Ages 4+ · Life Skills · Feelings
Feeling angry and calming down
🌬️breathe slowly🛋️squeeze a pillow🗣️tell a grown-up🔍look together
Calm-down steps.The big ideaIt is okay to feel angry. We breathe, we squeeze, and we tell.
How it works
It is okay to feel angry, because every feeling is okay.
What we do next is what matters.
Kit breathes slowly, squeezes a soft pillow and tells a grown-up.
Example 1: Smell the flower, blow the candle
- Breathe in slowly, as if you are smelling a flower.
- Breathe out slowly, as if you are blowing out a candle.
- Do it again, and feel your hot face grow cool.
Example 2: Squish the pillow
- Squeeze a soft pillow: squish, squish!
- Let go, and feel your tight paws loosen.
- Squeezing a pillow is a safe way to let the angry out.
😠tight paws🛋️squish😌loose again
Tight, then loose.Example 3: Tell it
- Say how you feel: I am angry, because my puzzle piece is gone.
- Your grown-up says, thank you for telling me.
- Then look for the piece together.
Words to know
- angry
- A hot, tight feeling when something goes wrong.
- breathe
- To take air in and let it out.
- squeeze
- To press something soft in your hands.
- calm
- Quiet and cool inside.
Watch out
- Feeling angry is okay. Yelling at a friend, grabbing a toy and slamming a door are not.
- Breathe slowly, not fast.
- Practice the slow breaths with a grown-up.
Try it
- What can you do when you feel angry?
- When you smell the flower, do you breathe in or out?
- Is slamming a door a good way to calm down?
- Is it okay to feel angry?
Answers: 1. breathe slowly, squeeze a pillow or tell a grown-up · 2. in · 3. no · 4. yes
Try at homePractise slow breaths with a grown-up: smell the flower, then blow out the candle. Try it when you feel angry.
For grown-upsPractice the flower-and-candle breath together when everyone is calm, so it already feels familiar when anger comes.