Resource from ELSA SUPPORT Print out the skin tone that you require. This resource has five different skin tones to suit all children. There are also 15 different sets of eyes and mouths and a set of emotions vocabulary flash cards. Laminate all the pieces and keep in a zipped bag for convenience. The aim of this resource is for children to begin to recognise facial expressions and talk about their feelings. It is excellent for children on the autistic spectrum. This resource is also very good for early years settings and can be put into an area of provision, allowing children to experiment and make different faces. Can they match the eyes to the mouth? Can they tell you what the expression is that they have made? Parents would also find this resource helpful for their preschool children. Questions you could ask – can you make me a ‘angry face’? What would ‘angry’ eyes look like? What would ‘sad’ eyes look like? Can you make me a ‘sad face’? Also use other vocabulary such as ‘miserable, frustrated, terrified, proud’. There are so many possibilities for working with this resource. The cards could be used as a matching pairs game. Lay out all the cards and ask a child to choose a mouth and eyes that match – name the emotion. Use the face (laminated) for drawing emotion faces. Put it alongside a mirror so children can make faces themselves. Use the angry eyes and mouth to discuss anger and how to recognise when they are becoming angry. What makes them angry? What could they do when they are angry? Pick an emotions flashcard(included with the pack) and make the appropriate face.

Included in the pack: Assessment sheets Emotion fans Circle-time rules Relaxation booklet Planning Booklet Sentence stems Heart worksheet Kindness checklist activity Growing happy feelings activity Rainbow of Strengths Strength cards Wishing wall Puzzle piece

Brain Break cards and fans. Great for children who need a break. 8 cards and 4 fans included

This FRIENDSHIP intervention planning resource pack is ready to go. Just print and deliver! This pack is suitable for WHOLE CLASS as well as group work. If there are teachers out there who have children who just don’t get along then try running this as an intervention during PSHE time. Each lesson will take approximately 40 minutes to an hour. It is perfect for an ELSA or teaching assistant who has to work with a group of children with friendship issues. Included in this pack: FRIENDS certificates (children colour in a letter after each lesson and take them away at the end of the intervention). 7 planning sessions which could be done over several weeks. 40 positive friendship cards The Key to deserving good friends worksheet Five posters looking at skills for empathy. Skills for empathy bookmarks for the children to take away A ‘Friend’ venn worksheet. Heart friends template How to apologise bookmark for the children to take away after the lesson.

Pupils will learn about what is a kind thing to do and what is an unkind thing to do. Ideas Sort a selection of cards between ‘kind’ or ‘unkind’ (Template 1) ‘The kindest thing I ever did’ – comic strip. Ask the pupils to think about a time when they did something very kind. They can draw a comic strip of what happened. (Template 2) Use the cards as a prompt for circle time. Each child to decide whether they think the statement is kind or unkind. Prompt them to give a reason why. ‘10 kind things I can do’ –Pupils can create a list of 10 things they could do to be kind. (Template 3) ‘Kindness Challenge’ – a simple diary entry each day, listing acts of kindness. (Template 4) Play a simple board game. Stack the cards where indicated. Use a counter to move around the board. Use a die to roll a number. Move that number of places. If they land on a thumbs up (Smiley face) or thumbs down (Sad face) they pick a card. If they land on a thumbs up and pick a card that is kind then they keep the card. If they land on a thumbs down and the card is unkind then they keep the card. If they land on a thumbs up and the card is unkind then it has to go back onto the pile of cards. The person who collects the most cards is the winner. Two boards are included for the game to suit younger and older children.

This is a HUGE ELSA Secondary worksheet bundle with 68 worksheets that will be helpful for secondary pupils. It will also be good for upper KS2 or for those more mature pupils. It will also be helpful for adults too. All the worksheets are black and white for easy and cost effective printing. There is minimal clipart. Areas covered are: Self-esteem Emotions Wellbeing Anxiety They can be used individually with pupils, with groups of pupils and whole classes of pupils. Build your lesson around a worksheet. You could make up a workbook for each child you are working with to help with their specific problems by carefully choosing worksheets that would help them.

