Mental Health

21 Winter Brain Breaks for Kids: Indoor Movement Ideas for Classrooms & Counseling

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Winter has a funny way of changing the rhythm of a school day. Recess moves indoors. Wet coats pile up by the door. Children spend more time sitting. Holiday events interrupt familiar routines. And somewhere between December excitement, dark afternoons, indoor recess, and the long stretch toward winter break, asking a room full of children […]

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15 Movement Activities Before Counseling: Simple Transition Ideas for Kids

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A child walks into the counseling office straight from recess. Another arrives after an argument with a friend. Someone else has been quietly working at a desk for the last hour and suddenly finds themselves sitting across from an adult who asks, “So, how are you feeling today?” Those are very different arrivals, yet counseling

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21 Movement-Based Brain Breaks for Kids: Simple Classroom & Counseling Ideas

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Sometimes the next thing a child needs is not another instruction. They may have been sitting through a long lesson, just walked in from a noisy lunchroom, come back from recess full of energy, or arrived at the school counselor’s office still thinking about something that happened five minutes earlier. Then we ask: “Okay, sit

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15 DIY Christmas Ornaments for Kids: Feelings, Gratitude & SEL Crafts

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This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon Associate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Some of the loveliest Christmas crafts are the ones children can actually make themselves. Not the ornament that requires an adult to carefully reposition every

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17 Christmas Ornament Painting Ideas for Kids: Feelings, Coping & Gratitude

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This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon Associate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. There is something wonderfully forgiving about painting Christmas ornaments with kids. The finished ornament does not need perfectly straight lines or matching colors. A snowflake

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Christmas Feelings Check-In With Ornaments: A Simple SEL Activity for Classrooms & Counseling

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This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon Associate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. December can be emotionally complicated for children. There may be excitement about Christmas, classroom parties, gifts, winter break, concerts, crafts, and special events. At the

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21 Christmas Ornament Ideas for Kids That Build Emotional Awareness

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Christmas ornaments can be more than decorations children make, admire for a few weeks, and pack away in January. With a small change in the prompt, an ornament can become a way to talk about a feeling, remember a moment of courage, identify someone supportive, name a coping strategy, or reflect on something a child

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17 Magnetic Tiles Ideas for SEL: Feelings, Friendship, Coping & Problem-Solving

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A pile of magnetic tiles can become a castle, a garage, a rocket, a marble run, or an elaborate house in the space of a few minutes. But in a classroom, counseling office, therapy room, or home, those same colorful shapes can also become something else: A feelings house. A coping-skills tower. A friendship bridge.

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Circle of Control Activity for Kids: 30 Scenarios for Worry, Anger & Problem-Solving

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A child is furious because recess was cancelled. Another is worried that nobody will talk to them at a birthday party. A student spends ten minutes arguing about the group they were assigned to, even though the groups are not changing. These situations look very different, but they often contain the same difficult question: What

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17 Winter Lantern Ideas for Kids: Mindful Crafts for Feelings, Gratitude & Hope

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This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon Associate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. There is something especially inviting about making a little light during the darkest part of the year. A jar covered in translucent blue tissue paper.

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