Having a “toolbox” of coping strategies is critical for a child or young adult to deal with challenging emotions. Sometimes the emotions are due to anxiety, depression, anger, stress or other strong feelings. Regardless of the reason, it’s important to teach, practice, and choose coping strategies that work for each individual child.
Using a Coping Strategies Fortune Teller can help with all of those things in a fun, interactive, and hands-on way.
It’s best to have an example fortune teller already made for students to view and play with. Show your students how it works and explain that coping strategies are listed inside.
Next, share the list of coping strategies with your students. Discuss the strategies in small groups or partners. Have students identify their top 8 coping strategies. Remind them to choose activities that they think will help them personally. It’s okay that everyone has different coping strategies!
Hand out the Coping Strategies Fortune Teller. Have students fill it in with colors and their top 8 coping strategies. It’s fun to color the entire fortune teller, too.
Students will cut out their fortune tellers and then use the directions to fold their craft together. Let students practice their coping strategies by playing with their fortune tellers in partners or groups. Encourage students to read each others’ coping strategies and even practice them, when appropriate. This can be a great activity in small groups to discuss strategies and identify what works best for each individual student.
Best of all, kids can keep their Coping Strategies Fortune Teller for times when they need extra support. They can use it to help them pick a coping strategy when they are feeling anxious, stressed, sad, or angry.
Get your Coping Strategies Fortune Teller Craft to make with your students or clients. You can decide whether you want kids to make their own with individualized strategies or you can use the template already provided. It’s fun, easy, and will have lasting effects for kids and young adults who need support with coping strategies.
I made a coping skills fortune teller today with a 6 year old girl! She loved making it. She is finding it hard to use because of her motor skills, but she loves it. She wanted to show everyone. Her and I came up with 8 coping skills together, most of it was her own ideas.
I plan on making this with a 10 year old girl today and next week a group of 9 year old boys!!!
Thank you so much for such a rad idea.
I’m a counsellor working with young people and this is a fantastic idea! Can’t wait to use it
I am a counselor….i would definitely use this coping strategy….it amazing..
This is a great resource to use in the Educational Therapy. Students can learn these strategies in while in a therapeutic setting and apply them when stressors come up! Having the fortune teller as a physical object is also a great way to motivate students to use it.
What a creative wonderful idea! Thank you!
im 13 and im going to print out a few of these, one for me and im giving the rest to one of the school councillors. Some of my friends and i go through a lot of stress and depression and this works to help relieve some of it
Hi Victoria, I totally encourage you and your friends to talk to trusted adults in your life! Your school counselor can talk with you and help you get the supports you need. Thanks for writing in.