Anxiety Solutions for Kids in class

Everyone has anxious thoughts from time to time, which is why it is important to teach all children the skills they need to manage anxiety, find ways to distract and soothe themselves during stressful times and challenge negative self-talk.

Anxiety Solutions for Kids was designed to do just that!

A great time to introduce the cards would be a prior to an activity that may cause students some stress (for example, a test) or after lunch. Doing these activities regularly can be a great way to help children build their emotional regulation ‘toolkit’.

Here are a few ways you can use the Anxiety Solutions for Kids cards in the classroom.

• Choose an individual card as the classroom theme of the day or week. For example, ‘Thank you Bomb’ could be a card that introduces the theme or practice of gratitude.
• Use the cards in Circle Time to talk about what helps when dealing with challenging situations.
• Ask students to do the activities on 5 different cards and rate how calm they feel after each activity. Encourage them to practice their favourite activity whenever they start to feel stressed or worried.
• Write a story using a card as a prompt.
• Ask students to create an entirely new card showing a relaxing thing they love to do.

Teachers may also want to build the activities on the cards into school camps, excursions and other times when students may be anxious about being away from their routine. They are also great for lunchtime clubs and quiet times in the classroom.