This Rise and Thrive Teen self-esteem intervention is suitable for pupils in secondary. It may also be useful for mature year 6 pupils. It is a group intervention for approximately 6 pupils. It could be run whole class too. Self-esteem refers to how a person views and values themselves. It involves having a positive opinion about your own worth, abilities, and qualities. When someone has healthy self-esteem, they feel confident, capable, and deserving of love and respect. Self-esteem is important because it influences how you perceive yourself, how you interact with others, how you handle challenges in life and your mental wellbeing. An estimate of timings would be: Review last time and check in 10 minutes Activity 30 minutes Review 5 minutes Next time 5 minutes Make sure you have 50 minutes to an hour to run the intervention. There are six sessions to this intervention which will all help to raise self-esteem. Boosters and drainers – pupils will explore what boosts self-esteem and what drains self-esteem Strengths and talents -pupils will explore their strengths and talents Challenging negative self-talk – pupils will learn how to reframe their negative dialogue Building resilience – pupils will explore how to build their resilience by facing challenges and setbacks Healthy and unhealthy relationships – pupils will explore relationships Impact of self-care – pupils will learn the importance of self-care and the impact that has on self-esteem Included in the Rise and Thrive teen self-esteem intervention: Planning booklet with 6 fully planned sessions Self-esteem scale for scaling at the beginning and end of the intervention Lesson 1 – 36 Booster and drainer cards, Booster and drainer worksheet, emotions and self esteem visual Lesson 2 – 40 strength cards, Building my strengths worksheet Lesson 3 – Inner dialogue list for prompting, Challenging my inner dialogue worksheet Lesson 4 – Resilience diary – front cover and one sheet to be copied multiple times Lesson 5 – 8 prompts cards for relationships, Profile of a healthy relationship worksheet Lesson 6 – Self care plan worksheet

There are 40 brightly coloured cards showing ways to be a good friend. Perfect for KS1 and Lower KS2. Use these as discussion or teaching points on how to be a good friend.

This intervention is for a group of six girls and is led by an ELSA or teaching assistant. It covers emotions, relaxation, calming down techniques and learning objectives around assertiveness for girls. It runs for approximately 40-60 minutes, weekly for six weeks. Children will learn about emotions during each session and will also learn relaxation and calming techniques through the ‘relaxation time’. This knowledge and these skills will help them to become more emotionally literate. The warm-up games teach a variety of skills such as co-operation, team work, taking turns, communication skills, friendship, self-esteem and confidence. The coming together of a group fosters a sense of belonging and therefore raises self-esteem. Every opportunity should be taken to promote belonging and friendship. The age range for this intervention would be approximately year 3 upwards and should be aimed at quiet, shy girls who lack confidence and self-esteem. The pack contains the following: Planning booklet with 6 fully planned sessions Circle time rules posters Shout out reflection sheet Feelings wheel Certificate Assertiveness list Passive list Aggressive list Assertiveness comic strip Passive comic strip Aggressive comic strip Assertive communication poster Strengths shield Strength cards Problem cards Target setting sheet Visuals for mindfulness

This EBSA workbook School difficulties has been created with valuable help from the members of the ELSA Support Facebook Group who provided some of the difficulties their pupils face. It relies on real life situations that pupils have found difficult about coming to school. ELSAs are often on the front line trying to help pupils back into school and to work on their difficulties. The booklet is aimed from Year 3 to Year 6 but could also be used with Year 2 with support. We also have EBSA workbook school thoughts and feelings and EBSA Workbook Coping with school worries on the website. EBSA is Emotionally based school avoidance. Pupils who struggle to come to school or are non attenders. This might have an emotional cause or a mental health cause. The activity consists of a sorting board, cards with suggestions, cards for pupils to write their own, an exploration board, a feelings board with scales and changes and what they want to happen to make things feel ok. This activity will help pupils to identify what is bothering them at school and how to reduce that feeling by changing the situation. Start by printing out the base board and cutting up the cards. Print out a blank sheet so the pupil can add their own if they want to. Help the pupil sort the cards between things that are ok, things they are unsure of and things that are not ok. Once you have done that choose one of the things that are not ok and look at it further. Help the pupil break it down to see if you can find out what the actual issue is. Example might be ‘seating plan’ that is not ok. What is it about the seating plan that is not ok? Is it that they are sitting next to someone they don’t like? Perhaps they can’t hear the teacher? Perhaps they are uncomfortable and there might be a draft or a bright light bothering them. They might prefer to be sitting with a friend. Perhaps someone copies off them or talks to them and they don’t like that. Try and help the pupil to break down the difficulty. Once they have the root cause of their difficulty, help them to identify how it makes them feel. Can they put a name to that feeling? How big is that feeling? There is a sheet for pupil voice to say what changes need to happen for them to be ok. They can write it or you can write it for them and they can tell you what needs to change. There is also a daily sheet for pupils to write down anything that they think of or that crops up for them. There are also some additional supporting resources included in the pack This is the first workbook in the EBSA Workbook Range.

