Awareness of emotions
Toddlers participate in a book sharing focused on ways to calm down when feeling upset.
[Invite several toddlers to join you in reading a book about calming down.]
We are learning how to calm down when we get excited. Remember, we can calm down by taking deep breaths and relaxing our arms.
Our book tells us how to calm down when we feel upset. We can feel upset when we are mad or sad about something.
[Show the book cover. Ask toddlers whether the child shown on the book cover looks calm. Talk about why she looks calm.
Use your own words to expand on the book text while pointing to corresponding aspects of illustrations. Examples:
Explain that “taking care of me” means we do things to make sure we feel good.
Emphasize “in” and “out” when you describe taking deep breaths.
Respond to toddlers’ pointing and comments.]
We know some ways to calm down when we are excited. Our book told us how to calm down when we feel mad or sad about something. Calming down is a good thing to do when we feel excited or upset about something.
Most toddlers will easily connect with the book’s focus on calming down. ELM’s Self-Regulation activities regularly promote how to calm down after a physically or cognitively exciting activity. The current activity broadens the uses of and approaches to calming down.
Look for ways to emphasize the idea that calming down can be helpful when we feel mad or sad, as well as when we are excited. This session is the first to directly promote the use of calming down when we feel upset. Also look for ways to highlight calming-down strategies that are mostly specific to feeling upset, such as hugging oneself, crying, and asking someone to hold or hug you.
The emotions of sad and mad are the focus of prior Social-Emotional activities, and reminders or examples of what these words mean may be helpful. Young children are often asked something like, “What are you upset about?” The session is an opportunity to help toddlers connect the feelings of sad and mad to the word upset.
Extra support
Enrichment
Awareness of emotions
Toddlers practice some ways to calm down when feeling upset.
This activity is for toddlers who have been introduced to the Calm-Down Time book through participation in Option 1 or a similar book sharing. Show the book cover and remind toddlers that the book tells us some ways to calm down when we feel upset (angry or sad). Select book pages that show calm-down strategies you want to emphasize with toddlers in your gathering. Describe the picture while pointing to specifics. Then demonstrate and invite toddlers to practice the strategy. Possibilities include the following:
Offer frequent reminders of how the strategy can help. Example: “Hugging ourselves can help us feel better inside. We do not need to stay angry or sad. We can do things to feel better.” Use a quiet voice throughout.
Most of the calming-down strategies described in the book may be new to many toddlers. With the exception of breathing slowly, the strategies are not among the techniques promoted in the Self-Regulation activities focused on calming down after an exciting activity. And saying “in” and “out” while helping toddlers practice slow, deep breathing may be a new experience. Some toddlers may prefer to watch and listen. Positively acknowledge different forms of participation.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: see activity description, Calm-Down Time by Elizabeth Verdick
Invite toddlers to gather some items in your room and place them in a temporary designated space that can be used for calming down. Show and describe the pertinent book picture, if appropriate. Encourage toddlers to focus on materials for doing quiet things. Examples: crayons or markers, paper, books, stuffed toy animals such as teddy bears, foam balls for squeezing. Set up the space with comfortable seating. The space does not need to be maintained long term or necessarily used by toddlers. The intent is to help toddlers think about materials that can help us get calm. Carrying the items to the designated space can help reinforce the choices. Talk with toddlers about their selections. If a temporary designated area is not feasible, take several toddlers on a walk through your room and invite them to point to and talk about materials that can help us calm down.
Materials Needed: Option 2 materials
Preschool-age children may enjoy participating the Option 2 activity. Encourage toddlers to repeat the “1, 2, 3. Take care of me.” phrase, offered several times in the book. Preschool-age children are more likely than toddlers to understand the meaning of “take care of me” and will have more experience in saying 1, 2, 3. Use of numbers in the phrase does not pertain to counting.
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