We are taking a break from the social skills series to talk about making a visual reminder to use coping skills (or calming techniques/coping strategies/calming strategies/calm down strategies – whatever you want to call them!).

In my work as a therapist working with children, using signs as visual reminders is SO incredibly helpful. Even if a child knows dozens of ways to calm down and can successfully demonstrate those skills when they are calm, it doesn’t guarantee they’ll use them while upset. It can be amazingly difficult to use a coping skill when we are overwhelmed and emotionally flooded. It is near impossible to just stop feeling for a few seconds and think to yourself, “oh yeah, I need to do something to calm down.” Talking about Body Signals can help (for a review click here) and making a sign can help!

In my opinion, a reminder sign for a child will be more meaningful if they have a part in creating it. If they’ve had some influence into the reminder sign, they’re more likely to be receptive to using it. This also means that they get to pick what coping skills they like best, and that work best for them.

When making the reminder sign, the goal is to add pictures that represent coping skills. As a therapist, when I make reminder signs with kids, we do it on the computer using Excel and I help children safely google fun images that represent coping skills. One of my favorites for “taking deep breaths” is a picture of a whale that says “take a deep breath!” When we find a good image, we insert those images into the excel sheet (anywhere from 4-10 images), then print a copy or two, and I sent it home with the child.

Here’s an example of a calming/coping skills reminder sign. The coping skills represented include counting, drawing, hot cocoa breath, reading, and dancing. I do not own the rights to these images, thus will not offer a download of this sign. Remember – it’s more meaningful if your child helps create it and pick out the coping skills/images for themselves.

If you’d like to print a blank template like the one above, you can here. Then you can print pictures, cut them, and glue them to the paper.

We’re pretty limited on time and resources in a therapy session, but your child could do so much more with this sign. They could find pictures in a magazine to cut and glue on it. They could write “Mary’s Coping Skills” in glitter glue across the top. If your child is artistically gifted, they could draw all the pictures representing coping skills. You could even take pictures of your child doing each coping skills, print them, and glue them onto the sign. There really aren’t any rules other than the pictures represent a coping/calming skill.

If you need some help on what coping/calming skills to include, you can find several lists online. Just google “coping skills for kids.” Looks like my next blog post will be a list of coping skills for children – I’ll add it soon and link it here! One of my favorites is hot chocolate/cocoa breathing – little kids LOVE it.

I’d love to hear the creative ways your kiddo made their own sign – please share in the comments!!

Disclaimer: I am a licensed mental health therapist, but I am not your therapist. The information in this article is for general informational purposes only. This article does not create a therapist-client relationship. If you need specific recommendations based on your individual circumstances, please consult with a mental health practitioner near you.