HeartSmarts Adventure: SEL Program for Ages 4–7
Joyful, engaging, interactive, and colorful, HeartSmarts Adventure is a new online program that guides children through a multi-faceted exploration of the heart.
Entertaining videos, coloring art, music, movement, interviews with children, and a variety of enjoyable learning activities make the important ideas and practices on heart health and emotional well-being very captivating.
Blended Learning
HeartSmarts Adventure is a blended learning program that combines a Leader’s Guide for teacher or parent-led instruction with a fully developed online learning program in which children can go at their own pace.
The program is structured around six thematicadventures or units of instruction
- Adventure 1: The Physical Heart
- Adventure 2: Healthy Heart Habits
- Adventure 3: Investigating Emotions
- Adventure 4: Emotions and the Heart
- Adventure 5: Getting Unstuck
- Adventure 6: Sending Love and Care
Key Activity Types Within Each Adventure
Within each adventure is an easy-to-use menu of 5 types of activity to deepen the learning experience:Videos, Activities, Art & Music, Kids Talk and What Do You Know (an assessment).
A Wide Range of Engaging Learning Activities
- Simulate the muscle strength of the heart by following the video of a hand opening and closing.
- Sing along to six catchy original songs.
- Move to the changing pace of music to activate both a heart speeding up and slowing down.
- Click the Exercise Spinner to activate one of three routines.
Identify the unique beating heart sound of the following: Human, whale, hummingbird, owl or rabbit. - Sort between fruits and vegetables.
- Press the Emotion Detective Spinner to learn about 8 different emotions and how they might play out in daily life.
- Roll the Emotion Dice which asks students to identity or show a face of a particular emotion.
- Practice a series of simple self-regulation techniques guided by one of 8 child avatars.
- Select and then carry out a specific act of love and care for a particular person.
- Earn an Emotion Detective Identification Card when the entire program is completed.
My Adventure Map – Tracking Progress
My Adventure Map presents a colorful chart of all 63 activities, which ones have been completed (lit up) and which ones remain to be done (grayed out). Clicking on My Adventures on the right side of the screen takes the user to the main adventures (units of instruction) and the core content. My Art Room in the bottom right leads to a digital library of finished drawings.
Based Upon an Earlier Evidence-Based Program
In HeartSmarts Adventure, many of the core ideas and techniques came from an earlier evidence-based program called Early HeartSmarts®. The effectiveness of this boxed-kit curriculum was documented in a 2012 peer-reviewed study named “Efficacy of an Emotion Self-regulation Program for Promoting Development in Preschool Children,” Bradley RT, et al, Global Advances in Health and Medicine, 2012.
FAQs
Which grades or early-learning settings is HeartSmarts Adventure designed for?
HeartSmarts Adventure is designed for children ages 4 to 7+, which roughly spans pre-K, kindergarten and first grade, and sometimes second grade. It works in preschool and early elementary classrooms, early-learning programs and homes. It can be led by a teacher or a parent. Educators have reported strong engagement and retention among kindergartners, and HeartMath Institute groups it with lower-elementary programs.
How long does a typical HeartSmarts Adventure activity or session take?
HeartSmarts Adventure does not set a fixed session length. It is organized into six adventures with 63 short activities, including videos, songs, movement, art and self-regulation practice. Young children can complete one or a few activities per session, and a unit can be spread over several days. My Adventure Map shows which activities are completed, which makes it easy to continue where a child left off.
What does the Leader’s Guide include, and how is it used?
The Leader’s Guide is the adult facilitator’s manual for HeartSmarts Adventure. It supports teacher- or parent-led instruction that works alongside the self-paced online program. Adults use it to introduce each of the six adventures, lead discussions and practice, and reinforce the three self-regulation techniques. Leader’s Guides also include instructions for enrolling educators and students in the online program.
What research specifically supports HeartSmarts Adventure, and what outcomes were evaluated?
HeartSmarts Adventure is based on Early HeartSmarts, an earlier evidence-based program. A 2012 peer-reviewed study in Global Advances in Health and Medicine followed 19 Salt Lake City preschool classrooms for one school year. Children in the program showed significantly greater growth in social-emotional, physical, cognitive and language development than the control group. No published study has yet evaluated the online HeartSmarts Adventure version itself.
What technical requirements are needed for the HeartSmarts Adventure online program?
HeartSmarts Adventure runs online through the HeartMath Institute eLearning Center. An adult registers, enters the License ID received after purchase, and enrolls children using the Leader’s Guide instructions. Children need a computer or tablet with internet access and a web browser, with sound for the songs and videos. Licenses range from a single user to a 960-user district. Specific browser versions are not listed on the page.
How does HeartSmarts Adventure differ from The Sunshine Secret?
HeartSmarts Adventure (ages 4–7+) is a trauma-informed blended program with a Leader’s Guide, six adventures, 63 activities and three self-regulation techniques. It also teaches heart health and healthy habits. The Sunshine Secret (ages 3–6+) is a simpler story-based program built around one tool, Heart Shine. Choose HeartSmarts Adventure for structured teacher- or parent-led instruction and The Sunshine Secret for the youngest children or informal home use.