Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Free Anger Management Games for Kids

Looking for fun ways to teach your kids about anger and how to cope with it? Try these awesome free anger management games for kids!

Many kids struggle with managing anger and big explosive emotions. Some days it seems like they're a volcano just waiting to erupt. They might explode, seemingly out of nowhere, with lava gushing and splattering everywhere, making it quite clear that they might need some help developing their anger control skills.

For many kids, it's hard to recognize possible anger triggers and warning signs in their body. And they might not know how to verbalize and articulate those big feelings.

Or it could be that they haven't found the right coping skills and strategies or anger management techniques. Of course, this step takes quite a bit of practice and a little bit of experimentation to see what works.

Below you will find a bunch of free anger management games for kids that focus on recognizing triggers, identifying anger, and coping with anger in fun, playful ways.

So if you're currently overwhelmed with your child's behaviors that result from unmanaged anger, then you're hopefully going to find these anger activities helpful. They're full of great anger management strategies!

Anger management games for kids and teens

This list of games for managing anger was last updated on March 20, 2024. New free resources were added and dead/broken links were removed.

Free Anger Management Games for Kids

You're going to love these printable and digital anger games. They are a great way to work on identifying anger and coping skills with your kids. All are free. But please note that some of the following do require you to have a Teachers Pay Teachers account, which is also free. 

1. Free Printable Anger Dice Game - Roll the dice. Then answer an anger management related question based on what number you roll. You could also adapt this game to work on other emotions or feelings other than anger.

2. The M&Ms Anger Game from Ashley Redondo on Teachers Pay Teachers - If you're looking for fun anger management activities, then try this one. After all, it does involve candy and what kid wouldn't enjoy that? To play this game, you randomly pick an M&M from the bag. Then you have to answer an anger related question based on the color of M&M you pick. Simple, effective, and delicious, all in one.

3. Free Printable Anger Catcher from Home Stories A to Z - I loved playing with these things as a kid! You probably did too, right? Well, this one is focused on helping kids learn how to manage their anger. Such a fun anger management game, don't you think?

4. Virtual Anger Management Jeopardy Game from Jeopardy Labs - This game is entirely virtual. That means it could be a great game to play over Zoom or in teletherapy. It's also great for working on WH questions and inferencing.

5. Free Customizable Anger Bingo Cards from My Free Bingo Cards - Build your own anger bingo game (or use their suggestions). You can print and play or just play this game virtually. Could be a great anger management party game if that's something you're looking for. Although do the words party and anger even belong together in the same sentence? Probably not...

6. Free Printable Anger Words Word Search for Kids from Monster Word Search - This free word search is a great way to expand your child's emotional vocabulary. Your kids will learn other ways to describe anger.

7. Anger Strategies Memory Matching Game from The Counselor Corner on Teachers Pay Teachers - Match the different strategies with this great anger management activity. It's perfect for little ones!

8. Free Blank Anger Management Bingo Card from Mylemarks on Teachers Pay Teachers - To play, fill in the blank card with some coping strategies for anger. Then when your child needs help regulating, they can pick some strategies from their bingo card and try to get three in a row.

9. Free Printable Anger Management Fortune Teller from Creative Social Learning on Teachers Pay Teachers - Another free cootie catcher printable. This one is similar to one mentioned above. But the anger management skills listed in this one are especially great for younger kids. Either way, you could use this idea as inspiration to create your own. Just customize it with different strategies, triggers, and discussion prompts.

10. Anger Management Game with Beach Ball or Playing Cards Printable from Counseling Fanny Pack of Fun on TPT - This printable needs to be paired with either a beach ball that you label with numbers or a deck or playing cards. This game would be great for a group of kids.

Need Help Teaching Your Child About Anger? Grab this Social Story!

Remember, to help your child understand anger, it's also important to teach your child what anger is and what it looks like in the body. Thankfully, teaching your kid all about anger is easy with this anger social story

While this social story isn't free, it is a helpful tool to build your child's emotional intelligence. It easily explains what anger is and uses full color photos. It also includes a space for your child to write down their favorite strategies to use when coping with anger. You're going to love it!

Anger social story for kids

Get your copy of the Anger Social Story now!

This social story will definitely be a great complement to any of the anger management games for kids listed above.

Free anger management games for kids and teens

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Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Perspective Taking Activities & Games for Kids & Teens

Want to teach kids about understanding and thinking about others' perspectives? Then try these perspective taking activities and games.

Being able to understand - or at least consider - someone else's perspective is an important skill for a variety of things. It can help with communication skills, empathy, social skills, comprehension, social inferencing...just to name a few. 

