The Very Hungry Worry Monsters

Product Information

The Worry Monsters initiative is a joint scheme with the council’s public health team and mental health charity the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust. This feelings monster worksheet is ideal for use during an 'All About Me' or 'ourselves' topic to encourage children to develop an understanding of feelings and emotions. Then you can ceremonially place the pictures into the mouth of the worry monster, maybe talking them through as you do so.

There is also space for children to write about their feelings monster. Invite children to write about how their monster is feeling and make links to their own feelings and emotions. Have they ever felt the same way as their feelings monster?With your pencil, trace the bottom of the paint tube to make two big pupils. Cut out the eyeballs and cut out the pupils. Set aside. We’ll share a tutorial for a fun monster worry box in the next section, but let’s be clear, this technique is equally effective with any box you may have lying around in the house. When your child wakes they will see no worries left behind as the monster has eaten it and also you will be able to know what is worrying your child so you can help.

The Worry Monsters are part of a holistic approach we have to upholding school values around supporting and feeling supported.” While the box is drying, cut the white foam paper to look like teeth. You can make them square or triangular. We chose the triangular ones. Year two pupil Millie said: “I like the Worry Monster because no one can see your worries and you can just write it down and the Worry Monster will gobble it all up.”Then take all the found food and store it in some ceremonial place, e.g. a basket or box, where it can be ready for next time you use the worry monster. Simply create some kind of worry monster. My friend Kelly’s daughter made one that looked like this:

Worry monsters are so simple to make, and have such a wide range of benefits. Of course there is no way to completely eliminate worry, but there has been research into the impact of strategies used in early life. ( Source) Park feelings or emotions that they may not be able to cope with at the present moment until they are ready to deal with them. Personifying worry is a powerful way to help kids deal with anxious feelings. An activity that students always seem to get a lot out of is creating their own depiction of what their worry would look like if it were alive. Students come up with things like monsters, dragons, annoying mosquitos, and so much more. In my worry counseling group, I help students make a worry monster to examine what their worry is telling them and how they can deal with it! Make A Worry Monster Introducing the Activity This is a soft plushie with a zip mouth designed to help children with anxiety or OCD. Simply have the child write a note or draw a picture of their worry and put it in the monster's mouth.Hertford Infant School and Nursery has three Worry Monsters, and always makes sure one is left in the corridor for their children to access whenever they want. Passing round a designated box or basket as a circle time, and placing an object into it, whilst linking it to a worry, will work in just the same way as the monster. A growing number of primary schools in Brighton & Hove are using furry toys called ‘Worry Monsters’ to help children deal with things that are upsetting them or making them anxious. This may work well if your child is capable of using their imagination and visualize the concept of a worry box.

Model one of yours. It might be, ‘I’m worried that I have so much work to do today, and I won’t be able to get it done.’ Then put a wood slice into the worry monsters mouth. It has ‘eaten’ that worry. This Canadian muggle might be a no-laugher (despite her energy vampire husband's jokesies), but Dyan's a fierce advocate for her two boys and passionate about all things hyperlexia and autism. Place them on the inside of the box on the top and repeat for the bottom. You’ll want enough space to have an “open” mouth, showing teeth. I'd like more info about... Classroom Guidance Lessons Small Group Counseling Career Education Counselor Role Advocacy Mindfulness Worry/Anxiety Support Stress Management for Students Conflict ResolutionThen secure them at the end with a rubber band or similar. You could draw faces onto the stress-balls with pens. A good activity, then, is to take the children on a scavenger hunt with one of the purposes being to find ‘food’ for the worry monster.