These are our unwind the mind activity mats.
These mats are a combination of working on the particular topic – e.g. be brave and mighty and relaxation activities through refocusing attention. There are puzzles, mindful colouring, drawing, creating patterns and a little writing.
You can print them A4 but also if you want them bigger, use your printer settings and print them on A3 paper.
These are suitable for KS2 and most of them for secondary too.
These unwind the mind activity mats are perfect for
Before or after SATs or tests
Ending your session
Beginning your session
Morning routine whole class activity
When things are winding down at the end of term
Calming corners
Homework
Transition times
Any stressful situations
We have the following 10 mats along with answer sheets where needed
Be joyful
Be mindful
Be calm
Be positive
Be brave and mighty
Be kind
Be caring to yourself
Be determined
Be friendly
Be proud
Benefits of unwind the mind mats
Both puzzles and mindful colouring are calming activities that can help children relax and unwind after a busy day or during stressful times. Engaging in these activities encourages deep breathing and fosters a sense of peace and tranquillity.
Solving puzzles and colouring mindfully can act as effective stress-relief techniques for children. By focusing their attention on the task at hand, children can temporarily shift their focus away from worries and anxieties, promoting a sense of calmness and emotional well-being.
Puzzles and mindful colouring require children to concentrate and pay attention to details, which can help improve their concentration and focus over time. These activities encourage children to stay engaged in the present moment, enhancing their ability to sustain attention and ignore distractions.
Puzzles can provide children with opportunities to exercise their problem-solving skills and critical thinking abilities. By deciphering clues, finding patterns, and making logical deductions, children can develop important cognitive skills that are essential for academic success.
Mindful colouring allows children to express themselves creatively and explore their imagination through colours and designs. It provides a non-verbal outlet for self-expression, allowing children to convey their emotions and feelings in a safe and therapeutic manner.
Successfully completing puzzles and creating beautiful artwork through mindful colouring can boost children’s self-esteem and confidence. Accomplishing challenging tasks and seeing tangible results can instil a sense of pride and accomplishment in children, reinforcing their belief in their abilities.
There are lots more benefits to these activity mats.
In this booklet, pupils will embark on a journey of self-discovery and connection as they learn about finding common ground, showing respect, practising inclusion, cultivating empathy, understanding the importance of friendships, recognising their own qualities that make them deserving of friends, and the power of apologising when mistakes are made.
Our goal is to provide a safe and engaging space for pupils to explore these themes through activities, and discussions. By fostering a deeper understanding of friendship and the values that underpin it, we aim to empower children to build strong, supportive, and inclusive friendships that enrich their lives.
There are 30 pages to the workbook.
You can of course use the workbook as it is or if you just want to address certain areas then just print out those areas to work with.
This game consists of:
A game board
Star cards
Bingo boards
Social skills questions (3 questions on 18 cards, 54 questions altogether)
Friendship questions (3 questions on 18 cards, 54 questions altogether)
Self-esteem questions (3 questions on 18 cards, 54 questions altogether)
Emotions questions (3 questions on 18 cards, 54 questions altogether)
Instructions
You will need a die and a counter for each child.
The game can be played with a group of children or you can just use the cards for working one to one with a child. You could also use the cards during whole class circle time activities.
The game will promote the following skills:
Turn taking
Sharing
Speaking
Listening
Friendship skills
Social Skills
Emotional awareness
Self-esteem
Resilience
Fairness
Co-operation
Peer learning
This growth mindset intervention can be run as a whole class, or group. The lessons will take 40 mins to an hour and are suitable for children from about 7 years old.
Learning Objectives:
M – I understand how making MISTAKES can help me learn.
I – I understand how seeing success can INSPIRE me.
N – I understand the importance of the words ‘NOT YET‘.
D – I understand what it means to be DETERMINED.
S – I can celebrate SUCCESS and understand how that makes me feel.
E – I understand that EVERYONE is different but that EVERYONE has the potential to succeed.
T – I know how important it is to THINK positively and have a ‘can do’ attitude to learning.
Included in the pack:
7 lessons, each corresponding to a letter from ‘MINDSET’.
‘A mistake that made my brain sparkle and grow’ worksheet.
‘Who inspires you? Who is your hero?’ worksheet.
‘My Goal’ worksheet
‘Questionnaire’ and ‘Bookmarks’.
‘What have you been successful at?’ worksheet.
2 different puzzle pieces
Everyone is different poster
Display heading
Rubbish bin/Treasure chest
Positive/negative cards for sorting
Mindset certificate
7 Posters 'Mindset'
ANTS Automatic Negative Thoughts game. ANTs are the spontaneous, habitual, and often irrational thoughts that creep into our minds in response to various situations and triggers. These thoughts can significantly impact our emotional well-being and overall mental health.