Perspective taking is a complex social skill. A skill that requires quite a bit of practice to get good at. And honestly, it's a skill that many adults still need practice with. 

But thankfully, these perspective taking activities, games, and printables should help. 

Perspective taking activities, games, and printables for kids and teens

This list of activities and games was last updated on March 18, 2024. New free resources were added and dead/broken links were removed.

Try these Perspective Taking Activities & Games with Your Kids

Here are some fun activities, games, and printables to help teach your kids and teens about others' perspectives. Please note that some require a Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) account, but don't worry, it's free to register.

You'll find that these activity ideas are great for group social skills work. Some could certainly even be adapted for use in social skills online groups.

1. Super Simple Perspective Taking Activity - All you need for this activity is two chairs. Or you could just sit on the floor. That works too.

2. Free Social Skills Lessons for Perspective Taking from Pathway 2 Success on TPT - This printable social skills packet includes two activities, an educator guide, and a lesson plan.

3. Free Perspective Taking Social Scenarios for Middle & High School from Misty's Speech World on TPT - This set of 9 task cards have different social scenario activities for kids to practice with. Kids read the task card. Then they try to identify the different perspectives of the characters involved.

4. Slam Dunk Perspective Taking Activity from Speech2u on TPT - Teach this important life skill with this basketball themed game. In it, kids practice identifying emotions and considering others' perspectives.

5. Find the Airplane Perspective Taking Activity with Free Printable from Centervention - This activity looks great. I do think many kids might find this activity challenging though.

6. Using Animations to Teach Perspective Taking Skills (Free Printable Included!) from Play Attune - Want something a bit more fun and interesting to teach this difficult social skill? Try using these short animated videos! Kids can fill in the accompanying printable after watching the short videos.

7. Free Comparing Perspectives Graphic Organizer from Literacy in Focus - Graphic organizers are so helpful for hyperlexic and autistic kids. In fact, they're one of our favorite tools! This freebie can be used to analyze and think about a variety of common social scenarios. And I love that there's both a printable and digital version included too!

8. What are They Thinking? Perspective Taking Freebie for Teens from Miss D's Autism Homeroom on Teachers Pay Teachers - This activity comes with task cards where you have to fill in the speech or thought bubble.

9. Free Perspective Taking Task Cards & Empathy Activity from Teacher Resource Cabin on TPT - This set includes 40 scenarios and social themes to practice perspective taking. As an added bonus, you can edit these task cards. That means you can customize them to be more relatable to your child.

10. Free Social Inferencing with Real Photos to Work on Perspective Taking from The Dabbling Speechie on TPT - This activity includes written scripts that are perfect for hyperlexic learners and uses real photos, which I'm always a big fan of!

11. Social Inferencing & Perspective Taking Boom Cards Sample from Mau SLP on TPT - Prefer Boom Cards for working on these skills? Try this free sample.

12. Social Inference & Perspective Taking Real Picture Scenarios Boom Cards Sample from Mau SLP on TPT - Another set of Boom Cards. This one includes the option of offering choices for answers or leaving it more open ended by not offering choices.

13. Making Inferences & Taking Perspective Visual Activities Set #1 from Jordan OT on TPT - This set of task cards includes 15 images with four questions per activity so there should be quite a bit here to keep kids busy.

14. What are They Saying? Perspective Taking Activity Sample from We Teach Speech on TPT - Here's a set of task cards that uses real photos with speech bubbles where you have to guess what the people might be saying.

15. Free Sample Christmas Perspective Taking Boom Cards from Mau SLP on TPT - Another set of Boom Cards, but this time with a Christmas theme! It includes the option to offer choices or not offer choices for each Boom Card.

16. Perspective Taking Glasses Worksheet from Educating Hearts on TPT - This simple activity looks like it involves some drawing.

Need More Help Teaching Perspective Taking Skills? Try this Social Story!

Sometimes it's helpful to do some more indepth teaching of this social thinking skill first. That's where this social story about perspective taking comes in. It's a great tool for explaining and understanding perspective taking to your child. It also explains what perspective taking is and gives kids simple questions they can ask to better understand someone else's perspective.

Social story about perspective taking

Get your copy of the Perspective Taking Social Story now!

You'll definitely want to read through this social story with your child a few times first. Then you can dive in and try one of these awesome perspective taking activities and games with your kids.

Perspective taking activities for kids and teens in middle school or high school - lots of printables and games too!

Continue reading "Perspective Taking Activities & Games for Kids & Teens"

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Helpful Reading Comprehension Videos for Kids

Short reading comprehension videos that help kids learn different reading comprehension strategies and skills.

