Stress worksheets for kids
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Looking for stress management worksheets for students? These stress worksheets for kids help therapists and children identify stressors and choose from various stress management exercises.
While short-term stress is a regular part of navigating challenges while growing up, long-term stress, on the other hand, can significantly impact a child’s mental and physical health.
Stress worksheets for kids can help therapists teach important stress management skills to find healthy ways to cope.
This article includes a list of different stress-relieving activities and free stress management worksheets for students that you can save to your electronic health record (EHR).
The importance of stress management for kids
The body’s stress response can heighten our awareness of threats and signal when we need to overcome a challenge.
Some of the stressors children and adolescents may face include:
- School-related stressors like bullying, social challenges, transitioning between schools, tests, and struggling to get along with teachers
- Stress at home might include divorce, conflict, domestic violence, substance use, the arrival of a new sibling, and loss of relatives
- Social challenges outside of school include self-harm, experimenting with substances, eating disorders, sex, and relationships
There are also systemic and environmental stressors that children and adolescents face, including challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, injustice, inaccessible resources, and social unrest.
Chronic and prolonged stress can put undue stress on children, causing mental and physical consequences.
Ongoing stress may cause:
- High blood pressure
- Lowered immunity
- Heart disease
- Mental health problems, like anxiety and depression
- Poor academic performance and functioning
According to the Healthy Minds Study, more than 60% of college students met the diagnostic criteria for at least one mental health condition in the school year 2020 to 2021. This study emphasizes the importance of teaching stress management to children and teens.
How to spot stress in children
Signs of stress in children include:
- Increased sickness: Kids may complain about being sick more often, and say they have a stomach ache or headache.
- Irritability or anger: Children might not identify feeling stressed, but may show signs of it by being short-tempered and irritated.
- Difficulty sleeping: Kids might sleep less or more than usual. They may also have trouble falling asleep.
- Appetite changes: Kids may begin eating more or less than usual.
- Getting behind: They might miss deadlines or forget to take homework to school.
Stress management activities for kids
In addition to stress worksheets for kids, helping kids cope with stress may involve a number of strategies depending on their age and the type of stress they’re experiencing.
However, these stress management activities usually include:
Relaxation techniques
Meditation, breathing exercises, and progressive muscle relaxation can be part of stress worksheets for kids that relieve stress and improve emotional regulation, even in children at elementary school.
Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can help to restructure unhelpful thoughts that may be fueling stress, anxiety, and depression.
Movement
Exercise is a great way to relieve stress in people of all ages. Children aged six to 17 should aim for 60 minutes of exercise daily.
Getting outdoors
Spending time outside, especially in nature, is a great way to improve overall well-being and reduce stress.
Journaling
Writing about challenges using stress worksheets for kids is a helpful way to process negative thoughts and emotions, reduce stress, and improve well-being.
Focusing on the basics
Eating nutritious meals, drinking plenty of fluids, and getting enough sleep are critical elements of overall well-being and will help reduce stress.
Self-soothing
Comfort items like a blanket, stuffed animal, fidget toy, or other sensory tool can be a comforting strategy for promoting self-soothing.
Stick to a routine
Children benefit from a regular routine. For example, getting to bed, waking up at the same time each day, and having breakfast before school help kids stay on track. Changes to their routine can be disruptive.
Time-out space
Some kids, especially neurodivergent children, benefit from having a time-out space designed as a safe space for them. Maybe this is a tent in the corner of their bedroom or a small nook in the living room. These spaces allow them to switch off and calm down.
Types of stress worksheets for kids
There are several types of stress management worksheets for students and kids, including:
- Stress awareness worksheets: These stress worksheets for kids improve awareness about the emotional, behavioral, and physical effects of stress and different stress-relieving strategies.
- Emotion faces: A printable emotion faces worksheet helps children visualize different facial expressions. Used with a therapist or teacher, emotional awareness helps younger kids connect emotion with the felt sensation in their bodies, improving interoceptive awareness and emotional regulation.
- Relaxation worksheets: These stress worksheets for kids usually include breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, and mindfulness exercises.
- 'What Is Worry?' worksheet: This child-friendly worksheet helps kids identify sources of worry, improve their coping skills, and manage their stress and anxiety.
Elements of these exercises are included in our printable stress worksheets for students that you can download at the top of this article.
Sources
- Alvord, M., Halfond, R. (2022). How to help children and teens manage their stress. American Psychological Association.
- Sofianopoulou, K., Bacopoulou, F., Vlachakis, D., Kokka, I., Alexopoulos, E., Varvogli, L., Children’s Hospital Colorado. (n.d.). How to help kids stress less.
- Chrousos, G. P., & Darviri, C. (2021). Stress Management in Elementary School Students: a Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial. EMBnet.journal, 26, e976.
- Kraag, G., Zeegers, M, P., Kok, G., Hosman, C., Abu-Saad, H, H. (2006). School programs targeting stress management in children and adolescents: A meta-analysis. Journal of School Psychology, 44(6), pp 449-472.
- Lipson, S. K., Zhou, S., Abelson, S., Heinze, J., Jirsa, M., Morigney, J., Patterson, A., Singh, M., & Eisenberg, D. (2022). Trends in college student mental health and help-seeking by race/ethnicity: Findings from the national healthy minds study, 2013-2021. Journal of affective disorders, 306, 138–147.
- Zisopoulou, T., & Varvogli, L. (2023). Stress Management Methods in Children and Adolescents: Past, Present, and Future. Hormone research in paediatrics, 96(1), 97–107.
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