Assistant headteacher Tracey Bowers said: “Helping children deal with lower level worries can really help children enjoy school more and improve their academic performance. There is also space for children to write about their feelings monster. Invite children to write about how their monster is feeling and make links to their own feelings and emotions. Have they ever felt the same way as their feelings monster?

Shirley Nelder said: “I was talking to a friend about charitable causes, and she mentioned the worry monsters. After showing pictures of them to my daughter, who works with children, we came up with the idea of creating a crowd of ‘cuddlees’, which we’d donate to Oxfordshire County Council’s social care team. I can’t thank enough the dedicated volunteers who, in their own time, have createdthese wonderful characters; each one so different and individual.”Suddenly you see a big monster in the sea. Throw the box into the sea, and the monster gobbles it up. Some kids may find it difficult to use visualization techniques and will benefit from using an actual box. Problems can include transition to junior school or between year groups, family problems, friendship issues or even just food they don’t like.

Older children could of course write about their worries. Once again, when they are written down, they could post them into the monster’s mouth in a ceremonial way. 7. Return To Box Next Day Imagine there is something that you are worried about. It might be something that makes you sad, or that you are scared of. After reviewing the physiological experiences of worry (pounding heart, racing thoughts, etc.), talk to your students about how controlled breathing or diaphragmaticbreathing can help to calm their bodies and minds. Practice controlled breathing with your preferred method. I usually start by simply teaching students to breathe in through their noses for a count of 5 and breathe out through their mouths for a count of 7.

For all of us, dealing with worry required lots of repeated thinking about key issues. 8. Homemade Stress Ball Monsters With your hot glue gun, place a line of glue all the way down the line of the white foam teeth that you cut out.