Last night my foster pup, Seven, and my pup Brooklyn were playing when things got a little rough. There was a little too much growling and nipping my for comfort and I could see their friendly play going from joking to anger. Swiftly they were in their crates for a time out. Seven was snoring moments later.
How ironic that hours later I would be at school hosting my final "Cool Beans" small group, a group for students with anger. Today we finished up our group by creating "cool down goodie bags." Here's a peak:
I laugh too much to be mad. |
A reminder to listen to calming music. |
- The Bag: To start the group I had them docorate one side of the bag with words and images that helped them calm down. One student drew a chair with the words "push, pull, dangle," a method we learned about when reading Julia Cook's "Soda Pop Head." Another drew the beach, a claming image, and surrounded it with cool down methods. My example bag had three pictures glued to it, each that make me giggle.
On the other side of the bag I had the kids write their final "warm fuzzy." One nice compliment to each other or a finally good-bye wish. I wrote one as well.
- The contents:
- A journal and pencil- for them to write and journal when they are angry. They could write their angry words instead of yelling them. Pencils were donated from Publix and journals from Oriental Trading.
- An eraser- the eraser was a reminder that we all make mistakes, but we can't always erase the mistakes we make when we are angry, so we need to make good decisions the first time.
- A pull tab- a visual reminder of the book "Soda Pop Head" by Julia Cook. We used this book as the basis of our group.
- Angry Bird Strategy Cards- I got these images here. One side of their card lists what it means to be an angry bird and the other has cool down strategies.
- Candy- a sweet treat, because I find it's hard to chew and yell at the same time.
- Party Favors- these blowouts are wonderful because they don't make noise. We practiced taking slow deep breaths with them. I grabbed a huge bag that will last years at Oriental Trading for $8.
- Play dough- to mold, mash, and create when they are angry. I always pick up playdough when it's on sale at Target.
- Funny Stress Monsters- I picked these up at Oriental Trading also. We talked about instead of hitting a person, animal, or pillow we could squeeze our goofy character relaxable as hard as we could.
- Bubbles- another fun way to practice taking slow deep breaths. I picked an 8 pack these up in the summer on clearance at Kroger for less than $2.
If you are interested in adopting my sweet angel Seven or interested in adopting/fostering a pup please visit: http://www.nashvillepittie.org/adopt-a-bulls.html
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