Alternative activities: Helping kids express anger safely

Teach kids healthy ways to process big emotions without hurting themselves or others.

This week, we are sharing a menu of options to help kids safely express their anger. Practicing these activities before anger hits can help kids avoid reaching their explosion point 🌋

Just like practicing a fire drill before the fire happens, we recommend working with your child ahead of time (when they are feeling calm and focused) to pick two or three calming tools they want to try next time they feel mad or frustrated. Then when anger hits, you can remind them about the activities they chose or offer to help them try something else on the list. After your child tries a tool out, you can reflect together and see if you want to make any changes for next time. Revisit this tool often to help your kid learn which tools work best for them when managing anger across different settings and situations.

This handout has been built to help preschoolers (+3) and older children practice safely expressing their feelings of anger. To help younger kiddos manage their big feelings, we recommend c…