Old Dog and Elly fear goannas, Ms Chen fears geckos, and Big Cuz fears the dentist. Little J boasts he isn’t scared of anything, but this may not be true. When Mick, Ally, Little J and Old Dog go to the beach, Little J discovers that his hero, Mick, is scared of Hermit crabs. Together, on the cliff, Mick and Little J overcome their shame of being afraid and help each other to be brave.

Elaborate - Identify and practise emotional responses that account for own and others’ feelings. 

Theme - WELLBEING

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 11 ‘Nothing Scares Me’, engage students with the following learning activities to support their understanding about personal and social strengths, such as resilience and understanding emotions.

As a class, revisit Little J’s story within the Episode 11 ‘Nothing Scares Me’, and ask students to recall the events of his day.

Using a ‘Roller-coaster’ chart, plot the emotional highs and lows of Little J’s day, for example

Have students consider what events have happened to them that day, or the day before, and how they felt at the time of each event. Discuss with students how everyone feels anxiety and happiness all in the same day. Invite students to plot their own ‘Roller-coaster chart’ as an attempt to recognise and identify their emotions.

Introduce students to the term ‘resilience’, and have students suggest what they think the word means and how it applies to them. Reinforce the message that resilience is the strength to fend off emotional and social conflict. Discuss with the class ways that the students build resilience each day: being positive, eating healthy, smiling and laughing, playing, solving problems, being a friend, being recognised for doing something good, helping at home, getting enough sleep, etc.

Working in groups of three, give each student a life-size piece of butcher’s paper or newspaper. One of the students lies on the paper and the other two students draw their body outline. Repeat the activity so that all students have a life-sized outline of themselves. If possible, have students cut out the outline; if not, paint the space around the outline. 

Have students design themselves as a ‘superhero’. Instruct students to paint and draw a costume on their outline and to select a superhero name for themselves. The name should reflect a positive aspect of social/emotional wellbeing, e.g. Super Daisy (who can dazzle people with her smile), Conquering Connor (who can cheer up anyone with a crazy dance), etc. Have students title their superhero self and list positive words around the outline that symbolise their ‘resilience’ to negativity. Students can make additional objects for their superhero self to use in their battle, e.g. a shield, spear, rope, etc. Photography and display the cut-outs to share with the class.

Have students develop a mock social media profile for their character that advertises how their superhero practises resilience, and assists others to conquer self-doubt. In the profile, students could also list ways of combating bullying.

Access the website Bullying. No Way and view the animations:

• They're bullying my friend (includes a transcript, DOCX, 15KB)
• She's mean to me (includes a transcript, DOCX, 15KB)

Discuss the behaviours of the characters and have students analyse why the characters are mean, and what were the correct courses of action to combat bullying. If possible have the students view the animation, The Allen Adventure, and download the app. These are available in the Bullying No Way resource kit.

Suggested teacher resource: Resilience – Make me a superhero!