Art & Social and Emotional Learning during COVID-19
Since the start of the COVID-19, the world has shifted while making major decisions on how life will continue after the pandemic. The lack of access to academic resources and controlled environments has taken a toll on students’ ability to learn at home. Preexisting inequities targeting low-income communities have been exacerbated, leaving many students without any connection to art education or mental health support.
Due to political and social unrest around the world, all youth across different socio-economic communities lack creative support and open spaces which are paramount to growth. When adults all over the world are going through times of struggle, what are our children facing and why are students suffering right now?
On top of the current economic pressures weighing on families, researchers have found that quarantine-related mental health issues including “depression, low mood, irritability, insomnia, anger and emotional exhaustion” can all be present in communities around the globe (Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, Fegert article). Acknowledging these hardships makes it easier to understand why children, and adults, need access to art and social and emotional learning activities right now.
Due to the digital divide, students learning at home run the risk of falling behind without access to the internet or school supplies. The need for art and social and emotional learning is imperative. As defined by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), social and emotional learning is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. By incorporating social and emotional learning activities in our at activity book, The Simple Good is working to close the divide between students with and without regular access to the internet during the pandemic.
With the drastic inequities in mental health and education access in Chicago, there is a pressing demand for our SEL Art Activity Book and we have received over 3000 requests from our partner schools and nonprofits across the city. You can now purchase a TSG Art Activity Book in our Shop which also sponsors one book for a TSG student in need. Full of reflective activities, meditations, and beautiful coloring pages, this book is suited to kids (and adults!) of all ages, and we encourage you to pick up additional copies for you and your loved ones.
To increase your impact and get even more books into the hands of the students who need them most, please consider making a purchase, here, on behalf of a student in Chicago!
The Simple Good hopes the lessons and activities within the book generates an impact that goes beyond our current pandemic. We hope it inspired everyone to inspire each other to find the simple good in our lives in order to fuel resilience. If you have children that are students, if you work in the field, if your family members teach, or if you are currently a student, always remember to be a positive influence for those growing around you.
BE THE SIMPLE GOOD.