Comprehension is an area that most hyperlexic kids need extra support with. And it's important to build these skills early as they will lead to greater success as they grow and the texts become more complex.

Now, since these kids are such strong visual learners, using videos is a great way to build skills in this particular area. Besides, videos are way more fun than just listening to a teacher explain or model different strategies.

That's why I compiled this list of reading comprehension videos. They're great for hyperlexic kids, English language learners, and really all kids who might need some help with their comprehension.

The following videos will help you teach your child different reading comprehension strategies and skills. They teach things such as keywords (or signal words) to watch out for. They also provide definitions of important concepts. They even go over things like WH question words, idioms, and metaphors that often confuse autistic and hyperlexic kids.

It's important to note that these educational videos focus on explaining different strategies explicitly or through song, both of which are helpful strategies when it comes to teaching hyperlexic kids.

Also, most of these videos already have built-in captions or subtitles. However, some do not. So remember to turn on closed captioning for any videos that don't have built-in captions as it aids in comprehension for hyperlexic kids. You can read more about the benefits of closed captioning for hyperlexic kids here.

And finally, I focused on picking videos that are short in length. After all, young children generally have short attention spans, especially when it comes to topics like reading comprehension that can often be dry and boring to teach. So all of these videos are under 5 minutes in length.

Reading comprehension strategies videos for kids with hyperlexia & autism

Build Comprehension Skills with these Helpful Reading Comprehension Videos

It's important to remember that comprehension isn't just one thing. It's made up of lots of little moving parts and different skills, which is why these videos cover a variety of important skills to work on and teach.

It's important to remember that comprehension is made up of lots of little moving parts and different skills

So, if you're interested in helping kids with reading comprehension, which you obviously are, then let's dig in!

1. Teaching Main Idea & How to Find it in a Story - Being able to figure out the main idea and summarize a story are important reading comprehension skills. The focus in this video is to teach kids how to find the main idea.

2. Cause & Effect: Keywords to Look For - Hyperlexic kids don't always pick up on cause and effect relationships. That can make it tricky to figure out the problem and solution in a story. Using signal words for comprehending cause and effect is a great reading strategy and this video covers some of these keywords.

3. Author's Purpose: How to Figure Out the Purpose of a Text - Knowing the author's purpose for writing a text can help you figure out the meaning of the story. It's also helpful for analyzing short films and other types of texts. So it's important to know how to figure it out and this video does just that.

4. Fact & Opinion with Practice Examples - Good comprehension skills involve being able to tell when something is a fact and something is an opinion, both in reading and in writing. This video shows the difference between the two.

5. Sequence of Events & Transition Words to Look For - Being able to summarize or retell a story involves knowing the sequence of events. But what's particularly helpful in this reading comprehension video is the list of transition words to look for. It gives kids an actionable plan for determining the order of events in the text.

6. Compare & Contrast: Keywords to Look For - Sometimes a text will compare and contrast two things. Here's an overview of keywords that elementary school kids can watch out for. Learn more about keywords (aka signal words) here.

7. How to Use Context Clues in Reading Comprehension - Sometimes readers will come across an unfamiliar word that impacts their understanding of the text. What you can do is look for context clues. This video explains how to use context clues in reading.

8. Suffixes & How they Change the Meaning of a Word - Teaching suffixes is a great way to boost language proficiency and comprehension.

9. Prefixes & How they Change the Meaning of a Word - Same idea as teaching suffixes. Prefixes can help kids understand the meaning of individual words that might be unfamiliar to them and boost comprehension.

10. Story Elements: How to Identify the Characters, Setting, & Events - When reading a book or short story, a good reader should be able to identify the characters, setting, and events. This video explains what to look for and how to identify these different story parts.

11. Story Elements: How to Identify Problem & Solution - It's important to be able to identify the main problem and solution in reading. This short video clip shows you how.

12. Story Elements Song About Character, Setting, & Plot - But there are more story elements to consider when it comes to reading comprehension and writing, including characters, setting, and plot. This catchy song explains it all.

13. Fact or Opinion for Kids: How to Tell the Difference - Learning about the difference between fact and opinion is a great comprehension skill to have, especially when reading on the internet. A lot of adults could probably benefit from a refresher on the difference between the two...

14. Strategies for Finding the Main Idea - This video covers a variety of different comprehension strategies you can use to figure out what the main idea of the text is.

Comprehension is an area that most hyperlexic kids need extra support with

15. Nonfiction Text Features & How They Help You Understand the Text - I really like how this video shows real life examples of these different features found in nonfiction texts. Kids can use the information in these features to boost their comprehension.

16. Differences Between Fiction vs Nonfiction - This video introduces the concept of genre and compares and contrasts fiction and nonfiction. It even breaks down these two types of reading resources into specific subtypes.

