next person says they are mad because they didn’t want mashed potatoes and so on until everyone has contributed to the story.
• Using the Kimochis pillows, act out scenarios and how children could respond. This helps children understand how their words and actions affect and influence others.
• Have the child create his own Feel Guide and think of new activities and stories to write about.