Explore How to Calm Down with Your Students

Life can be tough when you’re a kid! Adults tell you what you can and can’t do. Kids call you mean names in the playground. Toys get broken and can’t be fixed. No wonder our littlest learners can sometimes feel overwhelmed with the emotions that accompany these experiences!

There are some things in life that we can’t change or control… but the one thing we CAN control is our reactions to life’s little tests! This is why teaching coping skills to our students is such an important part of their social-emotional education.

This simple one-page worksheet has been designed to help your students identify productive ways to deal with overpowering emotions using calming strategies. Calming strategies can help students remain in control of their emotions during times of conflict and hardship, rather than causing disconnect and resentment in their relationships. The worksheet uses five real-world, age-appropriate scenarios to help your students identify how they might feel and to guide them in identifying a calming strategy that they could use.

This printable worksheet downloads as a black-and-white PDF or an editable Google Slides file. The Google Slides file is a great option should you wish to make any personal alterations to the resource.

This resource makes a great addition to your lessons on emotional awareness. By teaching your students to use calming strategies when they are emotionally overwhelmed, you are setting them up for a lifetime of strong and emotionally resilient relationships.

Multiple Applications for This Calming Down Worksheet

Looking for a way to use this resource as a whole-class activity? Why not use the worksheet to stimulate a whole-class discussion about emotions and emotional self-regulation? Display each scenario in turn on your interactive whiteboard. You could start by reading the scenario, then asking the students:

• Has this ever happened to you?
• How did you feel?
• What could you have done to calm down?

Such guided questioning allows the students to open up and share their own experiences of feeling each emotion. 

You could even have the students suggest additional scenarios to be discussed as a class.

Download This Calming Down Worksheet

Use the dropdown menu on the Download button above to access either the PDF or the Google Slides version of this resource. (Note: You will be prompted to make a copy of the Google Slides template before accessing it.)

This resource was created by Lisamarie Del Valle, a Teach Starter collaborator.

More Resources on Calming Down

Looking for more resources to teach your students healthy strategies for calming down? Explore this great selection of teacher-created resources to get you inspired!

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Calming Strategies Chatterbox Template

Help your students choose and apply strategies when they need to calm down with this handy chatterbox template.

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Calming Strategies A-Z Poster

Help students find coping methods with our classroom display poster highlighting 26 effective strategies for handling intense emotions.

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Calm-Down Strategy Cards

Help your students choose and apply strategies when they need to calm down with this comprehensive set of calm-down strategy cards.