Recognizing Anger in Oneself

1. Welcome Song – sing with each child’s name in song
2. Visual Schedule and Rules (welcome song, puppet show, discussion, story, calming activities, song, goodbye song)
3. Puppet Show – What is Anger
   Bessie is playing with a car. Bumble comes up and takes the car away.

   Bumble: “Give me the car. I want it.” (Bumble grabs the car from Bessie).

   Bessie: “I was playing with it. Give it back. I am so angry!”

   Then Bessie says to the group: “I feel so angry. My face feels hot. My stomach is burning and I feel like I’m going to explode. I feel like grabbing my car back but I need to stop like a red light so no one gets hurt. I need to slow down like a yellow light (takes a deep breath and does palm push). Now I’m calm, it’s a green light so I can do something helpful like talk to Bumble.

   (Person playing Bumble holds up red, yellow, and green lights individually as Bessie talks about them.) traffic light with instructions

4. Discuss how puppet physically feels when angry
   • Head
   • Stomach
   • Hands/feet
5. Discuss how each child feels when they are angry and have them show where they feel different on their body when they are angry. Talk about how each person is different.
6. Mind in a Jar experiment (from “Peaceful Piggy Meditation” book). Leave jar visible to group.
7. Read “Peaceful Piggy Meditation” book by Kerry Lee MacLean (available at Parent Books and through on-line bookstores).
8. “Stop, Slow Down and Go” – introduce the analogy of a traffic light for how to deal with anger. Red light is a reminder to stop before we hurt someone. Yellow light is for slowing down and becoming calm (using strategies) while deciding what to do. Green light is doing helpful things to improve the situation such as talking, listening, forgiving, showing respect, helping rebuild.
9. Discuss how we can take control of our bodies and calm down:
   • Balloon breath (as a group)
     Sit with your legs folded and crossed, and your back straight. Put the palms of your hands together at the center of your chest. Close your eyes, and begin by taking three big balloon breaths. Here’s how: When you breathe in deeply, raise your arms up above your head in the shape of a big balloon. Then breathe out and bring your arms back down so that your palms are together at the center of your chest. Do this at least three times.

     When you have gotten really good at this, begin to imagine that you are breathing in and out through your forehead, right between your eyebrows.

   • Balloon Breath
     is a centering exercise. It attunes you to yourself and keeps you focused.
   • Palm push
10. Hurray Song