Preschool and kindergarten educators frequently observe students dealing with big feelings, especially those related to worry and anxiety. Helping young learners recognize these feelings and equipping them with manageable strategies to regain calmness is essential for their overall regulation. Everyday Speech’s “My Worried Toolbox,” a no-prep printable resource, offers a practical and inviting approach to teaching preschoolers and kindergartners foundational staying calm skills within the broader context of self-regulation.

What Is Staying Calm?

Staying calm involves recognizing strong feelings, such as worry or frustration, and using strategies to gently guide oneself back to a peaceful or comfortable state. In early childhood, staying calm is not just about managing outward behaviors. It is about helping young children begin to notice what is happening inside their minds and bodies. At this developmental stage, children are still learning the vocabulary for emotions, the ways these feelings feel physically, and the strategies that are available to them when they feel overwhelmed.

For preschool and kindergarten students, teaching staying calm typically features visual and hands-on modalities. These might include tools, routines, and visuals that help them connect with how they are feeling and what options are available to them. Everyday Speech’s “My Worried Toolbox” provides these supports through child-friendly illustrations, plain language, and interactive choices.

Why Teach Staying Calm?

Promoting the skill of staying calm with young learners builds the foundation for future self-regulation. Here are several reasons school-based clinicians find this work meaningful:

• Prevents escalation of minor worries into bigger emotional disruptions
• Encourages children to recognize and name their feelings early on
• Provides a predictable set of strategies, reducing uncertainty during moments of distress
• Strengthens classroom routines, helping the entire community function more smoothly
• Empowers children with agency over their responses to challenging emotions
• Supports smoother transitions, minimizing resistance with changes or unexpected events
• Nurtures resilience, helping students recover from setbacks or mistakes
• Engages families by creating a shared language and strategy set for home and school

When children have access to concrete strategies for calming themselves, they are more likely to feel confident, capable, and secure. Over time, these building blocks of self-regulation strongly impact their academic achievement and social relationships.

Lesson Plan: Using My Worried Toolbox

My Worried Toolbox is specifically designed for use with preschool and kindergarten students. The resource is a printable PDF that features simple illustrations and step-by-step prompts. It invites children to explore the concept of having a personalized set of “tools”—realistic and friendly strategies they can use anytime they feel worried.

Step 1: Introducing the Toolbox Concept

Begin the lesson by gathering students for a group discussion. Hold up the cover page of “My Worried Toolbox.” Explain that everyone has different ways of handling worries, and just like using a toolbox, we can have special strategies that help us when we feel anxious or upset. Relate the toolbox idea to tools in a real toolbox (for example, a hammer for building or a wrench for fixing things). In this case, the toolbox holds tools for helping our feelings.

Emphasize that it is perfectly normal to feel worried sometimes. Worries are not “bad” or “wrong.” The important thing is knowing what to do when those feelings come up. Ask children if they have ever felt worried and, if comfortable, to share times when that happened.

Step 2: Exploring the Tools Together

Review each of the “tools” presented in the printable. Everyday Speech’s toolbox may include skills like taking deep breaths, squeezing a stuffed animal, using positive self-talk such as “I can do it,” or asking for a break. Show each illustrated card or page and name the tool clearly. For each strategy, invite children to act it out:

• Practice three slow, deep belly breaths together. Place hands on bellies to feel the breath move in and out.
• Pretend to hug a favorite stuffed toy or a pillow. Talk about how hugging something soft can be comforting.
• Repeat a positive phrase as a group, such as “I am safe” or “My teacher can help me.”
• Model what it looks and sounds like to say, “Can I have a break, please?” and practice it in a soft, confident voice.

This participatory approach ensures that children understand the tool not just verbally but through multisensory experience.

Step 3: Personalizing the Toolbox

Distribute individual copies of the toolbox worksheet to each student. Invite students to color and decorate their toolbox, making it feel like something special that belongs just to them. For younger students or those with less developed fine motor skills, encourage use of stickers or stamps.

Discussion prompts could include:

• Which tool do you think will help you most?
• When was a time you could have used a tool from the toolbox?

Step 4: Practicing Tools in Safe, Low-Stress Settings

Incorporate toolbox tools into daily routines or class meetings by creating “tool time.” For example, after a transition or before a change in activity, ask the class to choose a toolbox tool all together. Say, “Let’s take three calm breaths like the toolbox shows,” and model how to use the strategy.

Step 5: Creating Links to Home

Send home completed toolboxes with a simple letter explaining the resource and its purpose. Encourage caregivers to keep the toolbox in a visible location and refer to it during times of worry.

Resource PDF link: My Worried Toolbox PDF
Download link: Download My Worried Toolbox

Wrapping Up: Building Strong Foundations for Regulation

Teaching staying calm to preschool and kindergarten students sets the stage for lifelong coping, resilience, and self-awareness. Everyday Speech’s “My Worried Toolbox” simplifies this process by equipping educators, specialists, and families with no-prep printed materials and a clearly structured approach. Integrating these strategies daily—through discussion, practice, and modeling—enables young learners to face worries with a toolkit of effective, comforting strategies.