A fun lesson focusing on Likes/Dislikes using a DISGUSTING well known story.

(This activity idea can be used alone or in conjunction with our Getting to Know You profile.)

Using “The Disgusting Sandwich” as a stimulus, children explored the emotion word (orange cog) DISGUST.

After reading, the class created a list of “disgusting things” that were in The Disgusting Sandwich. The practitioner used this list to explain that these were triggers (yellow cog) for the emotion (orange), disgust, and to explain the cog concept of triggers.

(The cogs have been used to organize ideas in this example but for younger pupils, it would be better to use a simple list of symbols or images with the symbol for “disgust” or “don’t like”.)

Staff and pupils then created their own disgusting sandwiches, identifying their own dislikes. The children were reminded that these “dislikes” were triggers for the emotion, disgust.

This was repeated with delightful or delicious sandwiches, using their own “likes”, as triggers for feeling good or delighted.

Ideas were recorded on worksheets and sandwiches created as a craft activity To extend this task, alternate emotion words (orange cog) for both disgust and delight can be added.

Although this lesson, primarily explores the concept of triggers, the activity creates a list of personal likes and dislikes (triggers) which can be recorded in our Getting To Know You Profile. This gives practitioners an individual triggers list for positive and negative emotions, which can be used to support personal regulation, avoiding “dislikes” and using “likes” as regulation strategies (blue cog).

Worksheet:

Practitioners own