We were asked a few weeks back if we would like to review Nipper Cards, a deck of positive affirmation cards designed to help children talk about their feelings. As Marianna seems ever more disposed to apparently causeless tantrums I was really excited to give them a go.
The instruction card in the deck reads: "Each card has an animal that represents a quality - and each animal has four messages which reflect both sides of that quality. The opposite of fear, for example, is courage. Often the things we most dislike about others are in ourselves, and the qualities we most admire are those we already have. Shuffle the cards, and ask the child to pick one card. Find out how they feel about the card they have picked. Talking about, and naming feelings, enables children to understand their emotions and learn to balance them."
Designed by Janthea Brigden of Nipperbout Event Childcare, the cards themselves are lovely quality. There are 13 vibrant animal designs, each with 4 affirmation cards based around the animal's theme. Dolphins, for example, are a 'breath of life' while horses represent 'power and wisdom' and hummingbirds 'joy and love of life'. My favourites are the 'dreaming' lizard cards. :)
The instruction card in the deck reads: "Each card has an animal that represents a quality - and each animal has four messages which reflect both sides of that quality. The opposite of fear, for example, is courage. Often the things we most dislike about others are in ourselves, and the qualities we most admire are those we already have. Shuffle the cards, and ask the child to pick one card. Find out how they feel about the card they have picked. Talking about, and naming feelings, enables children to understand their emotions and learn to balance them."
We jumped straight into it and Marianna picked out a horse card which read 'I am wise and caring'. Then proceeded to have a massive meltdown of a tantrum over it. (The cards, thankfully, were tough enough to withstand her attempts to crease a few into obliteration.) Clearly a different approach was needed!
Next time I got the cards out we simply played snap with them, first matching animals and then numbers. This proved much more agreeable and we played a couple of games before I gingerly introduced some discussion about the messages on the cards. Marianna was a little more willing to engage with them this time, but I didn't push for anything too involved.
Since then we have used the cards a few times to play snap and I've asked Marianna to pick out her favourite cards which we have then discussed. She still tends to get quickly frustrated with being asked to talk about the messages, but I think that will change as she gets older. I've spent some time looking through them and have actually found them really helpful for working through some of my own emotions - mostly my fears about all the things I'm doing wrong, etc.
I think these cards have the potential to be incredibly useful, both as conversation starters and a tool for self reflection, and as Marianna gets a little older I hope she will engage more fully with them.
The cards are available on Amazon for £9.99.
