Coping Skills for Kids

Art as a Tool for Emotional Expression: Fostering Creativity and Healing in Child Therapy

Art as a Tool for Emotional Expression: Fostering Creativity and Healing in Child Therapy

Inside: Guest Post

Art serves as a powerful medium for emotional expression in child therapy, transcending the confines of words and offering a unique outlet for young minds to navigate their feelings and experiences. This therapeutic approach harnesses the innate creativity of children, allowing them to communicate, process, and heal in ways that words alone cannot achieve. 

The Power of Connection: Mindful Parenting for Children with Additional Needs

The Power of Connection:  Mindful Parenting for Children with Additional Needs

Inside: Guest Post by Elizabeth Sautter about the Power of Connection

Parenting is a journey filled with ups and downs.  When you have a child with complex needs such as autism, ADHD, or anxiety, the journey come with additional considerations and can often be challenging to navigate.  Holding your child’s attention and finding common interests may be a bit harder but not something to give up on!  Connecting with your child is a critical piece of their development and can make things smoother for them and you in the short and long run!

An Organized Way to Explore a Child’s Coping Skills

An Organized Way to Explore a Child’s Coping Skills

Inside: An organized, simple, and effective way to explore a child’s coping skills. This checklist can work one on one, in a small group, or even whole classrooms!

Have you ever seen those coping skills checklists that are super long? I love having a ton of strategies to work from, but it’s very hard to pick out what skills will work for kids from those overwhelming lists. To make it easier, I ended up creating the coping skills checklist. The beauty of this checklist is that it's divided into five categories: Calming, Distraction, Physical, Processing, and Sensory, which makes it easier to find a particular type of coping skill.

Relaxation Coping Skills - Activities to help kids calm down at home and at school

Relaxation Coping Skills - Activities to help kids calm down at home and at school

Coping skills are activities anyone can do to help manage difficult thoughts and feelings or challenging situations. It’s important for everyone, both kids and adults, to know and use coping skills.  Not all coping skills work in every situation, so it’s good to have a variety to help manage different challenges.  

Anxiety, ADHD and Anger in the Classroom: 60 Activity-Based Coping Skills to Effectively Manage "Big Feelings"

Anxiety, ADHD and Anger in the Classroom: 60 Activity-Based Coping Skills to Effectively Manage "Big Feelings"

Inside: Information about the Anxiety, ADHD, and Anger in the Classroom day-long seminar, including an overview of the day and feedback from participants.

Last week, I did something that I’ve always wanted to do as a professional. I gave my first full day presentation through PESI. I flew to New York and presented a day-long seminar on the topic of Anxiety, ADHD and Anger in the Classroom. I created this presentation not only to introduce and discuss coping skills but also give professionals an opportunity to try some of the coping skills before presenting them to their students. 

How to Help Your Angry Child

How to Help Your Angry Child

It’s starting again, as usual, during homework time. Your daughter is frustrated with her work, and now she’s yelling and crumpling up her papers. Suddenly, she pushes everything from the table onto the floor. You’re feeling overwhelmed and don’t know what to do next. How do you deal with an angry child?

Using Shapes to Teach Deep Breathing

Using Shapes to Teach Deep Breathing

Have you ever been in the midst of experiencing stress and had someone say “just take a deep breath”. Maybe you’ve even said it to your kids. But why does everyone say that? Let me explain why deep breathing is so important.

When you are calm, your body is in what is known as “rest and digest” mode. Your breathing is normal, your muscles are relaxed and your heart rate is normal.

Make Your Own Feeling Faces Chart

Make Your Own Feeling Faces Chart

Inside: Instructions for making your own feeling faces chart using your own children's faces

Emojis are like a modern day feeling faces charts. When I first started out as a therapist, there was that one particular image of feelings faces that everybody used. Nowadays with emoji's everywhere, there are so many more choices out there for creative feeling faces charts.

Copyright © Coping Skills for Kids, part of Encourage Play, LLC 2021