This art activity enables children to face fears and worries in a creative way. As a warm-up, ask the child to draw a picture of something nice or enjoyable, which can include holiday experiences or treasured moments with family and friends. When the picture is finished, ask her to make a drawing of something she is worried about or fears. Upon finishing, ask the child if there is anything that can make the fear or worry less threatening. This can include superheroes that take away the threatening subject or object, fairies spreading fairy dust or the addition of party decorations and hats to make the situation or monster funny. While the child modifies the drawing with the new elements, discuss how pictures in the head also might seem less fearful when something funny or heroic is added.
Worry stones, shaped like flat disks, take away tension and stress when rubbed. They are made from a variety of materials, and your preschoolers can create their own quickly with some polymer clay or clay. Give the material to the children and ask them to make a ball. They then have to flatten the shape by pressing their hands on it. Encourage the preschoolers to decorate their disks by scratching symbols or small pictures on the surface before you dry the clay. When the stones have dried, cover them in nail varnish to give them a smooth surface. Tell the students to rub the stones whenever they feel worried about something.
Worry beads, also called komboloi, are predominately used by the Greek population as a meditative stress relief and prevention measure to worries. Preschoolers can easily make their own komboloi by stringing plastic beads on yarn. Leave 6 inches on each side without beads before you tie up the two ends of the yarn. Show the children how to hold the beads and swing them over their hand. Tell them that if ever they should start feeling worried to use the beads as a distraction or stress relief.
Tell children about the tradition of the Guatemalan worry dolls. According to the legend, people tell the little dolls about their worries before placing them under the pillow in the evening. When they wake up in the morning, the worries are gone. Help the children make worry dolls by twisting yarn around a frame made from a Popsicle stick or clothespin and toothpicks. Leave the top free from the wrap and paint a smiling face on the space. The children can take the doll home with them and hopefully will have less to worry about the next day.