Worry brain

 

• Ask the child to make a list of everything he or she is worried about.
• Ask the child to circle their 5 biggest worries.
• Rank the worries in order from largest to smallest.
• Starting with the largest worry, ask the child to show how large the worry is by showing the size with a piece of yarn.
• Write the worry on a sticker (white mailing address labels work well) or piece of masking tape and use it to secure the piece of yarn onto a silhouette of a face in the area of the brain.
• Continue this process with the 4 other worries, each piece of yarn getting a bit smaller than the first.
• When the 5 pieces of yarn are secure, hold up the face as a visual and let the yarn dropdown.  This is a great way to show the child a visual representation of the size of each worry.
• Scrunch the yarn back up into the “brain” and talk about how the worries can fill up the child’s mind, which makes it hard to focus.
• Pull out each worry from the “brain” and talk about coping skills that can help the worry feel smaller.
• During additional sessions, have the child trim the worries as they begin to feel smaller.