The Very Hungry Worry Monsters

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The idea behind all these activities is not that convince children that worries don’t exist. Far from it! It is more to get them to think about and process worry in a logical way. Simply create some kind of worry monster. My friend Kelly’s daughter made one that looked like this: 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. Introduce it to the children. Then pass round some kind of simple object for the children to put in its mouth. It could be some wood slices, for example.

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 Let the children explore the concept in both adult-led, and child-led contexts. 11. Worry Monster Basket 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.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.

What you actually feed the worry monster can add an extra element of interest and engagement for the children.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.

Now you’re going to lift the box onto a ship. We’re sailing over the sea now, with the box still on the ship. It’s a good idea to use the worry monster pretty soon after the hunt for added motivation and engagement. 5. Make A Worry Monster For all of us, dealing with worry required lots of repeated thinking about key issues. 8. Homemade Stress Ball Monsters 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) Another great idea for ownership is for the children to make the worry monsters themselves. This is very achievable.Some pieces of dried food can be a good one, as the children associate them with eating. Something like dried pasta, for example.