Indian School Salalah observed World Mental Health Day on October 10^th to foster a supportive and emotionally aware environment among the young students. The occasion for students of classes 3 & 4 focused on age-appropriate activities designed to introduce the importance of understanding and expressing feelings.

A core activity was the introduction of the ‘Feeling cup’ in each classroom to track the student’s emotional state, serving as a class happiness index. It helps children to manage their feelings while giving the teacher an immediate check-in on the overall class well-being. The teacher would address any urgent concerns privately with students who indicate a negative feeling and plan the day’s activities to promote a positive atmosphere.

A specially selected child-friendly video was shown to the students to visually reinforce the day’s theme. To ensure parents are actively involved and are aware of the initiative a flyer containing a brief message about World Mental Health Day was shared in the respective class groups.

Similarly, students of classes I and II were also engaged in meaningful activities to raise awareness about the importance of emotional well-being. The celebration aimed to promote positive mental health among students and to encourage open conversations about feelings and self-care.

The young students were given paper plates to draw different emojis and teachers explained the different emotions connected to the emojis, later as the teacher gave them different situations, the students expressed their emotions by displaying the emojis they drew on the paper plates. This interactive exercise helped teachers gain a deeper understanding of the emotional expressions and responses of their students.

In addition, teachers showed a video song illustrating different emotions and introduced basic emojis representing happiness, sadness, anger, and fear. Students were encouraged to draw the emotion they most often experience. Students participated enthusiastically and enjoyed expressing their emotions through art and interaction.

The World Mental Health Day activities for classes I to IV successfully achieved their goal of promoting emotional literacy and a culture of care. The school remains committed to fostering an environment where every child feels safe, heard and happy.