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.

Transition to another school or class – My idea for this is that this can be built with a child, combining lessons and creativity and craft. Each component can be a lesson or part of a lesson. It is something for the child to take away at the end of your sessions. You could easily fill 4 to 6 lessons with what is in this lapbook. There are two versions, one in black and white so the child can colour the lettering etc and one in colour where they can just cut and stick. There are two alternative back covers which you can choose to add to the lapbook. One is a game about ‘Changes’ and the other is a weekly feelings diary. Of course you could add one of those to the back cover and just use the other separately. This resource could be a fantastic end of term project for a Year 6 teacher. The children will love all the little pockets and will be making something to be proud of. Included in the transition lapbook is: Name – child writes their name in a colourful way – they could write in bubble writing or decorate it anyway they wish. Picture– either take a photo of the child to stick here or ask them to draw themselves. Front cover title – Moving on My new school or new class worries – What sort of things are they worried about? Use the little monster writing sheets for children to write down their worries to put in the little pocket. Discuss these at each session and help to reassure the child about the changes that will happen when they move class or school. Questions about my new school or class – This is a perfect opportunity to answer all those questions about the new school or class. My autograph and message book – Let them collect autographs and messages from friends to take on with them to the next school or class. My goals and targets – This is a little layered book. The child has to come up with a target for the rest of the term, a target for the summer holidays and a target for the new school or class. All about me tag book – Lots of questions to answer in this little tag book. Treasure chest – Includes concertina books with some prompts but also includes a blank so you can ask different questions. The treasure box could contain anything that the child wants to keep safe. They could pop some little photos in there too. A letter to my future self – What do they hope for in the future? How can they see themselves when they are in the next class or in their new school. What will they be doing? What will they have achieved? Will they have new friends? A letter could also be written telling their future self of what they are doing now, any of their concerns or worries etc. Friends – The child can write their friend’s name and finish the image to look like their friend. All their friends can fit into the little pocket. Changes game (back cover) Feelings diary (alternative back cover)

Brain Break cards and fans. Great for children who need a break. 8 cards and 4 fans included

This EBSA workbook School difficulties has been created with valuable help from the members of the ELSA Support Facebook Group who provided some of the difficulties their pupils face. It relies on real life situations that pupils have found difficult about coming to school. ELSAs are often on the front line trying to help pupils back into school and to work on their difficulties. The booklet is aimed from Year 3 to Year 6 but could also be used with Year 2 with support. We also have EBSA workbook school thoughts and feelings and EBSA Workbook Coping with school worries on the website. EBSA is Emotionally based school avoidance. Pupils who struggle to come to school or are non attenders. This might have an emotional cause or a mental health cause. The activity consists of a sorting board, cards with suggestions, cards for pupils to write their own, an exploration board, a feelings board with scales and changes and what they want to happen to make things feel ok. This activity will help pupils to identify what is bothering them at school and how to reduce that feeling by changing the situation. Start by printing out the base board and cutting up the cards. Print out a blank sheet so the pupil can add their own if they want to. Help the pupil sort the cards between things that are ok, things they are unsure of and things that are not ok. Once you have done that choose one of the things that are not ok and look at it further. Help the pupil break it down to see if you can find out what the actual issue is. Example might be ‘seating plan’ that is not ok. What is it about the seating plan that is not ok? Is it that they are sitting next to someone they don’t like? Perhaps they can’t hear the teacher? Perhaps they are uncomfortable and there might be a draft or a bright light bothering them. They might prefer to be sitting with a friend. Perhaps someone copies off them or talks to them and they don’t like that. Try and help the pupil to break down the difficulty. Once they have the root cause of their difficulty, help them to identify how it makes them feel. Can they put a name to that feeling? How big is that feeling? There is a sheet for pupil voice to say what changes need to happen for them to be ok. They can write it or you can write it for them and they can tell you what needs to change. There is also a daily sheet for pupils to write down anything that they think of or that crops up for them. There are also some additional supporting resources included in the pack This is the first workbook in the EBSA Workbook Range.

Suggested benefits include: Concentration and attention span – it is so easy to get completely engrossed in your design Thinking skills – thinking what pattern to do next, what will look good! Mindfulness – a sense of mindfulness and being completed absorbed in the activity Relaxation – a true sense of relaxation as you are only thinking about your patterns Hand eye co-ordination – speaks for itself, try it! Self-esteem – creating something beautiful that looks amazing! Stress relief – if you feel stressed give it a go. You will be amazed Self soothing – it is such a soothing activity and if you feel upset or anxious it will make you feel better Ok to make mistakes – your mistakes can be incorporated into your design Problem solving – how can you incorporate your mistakes into your design? Fine motor skills – making those tiny patterns Nurturing creative abilities – allowing everyone to be creative Expanding your imagination – let your imagination go and just create! Creative expression – allows you to create your own design and express yourself Great fun! Simple to learn – each stroke of the pen or pencil is simple No planned outcome – you don’t know yet how your design will end up. Included in the pack: 35 shapes all sectioned off 32 of those shapes all blank for pupils to section off 26 Letters of the alphabet sectioned off 26 Letters of the alphabet left blank for pupil to section off

The ‘Feel the Feels’ range of resources are aimed at older pupils and therefore are suitable for secondary children. They use a range of clipart of teens/preteens. This is a bingo set which can be used for emotions work. This set contains the following emotions/feelings/conditions – annoyed, furious, hyper, proud, depressed, stressed, shocked, excited, silly,

A great way to learn about emotions. What it looks like, synonyms, what you might say, what you might think, what causes it and how to cope with it. 20 Emotions covered and a blank template to use as a worksheet so you can write and draw other emotions.

