Anger is a feeling or emotion that ranges from mild annoyance to intense rage. While the feeling of anger is a normal human response to unmet goals or unfair treatment, uncontrolled anger becomes a problem when it is felt too intensely, or too frequently, or is expressed inappropriately. Learning how to control angry feelings is a vital aspect of healthy social and emotional development.

The Remote Control Anger Control™ game is a set of four card games that address these findings by focusing on three essential skills for controlling anger:

• PAUSE and identify additional feelings.
• REWIND and learn from past mistakes.
• FAST FORWARD and think ahead about potential consequences.

The game uses the above remote control symbols to facilitate learning the skills. There are both competitive and cooperative versions for grades 2–5 and for grades 6–9. The two age groups have separate decks of cards. During the game players read brief case studies adapted from the angry behavior of real kids. Players then practice one of the three essential skills: they PAUSE and describe an additional feeling that they might have along with anger in the scenario, or they REWIND and describe a time in the past when they have been successful calming their angry feelings, or they FAST FORWARD and describe a typical angry response or behavior that might follow the scenario and the probable consequence if the angry behavior is acted on.

All players practice all three skills during the course of the game. In addition to practicing the three skills, players practice planning ahead and social skills as well as exercising frustration tolerance.

Playing time: Flexible from 25-50 minutes. Two sets of cards: grades 2–5 and 6–9. 2-5 players.

Learning Objectives – Players:

• Learn to profit from previous mistakes.
• Learn to anticipate consequences.
• Learn to stop and think before acting.
• Learn to strategize and plan ahead.
• Learn to do a better job handling frustrations.
• Work together cooperatively.
• Improve problem solving skills.
• Learn the value of anger control.