Think about something that might be worrying you at the moment.
Now, make a comic strip in which you overcome those worries.
How did you do it?
Is there something you’ve always wanted to learn?
Is there something you would like to get better at?
This activity helps us think of the steps we need to take in order to achieve a goal.
Draw a big ladder.
At the top of the ladder is where you are going to write/draw your goal.
Then in each space leading up to your goal, think of the steps you need to take in order to achieve it. These steps should be written/drawn in the spaces.
This activity is about writing or drawing your worries. This is something you can use throughout the day to record the progress of your worries. At the end of the day you are able to look back and see what you thought was going to happen compared to what actually happened.
Sometimes our worries can feel too big and we feel out of control. This activity helps us look at some of our worries and maybe notice that sometimes our worries are just thoughts, they don't actually happen.
The first cloud is for your worry.
I'm worried I won't be able to do the Maths task today.
The second cloud is what you think might happen.
I will get all the answers wrong and the teacher will be cross with me.
The third cloud is for what actually happened.
I tried my best. I didn't get everything right but my teacher was proud of me.
This activity reminds us what can help when we feel under attack by our worries and fears.
The first part of the activity is to draw a sword. Now, make sure the sword is big because you are going to be writing and drawing inside of it. Inside the sword you should write or draw your worries.
Now it's time for the shield. Again, draw a nice, big shield. Inside of this shield you should write or draw things that help you when you feel worried. They might be people you can talk to, activities that help you feel calm or positive affirmations about yourself.
This exercise helps us see the things in life that make us feel worried or anxious, and how we can 'defend' ourselves from letting these feelings take control.
Fill the jar
For this activity you can either draw a jar on a piece of paper, or find an empty one in your home to use.
What you have to do is fill the jar up by writing or drawing.
The following are some ideas of what the jar could be filled up with:
Happy memories
Positive characteristics
Achievements
Things that make you laugh
Wishes
Worries
Acts of kindness
Things that you find calming
Things ‘I can’
If you find it difficult to fill up their jar in one go, you may want to top the jar up every few days or once a week.
Once it's full up keep it someplace safe. Then when you are feeling sad or need reminding about things you are good at, find the jar and have a look at what you filled it up with.
The first thing you need to do is choose a negative colour, a colour you might associate with worry or fear.
Next choose a positive colour, this might represent feeling relaxed and calm.
Make sure you are nice and comfortable. You can close your eyes if you like.
Now imagine your body is filled with the negative colour.
Remembering the deep belly breathing in previous exercises. Take a deep breath in all the way down to your stomach, imagining you are breathing in the positive colour.
When you breathe out, some of the negative colour, your worry, is leaving your body.
Every time you breathe in, you are breathing in the calm positive colour.
Slowly your body is being filled up with the calming colour and the negative worry colour is leaving your body, more and more.
Below is a link for a video to help guide you through this exercise.
Origami can help relax us, feel better, improve various hand eye skills and improve our concentration.
I have provided a link to a video I use in helping me make an origami frog. It even can jump when completed.
Find a random piece of paper, it just needs to be square shaped.
Follow the steps in the video, pause it when you need to and take your time.
Good luck!
This activity helps us think about the people, places and things that are close to our hearts.
Draw a big picture of a heart. Then divide the heart into different sections, like the one in the example.
In the different sections, draw or write all the people, places or things that are close to your heart.
This is a guessing game that engages children's attention and curiosity and you can change the items each time you play. The focus of the game is using our sense of touch to try and guess what is in the bag.
Place a collection of small, objects of various textures into a bag (a toy car, fluffy toy, piece of dry pasta, a stone etc). Have each child reach into the bag and feel something without taking it out of the bag. Have them describe it and then try and guess what it is.
This is an activity that focuses the mind on our senses rather than all the thoughts in our head that may be overwhelming us.
Take 5 deep breaths.
Look around the room and name 5 things you can see right now.
Name 4 things you can feel
Name 3 things you hear
Name 2 thing you can smell
Name 1 thing you can taste
Belly breathing is a technique that helps us relax and feel calm. Just a few minutes each day can help reduce anxiety and re-energise you for the day.
A great way to practise belly breathing is if you go and find a soft toy.
With your soft toy lay down on the ground and place the toy on your tummy.
Slowly breathe in and imagine it travelling down through your chest and filling up your belly.
Hold it for a second or two, and then slowly breathe out.
This is where your soft toy can help show you if you are doing it correctly. When you breathe in your soft toy should be slowly rising, and every time you breathe out it should slowly go back down.
Do this five or six times to start with. You can then repeat this activity throughout the day as needed.
