Big Feelings & Coping Skills Toolkit | Emotional Regulation Workbook for Kids Ages 5-10 | Parent, Therapist & School Printable PD

Coping skills are most useful when children can recognize what is happening in their body and have more than one way to respond.

The Big Feelings & Coping Skills Toolkit helps children move beyond “just calm down” by teaching them to notice early body clues, identify how big a feeling is becoming, figure out what kind of support their body may need, and try coping strategies that fit the moment.

Children explore movement, slowing down, grounding, sensory preferences, connection, space and asking for help. They also build personalized coping menus and plans for home and school.

Just as importantly, the toolkit includes guidance for grown-ups. It explains why coping skills are easier to learn before a child is fully overwhelmed, why co-regulation matters, when fewer words are more helpful, and why a strategy should never become another demand a child has to perform.

The goal is not to make every feeling disappear. The goal is to help children notice what is happening, feel supported and have more choices when emotions get big.

WHAT IS INCLUDED

- 36-page printable colour toolkit

- Child-friendly emotional regulation activities

- Parent and therapist guidance woven throughout

- Feelings and intensity scales

- Body-clue and early-warning-sign activities

- Movement and body-based coping ideas

- Breathing and grounding strategies

- Connection and co-regulation pages

- Sensory preference exploration

- Coping strategy sorting and matching

- Personalized coping menu

- “What if coping skills are not working?” guidance

- Real-life practice for disappointment, mistakes, hurt feelings and changing plans

- Home coping plan

- School coping plan

- Support-team page

- Printable coping cards

- Coping choice board

- One-page personal coping plan

WORKBOOK TOPICS

- Meet My Feelings

- Feelings Come in Different Sizes

- My Body Gives Me Clues

- My Early Warning Signs

- What Does My Body Need?

- When My Body Needs Movement

- My Movement Mission

- Helping My Body Slow Down

- Breathing That Works

- Come Back to Right Now

- Find It grounding activity

- Sometimes I Need a Person

- What Grown-Ups Can Say

- What Feels Good to My Body?

- Not Every Skill Works Every Time

- Match the Strategy to the Feeling

- My Coping Menu

- Why Isn't This Working?

- Regulate First, Talk Later

- When Someone Says No

- When I Make a Mistake

- When Plans Change

- When Someone Hurts My Feelings

- When Everything Feels Too Much

- My Top 5 Coping Skills

- My Home Coping Plan

- My School Coping Plan

- People on My Team

- Coping Cards

- Coping Choice Board

- My Feelings Scale

- My Coping Plan

IDEAL FOR

- Parents who want practical emotional-regulation tools at home

- Child therapists, counsellors, social workers and psychologists

- School counsellors, teachers and other helping professionals

- Children approximately ages 5-10

- Kids who become overwhelmed, frustrated, worried, tearful, restless or shut down

- Children who need help noticing body cues or asking for support

- Parent coaching and family sessions

- In-person or virtual therapy

- Home and school coping-plan development

WHY PARENTS AND THERAPISTS WILL LIKE IT

- Practical rather than overly clinical

- Child-friendly without being babyish

- Emphasizes co-regulation, not just independent “calming”

- Helps children identify what their body needs before choosing a strategy

- Includes movement, sensory, grounding, connection and space options

- Normalizes that not every coping skill works for every child

- Uses the toolkit as a flexible menu rather than a rigid curriculum

- Includes ready-to-use home and school plans

- Designed to support discussion, drawing, circling, writing or verbal responses

IMPORTANT NOTE

This is an educational and psychoeducational resource intended to support emotional-regulation skill building. It is not a diagnosis, assessment, crisis tool, stand-alone treatment or substitute for individualized mental-health, medical, occupational-therapy or educational support. Younger children will often benefit from completing the pages with a supportive adult. Strategies should be individualized and stopped if they increase distress.