Natural objects are also a good choice, as they have calming textures in the hands. Things like leaves or conkers would work well, as would many other types of loose parts materials. 3. Emotion Pebbles 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) They could find all sorts of different things – leaves, nuts, grass, twigs, pine cones – whatever there is in your local environment for them to find.

Using this book would be a good way to introduce a worry monster for the first time. You could also just use it alongside your worry monster practice, to help and strengthen the children engagement with the experience.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. Then secure them at the end with a rubber band or similar. You could draw faces onto the stress-balls with pens. Let the children explore the concept in both adult-led, and child-led contexts. 11. Worry Monster Basket

These pebbles can become a permanent feature whenever you feed the worry monster. 4. Scavenger Hunt – What Can We Feed It Often children might repeat worries they have mentioned previously. Repetition like this is really positive, and helps to process things more clearly. Simply create some kind of worry monster. My friend Kelly’s daughter made one that looked like this: Suddenly you see a big monster in the sea. Throw the box into the sea, and the monster gobbles it up.This is perhaps best done as a group activity, first thinking about what each of them is worried about, talking it through a bit, and then drawing what that looks like to them. It doesn’t have to look like a masterpiece of art – the emphasis is on the psychological benefits of this experience. First, get the children to lie on the floor and close their eyes. You could potentially put someone relaxing music on. First, get the children all to think of something that might be worrying them. This can be a difficult concept, so don’t worry if it takes a few tries at this activity for them to ‘get’ it.

If you have recorded your worries, either as pictures or in writing, then it is definitely beneficial to return to that either the next day or a few days later.

Games

And then start a story. The way to include worry in the story, is to get the children to visualise something their worried about, and somehow trap the worry. The children, at least when they get good at it, will each say a worry, and then place an object into the worry monster’s mouth. Imagine there is something that you are worried about. It might be something that makes you sad, or that you are scared of. Then you can ceremonially place the pictures into the mouth of the worry monster, maybe talking them through as you do so. 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.