The ‘Feel the Feels’ range of resources are aimed at older pupils and therefore are suitable for secondary children. They use a range of clipart of teens/preteens. This is a bingo set which can be used for emotions work. This set contains the following emotions/feelings/conditions – annoyed, furious, hyper, proud, depressed, stressed, shocked, excited, silly,

This bingo game is great for boosting self-esteem. Every child has strengths and talents but sometimes they find it hard to see that. This game will help them to understand some positive character traits. They will learn new vocabulary and will explore each strength and talent. Strengths covered are: sociable energetic focused patient co-operative calm funny positive respectful Included in the pack: 9 bingo boards calling cards strength sheet 9 comic strip strengths worksheets

This self-care potion activity is a fun and engaging for pupils to look at all the things that help with their self-care. There are two potion bottles to choose from. Print out a bottle and print out the pocket. Cut them out carefully and stick the pocket to the bottle. Print out and cut out some of the droplets of potion. Firstly go through the list with the pupil and get them to write their ideas on one of the sheets. They can add any others not on the list here too. When they have a decent amount they can then fill in their droplets and add them to the pocket of the potion bottle. If they aren’t too keen on all the writing they can go straight to filling in the droplets with prompting from you, using the self-care list. You know your pupils so do what you think is best. Suitable for practically all age groups. Included in the pack: 2 different potion bottles Pocket label for the bottles List of self-care ideas 3 different sheets for pupils to record ideas first 8 coloured potion droplets All available in black and white too This is their recipe for self-care.

This is a friendship potion activity for young children. It is visually appealing with clear images to help the pupils understand the words. Make up the cauldron and bin with the pockets. Cut out and laminate the bubble circles. Simply help the pupil sort out those good qualities for a friend and put them into the cauldron to make their friendship potion. All the others go into the bin. Discuss each bubble as you look at it to ensure understanding and relate to the pupil’s experience where possible. When you have finished the sorting activity ask the pupil to decorate the body shape to look like a friend and put all the bubbles around the body shape to reinforce ‘What makes a good friend’. Included in the friendship potion activity pack: Cauldron with pocket Bin with pocket 18 positive bubbles for friendship 18 negative bubbles for friendship Body sheet

This download consists of a workbook and a set of strength cards with tips for using. The aim of the workbook is to raise self esteem and allow children to recognise and identify their strengths and talents. It also looks at setting targets/goals and the planning involved in achieving them.

The intervention Who is if for? This Anxiety and Worries Group intervention is for a group of up to six children and is led by a teaching assistant. The focus age range would be 7 to 11, although older pupils would probably benefit from this intervention. Children who worry a lot would be a good focus group for this intervention. It runs for approximately 40-60 minutes, weekly for six weeks. What does it cover? This Anxiety and Worries Group intervention covers emotions, relaxation, calming down techniques and learning objectives around anxiety and worries. Children will learn about emotions during each session and will also learn relaxation and calming techniques through the ‘relaxation time’. This knowledge and these skills will help them to become more emotionally literate. The warm-up games teach a variety of skills such as co-operation, team work, taking turns, communication skills, friendship, self-esteem and confidence. The coming together of a group fosters a sense of belonging and therefore raises self-esteem. Every opportunity should be taken to promote belonging and friendship. Relaxation exercises will help children to manage their anxiety and these are visited each session. Information on Anxieties and worries It is important to mention that anxiety is such a big problem and affects people in different ways and at different things. Sometimes there appears to be no reason for the anxiety. This intervention is about giving children the knowledge to help themselves and to gain a little understanding about what anxiety is. It is NOT about fixing children’s problems but about supporting them through their problems. Anxiety work needs to be done by professionals who have training in counselling or psychology. An ELSA or TA can offer knowledge and support and it is important that this line is not crossed and boundaries are clear. By giving children the self-awareness, knowledge and some relaxation skills you are empowering them to help themselves cope. If you are ever worried about a child then please do refer them on to professional services so they can get the help they need. What’s included in the pack? A planning booklet with 6 session plans. Circle time rules Warm up games for circle-time Assessments Emotion wheels Emotion wordmat Certificates Five Star Breathing poster NEEDS to know Poster Emotion cards NEEDS to know cards Anxiety physical symptoms cards Where in your body worksheet Anxiety cards Coping strategies poster Worry tree Thought bubbles (ants) Changing those thoughts worksheet Zap anxiety poster My Five a day plan ELSA/Teaching Assistant notes