This game will help pupils to recognise those ANTs and will help them to reframe their thinking so they are more positive.
Included in the ANTS automatic negative thoughts game:
Game board (print A3)
Change it cards – 8 of each type of ANT – 64 in total
ANTs cards – 2 sets of 8 – one with their names and one without
Positive affirmation cards – 16 cards
Editable ‘Change it and Positive affirmation cards’) for you to add your own if needed. This is especially relevant for secondary pupils. This is editable in POWERPOINT so please ensure you have that installed if you want to edit the cards.
ANTS covered in this pack:
Emotional Edna – thinks with her feelings. eg. I FEEL hopeless, I FEEL like a failure.
Fortune Teller Felicity – predicts the worst outcome e.g. I can’t win the race!, I will come last!
Guilty Gertrude – Uses the word should and then feels guilty – eg. I should have done my homework, I should have done some exercise.
All or nothing Audrey – uses words like always, never, every. Eg. I always lose, I never have anyone to play with.
Blaming Barry – blames everyone else – eg. It’s your fault I slept in, It’s your fault I feel angry!
Mind Reader Mavis – thinks he can read other people’s minds – eg. He must be laughing at me, I know she hates me!
Labelling Lawrence – calls himself and others names – eg I am such a loser, She is such an idiot!
Negative Nancy – ignores the positives and only sees the negative – I only came second in the race, I only got one sticker today.
This is our Coping skills toolkit for emotional regulation. Perfect for ELSA Support. There is a handy little pouch and lots of resources that will help pupils with their emotional regulation.
Each pupil could be given one of these. Go through the cards and decide which emojis to put in and which calming cards to put in. Each pupil could have their own bespoke toolkit.
Included in the coping skills toolkit
24 Emoji face cards
33 Coping, calming and mindfulness cards
Worry tree card
Circle of control card
Affirmations card
Anger feeling words and physical sensations card
Sadness feeling words and physical sensations card
Anxiety feeling words and physical sensations card
Scared feeling words and physical sensations words
Self care for wellbeing card
All these resources are in one handy file so you can print what you need.
This intervention is written for a group of four pupils and is led by an ELSA or teaching assistant. It covers emotions, relaxation and lessons around worries. It runs for approximately 40 minutes. This intervention is aimed at 5 to 7 year olds.
This intervention follows this structure
Welcome and emotional register– welcome the pupils to the group, go over the circle time rules and talk about how they feel today.
Activity – this is where the pupils work on the learning objective.
Relaxation/Mindfulness – pupils are more ready to go back to class if they are relaxed and calm. This also teaches them valuable coping/relaxation skills.
Review of the session – pupils talk about their learning experience.
There are lots of resources in this pack and LOTS of visuals to help children to understand.
Lesson objectives
Lesson 1 – I can tell you what a worried face looks like
Lesson 2 – I can understand how worries can make my body feel uncomfortable
Lesson 3 – I can tell you if my worry is a BIG or a SMALL worry
Lesson 4 – I can understand how my thoughts can make me feel uncomfortable
Lesson 5 – I know some ways to calm myself down
Lesson 6 – I can park my worries and make a plan
This Healing Steps Grief intervention covers six sessions and is written for a ‘Grief Group’ but also including planning for delivering to one child.
This intervention is written for a group of four pupils (but there is planning for one to one working) and is led by an ELSA or teaching assistant. It covers emotions, relaxation and support around grief. This is an ‘activity’ based intervention and the stages of grief are not covered. It is meant for pupils to support each other and take part in activities to allow them to share their feelings and make themselves feel more able to cope. The pupils will take one step at a time and heal a little bit along the way. Animals will also be covered in this intervention because quite often the first loss a pupil experiences is a pet.
Pupils will work together in a group which will give them a sense of belonging. It will also help them support each other. Sometimes it is easier to deal with your grief if you know that others are also experiencing similar feelings to you. The sessions will last for approximately one hour.
All my interventions follow a similar structure:
Welcome and emotional register– welcome the pupils to the group, go over the circle time rules and talk about how they feel today.
Warm up – pupils really respond better if they have had chance to warm up and feel at ease by playing a game or activity.
Activity – this is where the pupils work on the learning objective.
Relaxation/Mindfulness – pupils are more ready to go back to class if they are relaxed and calm.
Review of the session – pupils talk about their learning experience and colour in the appropriate ‘step’ at the back of their booklets. There might also be something to find out for next time or something to think about or do.
The paper resources come in booklet form. There are also some additional templates and you will need some bubbles for each child, drinking straws and water or juice, whiteboard, colouring pencils, scissors and glue.
