Creatively Expressing and Releasing Emotions

Asking a child "what's wrong?" in the middle of a meltdown rarely gets an answer. Finding words for a big feeling is hard at the best of times, and the questions can make it worse.

These tools give children another way to let it out. Make a feelings scale together, using numbers, colours or weather that runs from still water to storm. Play the potato game to feel how anger or sadness shows up in the body. Put a worry onto a teddy and let the child suggest how to help it. Scribble to music on a roll of cheap wallpaper, with no finished picture expected.

You don't need to be arty. The presenter, a practitioner who specialises in laughter and play, keeps it to paper, crayons and a willingness to be a bit silly. It works at home as well as in class.