Practical Tools for Childhood Emotional Regulation (Episode 329)

Discussed in this Episode:

✅ Create a classroom “Stop Sign Wall” where each child designs their own personalized stop sign (sparkly, hexagon, heart-shaped, butterfly, star) to display. When children become dysregulated, teachers can point to the wall as a visual cue.

✅ Have children create their own magic wand as a physical tool they can use to “zap away” big feelings, making emotional regulation tangible and playful.

✅ Laminate individual stop signs for children to keep in their pencil case, pocket, or on their desk for easy access during moments of dysregulation.

✅ Include teachers and parents in the stop sign activity — model that adults have stop signs too, normalizing that everyone experiences big emotions.

✅ Use the book’s strategies as whole-class activities rather than pulling individual children aside, ensuring everyone learns the same emotional language together.

✅ Create a rainbow display using the different colored elements from “Feelings Town” (purple, orange, yellow) to make an engaging visual classroom resource.

✅ Ask children directly what blocks them (from the handwriting program) — put children in the “front seat” by asking what is most difficult for them, whether visual motor, gross motor, attention, or sensory challenges.

✅ Implement proactive brain breaks based on understanding that one activity can trigger different emotions in different children, and everyone may need different types of breaks.

✅ Use mantras with children like “I can do it” or “No big deal” as part of the stop sign strategy, modeling this for students.

✅ Write specific strategies on stop signs — instead of just the word “stop,” have children write what personally helps them stop and regulate.

Implement brain breaks during lessons using activities from “The Kid’s Guide to Being Awesome” (See Here)