Included in the pack:
Group planning for six sessions
Individual planning for six sessions
Pupil Memory Booklet
Pocket template
Flower template
Memory cube and accompanying sheet
Relaxation cube and accompanying script
Circle time rules
Memory Questions
Self care prompts
Emotion fans
Feelings of Loss poster
This intervention is written for a group of six children and is led by an ELSA or teaching assistant. It covers recognising, labelling and expressing the six basic emotions. It is written for children from 4-7 but could also be useful for children with autism or special needs. The sessions last for approximately 40 to 60 minutes.
The intervention covers the six basic emotions of happy, sad, angry, scared, surprised and disgusted.
A pre and post assessment is filled in by the class teacher at the beginning and end of the intervention. The assessments we use are enclosed with this pack. These assessments cover other areas of emotional literacy and social skills but are a good indicator of any other problems that the child may have. Please choose which ones you want to use. You may have other generic assessments that you use but it is important to try and track progress however you choose to do it. Often when a child takes part in this type of intervention other skills are developed too. For example social skills, sharing, co-operating, teamwork and self-esteem to name a few. It is a good idea to keep a book, like a learning journey to stick the children’s work in. This is a brilliant way of sharing with parents and teachers things that the children are doing with you.
All the paper resources are included in this pack. You will need a large sheet of paper for week 6 and a cuddly teddy and hoops for week 2.
Learning objectives are as follows:
I can recognise and name the six basic emotions
I can understand the reasons why I might feel different emotions
I can give examples of when I felt happy and sad
I can give examples of when I felt angry and scared
I can give examples of when I felt surprised and disgusted
I can tell you about some of the physical sensations I get when I feel an emotion
This is a Primary School Memory Book for Year 6 children to work on independently. This year children probably won’t get the chance to do transition work like they normally do so this booklet may help to remember the good times at Primary before moving onto Secondary School.
There are 69 pages in the book which is in colour and in black and white.
So many areas covered. You might want to choose the pages to print off or you might want to print them all out.
This intervention is for a group of six girls and is led by an ELSA or teaching assistant. It covers emotions, relaxation, calming down techniques and learning objectives around assertiveness for girls. It runs for approximately 40-60 minutes, weekly for six weeks. Children will learn about emotions during each session and will also learn relaxation and calming techniques through the ‘relaxation time’. This knowledge and these skills will help them to become more emotionally literate. The warm-up games teach a variety of skills such as co-operation, team work, taking turns, communication skills, friendship, self-esteem and confidence. The coming together of a group fosters a sense of belonging and therefore raises self-esteem. Every opportunity should be taken to promote belonging and friendship.
The age range for this intervention would be approximately year 3 upwards and should be aimed at quiet, shy girls who lack confidence and self-esteem.
The pack contains the following:
Planning booklet with 6 fully planned sessions
Circle time rules posters
Shout out reflection sheet
Feelings wheel
Certificate
Assertiveness list
Passive list
Aggressive list
Assertiveness comic strip
Passive comic strip
Aggressive comic strip
Assertive communication poster
Strengths shield
Strength cards
Problem cards
Target setting sheet
Visuals for mindfulness
Here is a large pack of resources for helping older students to learn calming strategies.
Included in the pack is: *24 calming cards(choice of backgrounds), *24 Posters (choice of backgrounds) *24 Poster colouring sheets *Banners for display (choice of backgrounds) *Vocabulary cards for display or work (choice of backgrounds) *supporting worksheets and mindful colouring.
Please see the photographs for the range of resources in this pack.
This intervention is written for a group of four children and is led by an ELSA or teaching assistant. It covers emotions, relaxation and lessons around making changes and setting targets for the new year. It runs for approximately 40 minutes.
Children will work together in a group which will give them a sense of belonging. This helps to raise self-esteem.
All my interventions follow a similar structure:
Welcome and emotional register– welcome the children to the group, go over the circle time rules and talk about how they feel today.
Warm up – children really respond better if they have had chance to warm up and feel at ease by playing a game or activity. This may or may not be related to the learning objective.
Activity – this is where the children work on the learning objective.
Relaxation/Mindfulness – Children are more ready to go back to class if they are relaxed and calm.
Review of the session – Children talk about their learning experience and perhaps fill in a pupil feedback form on the session.
The paper resources for this intervention come in booklet form. Make one up to show the children at the start of your intervention but don’t make their booklets up straight away. Some weeks has a challenge for them to take away with them. Make their booklets up for their last session so they can take them away as a reminder. You can collect any evidence you require each week up to that point.
There are no assessments for this intervention.
Learning objectives are:
I can tell you about some of my happiest memories last year
I can tell you about some of my proudest moments last year
I can tell you about some things that I want to get better at next year
I can tell you about some habits I want to change.
