S1 E3 Managing Big Emotions – What to Do When We Feel Overwhelmed

🌟 Helping Kids Stay Calm & In Control of Their Emotions! 🌟

Have you ever felt so angry, sad, or worried that it felt too big to handle? In this episode of Mindful Moments with Miss Harrison, we explore what big emotions feel like and learn simple techniques to calm down and feel in control again.

💡 What You’ll Learn:
✔️ Why some emotions feel BIG and overwhelming and how to recognize them 🌪️
✔️ Three easy calming techniques to help kids manage strong feelings 🧘
✔️ A fun Calm Down Together activity to practice emotional regulation ✨

📖 Storytime: Meet Charlie, who learns how to shrink his anger balloon by using deep breaths and calming strategies. 🎈

✨ Challenge: Next time you feel a big emotion, try balloon breathing, counting to calm, or tightening and releasing your muscles. See how it makes you feel!

🎧 Perfect for kids, parents, and educators—this episode helps children develop self-regulation skills and manage emotions in a positive way!

🔔 Subscribe now to Mindful Moments with Miss Harrison and help children build emotional resilience and mindfulness one mindful moment at a time!

Transcript

Hello everyone and welcome back to Mindful Moments with Miss Harrison. I'm Miss Harrison and I'm so glad you're here with me today. In our last episode we talked about naming our feelings. Do you remember how giving emotions a name like happy or frustrated can help us understand them better? Well done if you've been practicing. 

Today we're going to take it a step further. What can we do when we have big feelings that often feel overwhelming like anger, sadness or worry? Don't worry, by the end of this episode you'll have some special tools to help you stay calm and in control. So let's started. Let's talk about big emotions. You know, those feelings that seem so big they take up all the space inside you. Sometimes they feel like a storm swirling and crashing around. Have you ever felt so angry that your face got hot? Or so worried that your stomach felt like it was tied in knots? That's what big emotions can feel like, they can make our bodies feel different. But here's the good news, even the biggest emotions don't last forever and there are always ways to calm the storm.

Let's hear a story about a boy named Charlie and his balloon but when the wind blew it too hard it flew up into the sky. Charlie felt angry, so angry that he stomped his feet and yelled. His anger was like a balloon inside him getting bigger and bigger. But then Charlie remembered what his teacher had told him. When emotions feel too big, take a moment to just breathe. So Charlie took a big deep breath, like he was blowing up a new balloon. Slowly his anger balloon inside him started to shrink.

And soon he felt calm enough to tell his mum what had happened. She gave him a big hug and said, It's okay to feel angry, you handled it really well. What do you think Charlie learned about big emotions? Just like Charlie, we can all learn how to manage big emotions. Here are three simple tools to help when you feel a little bit overwhelmed. Number one, balloon breathing. Pretend you're blowing balloon. Breathe in deeply through your nose then blow out slowly through your mouth. Let's try it together. Ready? Breathe in and out. One more time. Breathe in and breathe out. Well done. Another one is counting to calm. When emotions feel too big count to ten really slowly. You can even wiggle your fingers or toes while you count. This will make you feel grounded. And the last one is called tighten and release. Squeeze your hands into fists really really tight. Hold for a moment and then let go. Feel how your body starts to relax when you let go of the tension. These tools are like magic tricks for your emotions. Which one would you like to try next time?

Let's practice calming down together. Imagine you're feeling upset, maybe you're frustrated favourite game isn't working. What can we do? First we can try taking a deep breath. Let's do that together. In through your nose and out through your mouth. Next let's try tightening and releasing. Squeeze your fists, hold for three seconds, two, one and let go. Doesn't that feel better? Practicing these steps now will make it easier to use them when you really need them. You have done such a great job today learning how to calm big emotions.

Remember it's okay to feel angry, sad or worried sometimes. Those feelings are normal. But now you have the tools like balloon breathing, counting and tightening and releasing to help you feel better. Here's your mindful moment challenge for the week. The next time you feel a big emotion, try one of these tools and don't forget to share how it worked with someone you trust. Next time on mindful moments we'll talk about how to turn your worries into calm thoughts. I can't wait to see you. 

Thank you for joining me today. You're doing an amazing job learning about your emotions. Until next time, take care and keep shining.