How to Manage My Feelings Poster

Following up to Allison Edwards’ book Marcy’s Having All the Feels and her Feelings Card Deck comes this poster that takes children through these emotion regulation steps:

1. Identify the feeling
2. Rate the Intensity
3. Choose a Strategy
4. Reset the Brain

Whether you’re five or eight-five, the steps are the same. The poster is laminated and ready for years of use. It is recommend for use in classrooms, in bedrooms, on counselor’s walls and yes, even on the bedroom walls of us adults who need a good reminder.

What’s different about this poster is it helps children choose how to manage their feeling based on the intensity of their feeling. Intensity is the greatest factor in managing emotions. We can all handle anger at a 5 (on a scale of 1-10) but how about at a 10? Someone cuts us off in traffic, our kids won’t stop yelling, we are tired, overworked and overwhelmed. We need to handle that feeling differently than if we feel it at a 7 or below.

The poster takes children through emotion regulation steps in a child-friendly way. They will circle their feeling, circle its intensity, then write in the spaces how they are going to manage it. When their feeling is 1-7, they choose a strategy such a Square Breathing to help manage it. When their feeling is 8-10, they will write down how they are going to reset their brain using the five senses. Change what I see, hear, smell, taste and touch. (Go outside, listen to a song, touch a soft blanket, take a drink of water, etc.)

This poster is a great addition to helping others manage their feelings.