Stress Management Teaching Resources
Teaching stress management techniques to the kids in your class is about to get easier! This collection of teacher resources is stocked with stress management worksheets, cooperative activities, classroom posters and more resources to help kids learn how to manage stress in the classroom and at home.
Created by the expert teachers at Teach Starter for your life skills and SEL classes, each printable and digital resource in this collection has been designed with teachers and your students in mind.
And we didn't stop there! Read on for tips on teaching kids stress management techniques, plus a look at what stress is and how to explain what it feels like!
What Is Stress? A Kid-Friendly Definition
Data reports all around us say that our students are stressed out, but do your students know what the word means? How do you explain it to your classes?
Before you can teach your students to manage their feelings, it's helpful to actually define stress and explain what it feels like. Here's a definition from our teacher team to help you do just that!
Stress is the body's way of responding when we have a lot of worries or we're facing challenges that we don't feel prepared to face.
What Does Stress Feel Like?
Stress can make us feel like we are walking around with a physical weight weighing down on us. It can also make us feel irritable, angry or even make us feel tired.
Some other signs that we are dealing with stress can include:
- Stomach aches
- Headaches
- Trouble sleeping
- Feeling dizzy
- Trouble concentrating in class
It's important to explain to students that different people experience stress differently. For some people, symptoms may be more physical, while others may experience more mental symptoms.
Either way, stress is something we can learn to manage!
What Is Stress Management?
Once your students understand what they're dealing with, you may want to define stress management itself.
Stress management is the name we use for the techniques or strategies that we can use to help reduce the negative impacts that stress can have on our bodies and our mental health.
When we learn how to manage our stress, it can help us focus our energies away from the things that stress us out and toward the things that we enjoy, such as spending time with friends or family, playing a favorite sport or creating art.
Managing stress can also help us feel better and make it easier to concentrate on our studies.
Stress Management Techniques for Kids to Add to Your Classroom Routines
You don't need us to tell you that stress isn't limited to kids. More and more adults are experiencing stress these days at increasing levels.
That makes it all the more important to teach kids how to manage stress in elementary or middle school. Building those muscles early in life can make it easier for students to control their stress as adults using the good habits they've developed as children.
This collection of teacher resources is full of ideas and techniques you can employ in the classroom, from meditation exercises to small group skits for students.
You may also want to add a few of these techniques to help your students manage their stress.
1. Add More Movement to the School Day
We know brain breaks are important for kids, but did you know breaks that incorporate movement actually affect the prefrontal cortex of the brain? This is the section of the brain responsible for regulating our emotions, and it is highly susceptible to stress.
2. Add Calming Music to Your Classroom
Music has long been thought to affect how we feel, and there's research to back up the theory. Playing calm music in the mornings as students trickle into the classroom can help you set a tone for the school day, and turning on gentle tunes throughout the school day can help with stress management.
3. Explicitly Teach Kids to Manage Stress
Hey, it's why you're here, looking for stress management worksheets and activities, isn't it? Explicitly teaching your students the skills they need to cope with stress arms them with the tools they need to manage those big feelings.
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Christmas Brain Breaks - Activity Slides
Add some Christmas Brain Breaks to your classroom festivities to help boost engagement and attention during the holiday season.
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Name 5 Things - Calming Strategy Task Cards
Use the ‘Name 5 Things’ Calming Strategy in your classroom to help students regain self-control with printable calming activity task cards.
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I Need a Break! Card Templates
Help your students regulate their emotions by presenting them with an ‘I Need a Break!’ card for a few minutes of downtime.
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I Need a Break - Choice Boards
Help upset students regulate their emotions in the classroom with our printable ‘I Need a Break!’ choice boards.
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Teacher Bullet Journal Templates - Wellness Tracker
Build your own wellness journal using a printable bullet journal template for teachers!
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Stress Management Techniques for Students Teaching Slides
Teach your students about stress management with this set of editable teaching slides.
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Escape from Stress Board Game
Introduce this board game in your classroom to help students practice identifying which stress management coping strategies to use and when.
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Coping Strategies for Managing Stress Teaching Slides
Use this informative set of 21 teaching slides to introduce or revisit coping strategies for students to manage stress.
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Managing Stress Coping Strategies Poster Set
Display this set of five posters in your classroom to equip students with actionable strategies for coping with stress.
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Managing Stress (Coping Strategies) Interactive Activity
Assign this interactive learning activity to your students to assess their knowledge of coping strategies for managing stress.
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Managing Stress Coping Strategies Puzzle Match
Set your students up for success against stress with this calming puzzle activity where they will explore actionable strategies to manage stress!
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Coping Strategies to Manage Stress Flipbook
Get crafty with your students creating this colorful flip book containing their own preferences of strategies for managing stress.
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Everyday Stress Coping Strategies Interactive Game
Develop your students’ ability to effectively cope with everyday stress using this interactive learning game.
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Guided Meditation (Mindful Breathing) Script for Kids
Share this guided meditation script with students to promote mindfulness and help them to regulate their emotions by breathing mindfully.
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Guided Meditation Script for Kids (Body Scan)
Share this body scan meditation script with students to help them to regulate their emotions by breathing mindfully.
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Managing Stress Social Stories Interactive Activity
Share this relaxing and calming interactive activity with your students to help them to differentiate between helpful and unhelpful strategies for coping with stress.
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Managing Stress Game Show Interactive
Set up a gameshow in your classroom to reinforce your students’ ability to recognize and cope effectively with stress!
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Stress Management Toolkit for Kids
Practice stress management techniques with your students with this set of 4 worksheets, which form a stress management toolkit for reference.
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Responding to Stress: Small Group Skit Project
This small-group project lets students apply what they've learned about combatting stress by demonstrating practical coping skills.
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My Personal Coping Skills Plan – Template
Ensure your students have a personalized coping plan for those challenging moments with this comic-themed printable template.
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What Can I Control? Interactive Emotional Regulation Activity
Help your students build emotional regulation skills with an interactive emotional control activity for classroom SEL instruction.
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Things I Can and Cannot Control – Sorting Activity
Help students identify things in life they can and cannot control with this sorting activity.
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Circle of Control Poster
Display this poster in your classroom to remind students about the things in life they can and cannot control.
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Bounce Back - Resiliency Task Cards
Use this set of 24 task cards when teaching students how to be resilient.
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Flower and Candle Breathing Video
Teach your students flower and candle breathing as a brain break, stress management strategy or mindfulness activity.
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Flower Breathing Video for Kids
Teach students to cope with stress with a flower breathing video created to use with kids in the classroom.
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Guided Meditation for Students Video – 10-Minute Body Scan
Add guided meditation for students to your social emotional learning toolkit with a handy video that guides kids through a 10-minute body scan.
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Mindful Breathing Video for Kids
Use this calming, square-breathing exercise video to introduce your students to mindfulness in the classroom.
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