In order to deepen their ideas about our theme, אוֹנָאַת דְּבָרִים (Ona’at Devarim– hurting with words), children have been making collages to compare how their bodies feel when Ona’at Devarim happens and how their bodies feel when the hurt is resolved, or fixed.
What materials did you use to show your feelings? “I used purple, scraps of brown, and flittery and some gold. Blue puff puffs, white braids, green tissue paper, gold paper, pink light strings, a butterfly and a house and some fire stuff.”
As they created, they made choices about what צבע (tzeva– color) materials they wanted to use and where they wanted to put them on the גוף (guf– body).
The שלחן (shulchan– table) became שקת (sheket– quiet) as they focused on their exploration.
Upon finishing, children were eager to share some of their words about when אוֹנָאַת דְּבָרִים (ona’at devarim– hurting with words) happens:
Child 1: I used all the colors because if the person, you know how you feel mad makes you feel crazy. All the colors are the crazy feeling.
Child 2: The red meant mad and the blue meant sad.
Child 3: Because blue is like tears, crying is sad. If you cry usually with a boo boo it hurts because this time is different because not so much of a boo boo feeling. It’s they are crying because they got their feelings hurt.
And some of their words on when it’s fixed:
Child 1: It’s all shiny, shiny for the happy.
Child 2: Yellow meant happy.
Child 3: The fire stuff is because they are a little mad still because they didn’t think of fixing it before.