I can make a New Year resolution for something I want to get better at
I can make a New Year resolution for something I want to stop doing
George doesn’t want to go to school is a separation anxiety resource to help children transition back to school after the this Pandemic is under control.
Included in this pack:
PowerPoint slide show of the Story (36 slides)
PDF of the story – this can be printed or you could transfer to IPAD to read on that.
12 supporting worksheets
4 pages of questions on the story
An anxiety scale for assessing the child’s levels of anxiety pre and post assessment
This teen emotions pack are all hand drawn by me. I get so many people wanting things for older students and the clipart available is very limited. I have drawn 12 different emotions and used colourful teen characters. They are bright and cheerful and will hopefully be appealing to use.
Included in the pack are
12 Teen boy emotion face cards with a suggested emotion word
12 Teen boy emotion face cards without any words
12 Teen girl emotion face cards with a suggested emotion word
12 Teen girl emotion face cards without any words
1 x Teen boy emotion wheel with suggested emotion words
1 x Teen boy emotion wheel without any words
1 x Teen girl emotion wheel with suggested emotion words
1 x Teen girl emotion wheel without any words
12 Teen boy comic strip worksheets
12 Teen girl comic strip worksheets
1 x Teen girl blank for drawing facial expressions/colouring
1 x Teen boy blank for drawing facial expressions/colouring
12 x Teen boy face colouring sheets
12 x Teen girl face colouring sheets
Emotional register girl in colour and black and white
Emotional register boy in colour and black and white
Using the teen emotions pack you can begin to explore the facial expressions and bring in other vocabulary when using the emotion cards without words. For example the ‘angry boy’ could be livid, furious, mad, annoyed, frustrated, raging, irritated or outraged. There are so many wonderful words out there that can really help a pupil’s emotional literacy so do explore them. The more words they know they better they will be able to explain themselves.
This FRIENDS display pack compliments our FRIENDS cards but can also be used without the cards.
Included in the pack: *40 FRIENDS posters *2 banners in blue and yellow *Vertical border paper in blue and yellow *Horizontal border paper in blue and yellow *6 labels *Worksheets for pupils
The pack is aimed at EYFS/KS1 and possibly lower KS2
The idea of the friends display is that you choose either one or two different skills to learn that week or that session. Children can write or draw when they showed that skill, they can learn new vocabulary around that skill and you can take photographs of them catching them using that skill. This will be a changing display with new posters and children’s work changing as necessary.
This ‘Feel the Feels’ Anger resource pack includes the following resources:
Anger workbook – 19 pages
Anger diary -Cover sheet, instructions and One sheet that can be printed as many times as needed
1-5 Scale – print, laminate
Mobile phone emotion register – print and laminate
These resources are suitable for older children KS2/3/4 – aged approximately 9 to 16.
This is a ‘Ready, Set, Secondary’ Transition Workbook. Moving from primary to secondary school is a significant milestone in a pupil’s educational journey, bringing new adventures, opportunities, and challenges. Being prepared for this transition is crucial to ensure pupils approach it with confidence and enthusiasm.
** update we have added a ‘High School’ version
Secondary school introduces new subjects, teachers, and a larger environment. Embracing this change with a positive mindset is key. Encouraging pupils to recognise their strengths and achievements builds the confidence needed to face new challenges.
Setting realistic goals provides students with direction and purpose. Identifying their unique strengths helps them focus on areas where they can excel and positively contribute to their new school environment. Goal-setting fosters a sense of accomplishment and motivation.
Emotional preparation is just as important as academic readiness. Teaching pupils about self-care, self-awareness of feelings, breathing exercises, and visualising that success.
When students feel supported and understood, they thrive. With the right support and mindset, the transition to secondary school can be a rewarding and enriching experience.
This ‘Ready, set secondary’ transition workbook will help pupils to understand their readiness for Secondary school. Lots of transition resources can be based on anxiety and worries whereas this is about empowering the young person. They are awesome, and ready for their next chapter.
It is split into sections
Amazing me!
Discovering my strengths
Goals
Moving forward
Being prepared emotionally
There are 31 pages in the workbook.
This workbook is great for working one to one with pupils who need a bit of a confidence boost to help them realise how ready they are for moving onto Secondary School. Just print one out for each pupil you work with.
Teach children about the six basic emotions with these booklets and games. Angry, sad, happy, scared, disgust and surprise.
Can be used on a one to one basis, with a group or even a whole class. Use the sheets as worksheets or lessons for every child.
Great for ELSA intervention or for Learning mentors or Teaching assistants.
Also a set of superhero fans thrown in to help with emotional regulation.