There are 40 brightly coloured cards showing ways to be a good friend. Perfect for KS1 and Lower KS2. Use these as discussion or teaching points on how to be a good friend.

This self-care potion activity is a fun and engaging for pupils to look at all the things that help with their self-care. There are two potion bottles to choose from. Print out a bottle and print out the pocket. Cut them out carefully and stick the pocket to the bottle. Print out and cut out some of the droplets of potion. Firstly go through the list with the pupil and get them to write their ideas on one of the sheets. They can add any others not on the list here too. When they have a decent amount they can then fill in their droplets and add them to the pocket of the potion bottle. If they aren’t too keen on all the writing they can go straight to filling in the droplets with prompting from you, using the self-care list. You know your pupils so do what you think is best. Suitable for practically all age groups. Included in the pack: 2 different potion bottles Pocket label for the bottles List of self-care ideas 3 different sheets for pupils to record ideas first 8 coloured potion droplets All available in black and white too This is their recipe for self-care.

These emotion work cards will help children to learn more about their emotions. They will help them learn new vocabulary and to really use and think about their emotions. Learning about emotions is incredibly important for all children and this resource is perfect for that. This is a set of 30 cards, 2 on each page. Each card has a task to do related to emotion cards. A set of emotion cards has been included with this resource but the cards which match this resource is available in my TES store. The cards can be printed on A4 or A3 and laminated. Children can use dry wipe pens to write or draw. You can then photocopy what they have done to keep it or you can just print them as worksheets.

This gratitude jar will help children look for the positives in their lives. Gratitude according to Positive psychology is strongly linked to being happy. I have done lots of jar activities but think that gratitude is such an important one so deserves its own post. This resources has a jar with and without lines. It also has a long list of suggestions/prompts to encourage children to reflect on things they are grateful or thankful for. The jar without lines can be decorated with pictures, photographs and words. Make it colourful. It could also be used each day and the child adds just one thing for that day they are grateful or thankful for. Of course you could make an actual jar with a lovely label and ask the child to fill it each day with things they are grateful for.

This is a 5 day challenge on being kind to yourself. This is suitable for anyone to do whether you are 5 years old or 15 years old.

This challenge has been made for Children’s mental health week on the theme of ‘EXPRESS YOURSELF’ It is a printable 5 day challenge with a drawing/writing task and a doing/talking task each day. There is a certificate for the end of the 5 days.

This is a HUGE ‘Feelings Diary or journal’ pack so you can put together the PERFECT diary or journal for each pupil you work with. There are over 65 different templates to use. Pupils can write or draw or do a bit of both. This resource is suitable for children as young as 5 or 6 to teens. Pupils can track their feelings, talk about their feelings, explore thoughts, look at body sensations, be mindful of the 5 a day for wellbeing, use brain dumping and scale emotions along with many other things like mindful colouring.

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

Empathy is a very difficult thing to learn for children and this lapbook will help to teach the skills needed. I have named it ‘Kindness’ because being empathetic is about being kind isn’t it? Caring about other people’s feelings and wanting to help them in some way. Children will learn how to recognise their own feelings and the feelings of others. They will learn to look at different perspectives and how to get the full picture. The vocabulary of pity, empathy, sympathy and compassion will be taught. Children will look at ways of showing that they care and will become ‘care collectors’ – they will collect times when they showed kindness and times when they received kindness. This will help them to see that it actually feels good to be kind and caring. Basic listening skills will be taught so that they know how to listen to someone who might have a problem.

These Social and Emotional Support EXCEL assessments are perfect for an ELSA or anyone else who needs to track progress and impact of intervention. It includes an excel file for tracking emotional skills, anxiety, social skills, growth mindset, independence, friendships and relationships, and self esteem. There is also a pupil questionnaire. These are so quick and easy to fill in. No calculating to do as it is all done for you. It is a matter of clicking a number for each statement. They will work on a computer or laptop but NOT on an IPAD or phone and you must have EXCEL installed on your computer. This download gives your school a licence to use these assessments. This means you only need to buy one for your school and everyone in your school can use it. The price listed is the price that needs to be paid for the school licence. Please do not add the TES school licence.

This story is suitable for working with children who steal. It includes: A story to read to the child and discuss. Repeat the story several times to ensure the key points are being understood. Prompt cards to print, laminate and put on a keyring for taking away with them. They could have a copy for the classroom and one for home. A target sheet so that the child can colour a star if they manage to stop themselves from stealing A certificate for when they have reached their target. 12 Question cards on the story to ensure the child understands what is being asked of them. Worksheets on the key points of the story to ensure understanding. Assess understanding. See if the child really understands stealing with these simple scenarios

Use this activity in the following ways: Warm up or icebreaker at the beginning of your sessions Emotional register at the beginning of your sessions In numeracy lessons when working on numbers 1-10 With SEN children who need a bit more help with emotions or numbers to 10 In early years classrooms as independent activities To learn about the 6 emotions included This pack contains: 6 girl jigsaws numbers 1-5 6 boy jigsaws numbers 1-5 6 girl jigsaws numbers 1-10 6 boy jigsaws numbers 1-10

The Control your Thunder – ELSA Anger intervention is an ANGER management intervention for KS2 upwards. Included in the pack is: Planning booklet Pupil booklet Circletime rules Relaxation cube Emotion fans ANGER posters Supporting resources Certificate of completion There are five lessons which are based on a letter from the word ANGER A is AWARENESS N is NEGATIVE thoughts G is GAUGING E is EXPRESSING R is RELAXATION