Transition to another school or class – My idea for this is that this can be built with a child, combining lessons and creativity and craft. Each component can be a lesson or part of a lesson. It is something for the child to take away at the end of your sessions. You could easily fill 4 to 6 lessons with what is in this lapbook. There are two versions, one in black and white so the child can colour the lettering etc and one in colour where they can just cut and stick. There are two alternative back covers which you can choose to add to the lapbook. One is a game about ‘Changes’ and the other is a weekly feelings diary. Of course you could add one of those to the back cover and just use the other separately. This resource could be a fantastic end of term project for a Year 6 teacher. The children will love all the little pockets and will be making something to be proud of. Included in the transition lapbook is: Name – child writes their name in a colourful way – they could write in bubble writing or decorate it anyway they wish. Picture– either take a photo of the child to stick here or ask them to draw themselves. Front cover title – Moving on My new school or new class worries – What sort of things are they worried about? Use the little monster writing sheets for children to write down their worries to put in the little pocket. Discuss these at each session and help to reassure the child about the changes that will happen when they move class or school. Questions about my new school or class – This is a perfect opportunity to answer all those questions about the new school or class. My autograph and message book – Let them collect autographs and messages from friends to take on with them to the next school or class. My goals and targets – This is a little layered book. The child has to come up with a target for the rest of the term, a target for the summer holidays and a target for the new school or class. All about me tag book – Lots of questions to answer in this little tag book. Treasure chest – Includes concertina books with some prompts but also includes a blank so you can ask different questions. The treasure box could contain anything that the child wants to keep safe. They could pop some little photos in there too. A letter to my future self – What do they hope for in the future? How can they see themselves when they are in the next class or in their new school. What will they be doing? What will they have achieved? Will they have new friends? A letter could also be written telling their future self of what they are doing now, any of their concerns or worries etc. Friends – The child can write their friend’s name and finish the image to look like their friend. All their friends can fit into the little pocket. Changes game (back cover) Feelings diary (alternative back cover)

This gratitude jar will help children look for the positives in their lives. Gratitude according to Positive psychology is strongly linked to being happy. I have done lots of jar activities but think that gratitude is such an important one so deserves its own post. This resources has a jar with and without lines. It also has a long list of suggestions/prompts to encourage children to reflect on things they are grateful or thankful for. The jar without lines can be decorated with pictures, photographs and words. Make it colourful. It could also be used each day and the child adds just one thing for that day they are grateful or thankful for. Of course you could make an actual jar with a lovely label and ask the child to fill it each day with things they are grateful for.

The wrist bands or bracelets are a lovely reminder to pupils to be kind. They can use mindful colouring to colour in their wrist bands. I would recommend printing them on card so they are a bit sturdier. Benefits of Mindful colouring with our Kindness wrist bands. Colouring promotes relaxation and helps children unwind after a busy day, reducing stress and anxiety levels. Engaging in mindful colouring requires concentration, which can help improve attention span and focus in children. Colouring allows children to express themselves creatively, experiment with colours, and explore their imagination. Colouring involves precise movements and coordination, which can help develop fine motor skills in children, including hand-eye coordination and pencil grip. Mindful colouring encourages children to focus on the present moment, promoting mindfulness and awareness of their thoughts and feelings. Completing a wrist band gives children a sense of accomplishment, boosting their self-esteem and confidence. Engaging in a relaxing activity like colouring can uplift children’s mood and provide a sense of happiness and satisfaction. Colouring allows children to express themselves freely, conveying their emotions and thoughts through art. A paper wristband focusing on kindness serves as a visual reminder for children to practise compassion and empathy daily. It promotes positive behaviour, and cultivates empathy. Empowering children to make a difference, it sparks conversations, serves as an educational tool, and encourages self-reflection. By wearing the wristband, children become ambassadors of kindness, spreading positivity and uplifting others.

A free self esteem poster for teens and young people.