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Home / Psychology & Mental Health / Early Childhood Education / Coping with Changes: Social-Emotional Learning Through Play / Create Your Own Change Cloud

Create Your Own Change Cloud

A Change Cloud is a helpful way to think about transitions, their impact on children’s growth and development, and your response to it.
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4.5
Hi everybody. Welcome back. So one of my favorite things that happened in the last step, is when Rebecca talked about representing change like a cloud. So changes can be big or small and like a cloud they can be light and fluffy and quickly passing like the changing of the seasons or they can be dark and stormy and sustaining like a global pandemic. So do you remember in Unit 2, when we had you build your childhood memory? Right now we’re going to have you build your very own change cloud. So think about a time of change or transition that you’ve experienced. Or if you’re in one right now, you can use that too.
42.5
So was that change or experience BIG or small? Was it welcome or unwelcome? Was it expected or was it a surprise? Was it quickly moving or did it last a long time? How did you respond? Did you have help from a community around you and was it painful or did it help you grow? Or was it a little bit of both? In a moment, those questions and instructions for this activity are going to pop up on screen and you can press pause on this video. You can grab whatever materials you want. I’m going to use these. Create a cloud to represent your experience. You can do this really literally, or you can make it more abstract, whatever you want.
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When you’re finished, press play on the video and I’ll be here with my finished change cloud and we can talk a little more. Happy crafting.
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We did it. This is my change cloud. Do you like it? I’ll tell you more about it later in the unit. And don’t forget to share a photo of your change cloud and to share what the experience was like for you with our learning community.
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This is a great activity to do with the children in your life. So much of understanding how a child is moving through change has to do with listening to them, talk about their feelings and experiences. And walking them through creating a change cloud is a great opportunity to do just that, to listen. So there are some instructions in this step for how to do this activity with your children, and I encourage you to really get creative with it. Draw something. Stitch. Build. Take the cushions off the couch and make it three feet high. Whatever you want.
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Spend a good 10 to 15 minutes constructing change clouds together and then spend a good 10-15 minutes talking about the experience of making the change cloud and the experience that the change cloud represents.

What is a Change Cloud?

You can use the text below to guide your conversation with children about the Change Cloud. Modify to address their situational and developmental needs.

We’re going through some changes because of <transition, event, or cause of disruption>. I want to talk a bit about how these changes make you feel. To help us, let’s pretend <transition, event, or cause of disruption> is a cloud. Some clouds pass quickly and some stay for very long time. Some clouds bring changes that we can manage easily, and some clouds bring changes that are really hard and we wish would go away. Let’s make a cloud to represent <transition, event, or cause of disruption>. What kind of cloud should it be? What does your cloud look like, sound like, feel like?

Suggested Reflection Questions

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This content is taken from
The LEGO Foundation online course,

Coping with Changes: Social-Emotional Learning Through Play

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  1. Does it feel like a big or little change?
  2. Was it an expected or unexpected change ?
  3. Did it happen slowly or all of a sudden?
  4. Has it been around for a while or did it enter our lives recently?
  5. What things have changed? What things have remained the same?
  6. How do you feel about these changes? E.g., scared, worried, unsure, excited, disappointed, angry, sad, curious Note: You can use these resources to help identify different feelings-related words:

    a. Emotions Wheel (Source: Youth First Inc.)

    b. Feelings Tree (Source: EASEL Lab)

  7. What can we do to help each other right now?
  8. What do you miss about life before the change?
  9. What’s scary? What’s exciting?

Want to keep learning?

This content is taken from The LEGO Foundation online course
Coping with Changes: Social-Emotional Learning Through Play
View Course
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Coping with Changes: Social-Emotional Learning Through Play

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