-
Feelings & Coping Skills for Children
At times, it can be difficult for children to understand and appropriately express their feelings. The activities below can help students identify their feelings and find ways to change uncomfortable feelings.
READ ABOUT IT
Here are some digital books about feelings:
- Ruby’s Worry by Tom Percival
- Invisible String by Patrice Karst
- Wilma Jean the Worry Machine by Julia Cook
- Me and My Fear by Francesca Sanna
- The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett and Gary Rubenstein
- The Happy Book by Andy Rash
- Wild Feelings by David Milgrim
- In My Heart: A Book of Feelings by Jo Witek
- The Color Monster by Anna Llenas
- Grumpy Monkey Party Time by Suzanne Lang
All of these books are available through Youtube.
PRACTICE IT
Here are some discussion points to help you talk about feelings with your child:
- How do you show various feelings (anger, happiness, etc.) with your face and body?
- How are feeling now?
- What can you do if you are feeling sad, worried, or angry (e.g., talk to someone, play a game, draw a picture, play outside, count to 10 slowly, squeeze a squishy ball, read a book, take a break)?
- How does your body feel when you are angry or worried (e.g., face gets hot, sweaty, hard to breathe, belly hurts)?
- How can you tell when others have various feelings? For example, how can you tell when someone is feeling happy?
- Name one or two people you can talk to when you are feeling sad, angry, worried, or have something happy to share.
- How can you talk to someone outside of your home (e.g., video chat, talk on the phone, send an email, send a text, send a card)?
- Discuss how it is okay to have different feelings than someone else about something.
*Your child may choose to draw or write their responses or discuss their ideas with you.
Please see the Calming and Relaxing Activities below:
Some of these activities were found on Copingskillsforkids.com
This site provides additional resources and activities.
BREATHING ACTIVITIES
Bubbles - Blowing gently to create bubbles is a good way to be playful and breathe deeply. Kids have to blow carefully and slowly to make the bubbles, which helps them to take to help kids take deep breaths.
Use a stuffed animal to practice breathing - Have your child lay down on their back and put a stuffed animal on their belly. Have them breathe in and move the stuffed animal up, then breathe out and bring the stuffed animal back down. This helps teach kids to use their belly to take big deep breaths.
Mountain Breathing - This breath can be done sitting or standing. As you inhale through your nose, raise your arms as high as you can and bring your palms together high over the top of your head. Imagine you are as tall as a mountain. As you exhale through your mouth, bring your palms together in front of your chest.
Hot Cocoa – Pretend to hold a mug of hot cocoa. As you breathe in, smell the hot cocoa. Slowly count 1,2,3,4,5. As you breathe out, pretend you are cooling the hot cocoa. Again, slowly count 1,2,3,4,5.
Bunny Breaths – Sit like a bunny and twitch your nose like a bunny. Take 4 to 6 short breaths lie a bunny. Then, breath a long breath out.
MINDFULNESS WALK
When we are mindful, we are paying attention to the present and noticing our senses. Practicing mindfulness helps us to feel calm and happy. As you talk a walk outside, ask your child to answer these questions:
-What do you see?
-What do you hear?
-What do you smell?
-How does your body feel (e.g., sore, energetic, tired, light, hot, cold)?
-How are you feeling (e.g., happy, sad)?
MUSCLE RELAXATION
Practicing tensing and relaxing muscles is another way to help our bodies feel calm. Start by squeezing your feet and then releasing. Next, you can flex your feet to squeeze your calves. Hold for a few seconds and release. Next, squeeze your upper leg and release. When you tense your arms, pretend you are pushing against and wall. Hold and then release. Squeeze your hands and pretend you are squeezing lemons. Hold and then release. Bring your shoulders to your ears and then release. Finally, scrunch your nose, cheeks, and mouth at the same time. Hold and then release. During this activity it is important to remember to take deep breaths. Playing relaxing music in the background and closing your eyes can be helpful too.