17. Pronoun Song - Comprehension of pronouns and pronoun mix-ups are quite common in hyperlexia (learn more about pronoun reversals here). Thankfully, this fun song teaches kids what pronouns are and how they're used. Don't be surprised if this song gets stuck in your head.

18. Subject Pronouns - Pronouns are used to refer to other things and can definitely impact comprehension. This video digs deeper into teaching pronouns by focusing specifically on subject pronouns.

19. Object Pronouns - Improve comprehension of pronouns further with this video on object pronouns.

20. That's an Idiom Song - Okay, this song is definitely catchy! Idioms and metaphors can cause all sorts of misunderstanding for kids (especially autistic and hyperlexic learners), but this video explains some common metaphors.

21. 10 Common Idioms: Examples & Meanings - This video explains 10 common idioms and what they really mean.

22. What are Metaphors? - This helpful video explains what metaphors are and why they're used. It also includes some examples of common metaphors.

23. Making Predictions Reading Strategy - This is such an important comprehension strategy to learn. And this video explains what predictions are and how to make predictions while reading.

24. Making Text Connections Reading Strategy - Making connections to other books, life experiences, and the world is an awesome way to boost comprehension. This video explains this strategy in detail, but you can read more about the making connections reading strategy here.

25. Parts of a Book Review - This video shows kids all the different parts of the book. This information can be useful for comprehension as it helps give clues about the main idea of the story.

26. 6 Questions to Ask for Reading Comprehension - A song that reviews different WH question words (who, what, when, where, how, and why) and how they relate to the story. These questions can also be used as a writing comprehension strategy as it shows kids different things to think about and include when writing.

27. The Five Ws Song - Hyperlexic kids find WH questions tricky to answer. That means that answering comprehension questions are also hard. This song goes over the 5 WH words: who, what, where, when, and why.

28. WH Question Words - This educational video explains various WH question words beside the main 5 WH question words.

Hyperlexia learners are strong visual learners so using videos can be a great way to build and develop their comprehension skills

Phew, I know that was a lot! But I hope you found this list of reading comprehension videos helpful for your kids, especially if you have a little hyperlexic learner.

These reading comprehension videos teach kids different comprehension strategies and skills

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Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Counting Sounds Mindfulness Walk Activity

Looking for a mindfulness walking exercise to do with kids? Try this counting sounds mindfulness walk. It's great for kids and adults alike.

Counting has always been a helpful emotional regulation tool for my son. I mean numbers are just his thing.

Of course it's not surprising that a kid with hypernumeracy would find counting soothing. Backwards. Forwards. It doesn't really matter. You start counting with him and it's like, poof! Physical stress and anxiety gone just like that.

So, when we started working on mindfulness skills and strategies with him, it made sense to keep using those interests of his. That's something you'll hear me say a lot around here, by the way. Use your child's interests. Lean into them.

Anyway, we already knew that numbers were helpful for him when it came to calming down or regulating (see our free calm down hero book for instance). So why not use them in other ways too? You know, make them part of his regular mindfulness practice and routine.

Well, that's where this counting sounds mindfulness walk comes in. It's a great way to use my son's interests, sneak in a little mindful practice, and get some physical exercise. Stretch our bodies and our minds, as the saying goes.

Counting sounds mindfulness walk for kids

Counting Sounds Mindfulness Walk: How it Works

No special mindfulness training is required here. No fancy materials either. You just need your feet and your ears. It's quite simple.

All you have to do is go outside for a walk. Then listen for the noises and sounds around you, taking note of what you hear as you walk. Then simply count up how many different sounds you hear. That's it.

For instance, you might hear a bird tweet in the distance. One. 

Then you might hear the sound of a car driving by. Two. 

Next, a twig snaps and cracks as you step down onto it. Three. 

Then you notice the rustle of the leaves as the wind blows. Four.

And so on...You can see how soothing it would be to count the sounds during mindful walking sessions like this.

Counting sounds mindfulness walk: how it works

Additionally, you could bring a small notebook along if you wanted. Then you can keep track of all the different sounds you hear and how often you hear them during your mindfulness walking exercise.

Counting can be a helpful emotional regulation tool for lots of kids, especially those with hyperlexia or hypernumeracy who have a deep interest in numbers

So that's it. I love how easy this counting sounds mindfulness walk is! It's nothing fancy by any means, but it's still quite powerful. Definitely give it a try and see how it goes!

Looking for an easy mindfulness activity for kids? Try this counting sounds mindfulness walk!

Continue reading "Counting Sounds Mindfulness Walk Activity"