For a downloadable version of the Activity Guide, click here!
Click here for the Challenge of the Week!
Check out our interview with Stanley Cup champion and Chicago Blackhawks Community Liaison Jamal Mayers about stress management, here.
Overview
This Empower Session focuses on stress management. In this session we will:
- Define stress management
- Define stress
- Learn how to identify stress
- Complete the Wikipedia Challenge Activity
- Learn stress management tools
Stress Management is a great way to stay positive during challenging times.
This lesson can be completed in 10 minutes.
Definitions
Stress management- The ability to understand the negative effects that your body goes through during stress and find solutions to minimize those effects. It’s a type of self-care.
Stress- The negative impacts created by tough situations. Symptoms of stress are feelings of sadness or anger, heart racing, or sweaty palms.
Materials
- Timer (Wikipedia Challenge) — You can either use a phone, a microwave or other time keeping device. activity overview- word scramble
Activity overview — Wikipedia challenge
The goal of this game is to get from one wikipedia page to another (using only the links provided on each page) in the smallest amount of time possible.
In this activity, you will have 3 minutes to start at the Dog Wikipedia page (click here) and get to the Horse Wikipedia page. You can only click the links on each page to get from one page to the other.
You’ll need to think about how dogs are related to horses and click the links that you think will lead to the horse Wikipedia page. See the lesson video for an example where Coach Eugene goes from Cat to Lion by clicking Carnivore, then Predator, and then finally, Lion!
If you want more of a challenge, see if you can go from Dog to George Washington in only three minutes!
This activity intentionally creates a rushed and stressful environment. How did it feel to be timed during this activity? Did you find it stressful?
After the activity, Coach Eugene provides an opportunity to take some deep breaths and destress. Did those deep breaths help? If not, what would have been a more helpful stress management tool?
Bonus activities
Make a Mosaic
Coloring is a great way to destress! Make a mosaic by drawing lines on a piece of paper. Then color in your mosaic in any way you choose. Spend fifteen minutes coloring and see if it helps you to relax!
Materials: paper, colored pencils/crayons/markers
Time: 15-25 minutes
Put Your Legs Up
Try this activity in your socks before bed to help you relax. Add music that calms you down for even more relaxation.
Find a wall in your house, preferably where there’s carpet but you can also lay down a towel or blanket for comfort. Then lay down on the ground on your back and rest your heels on the wall so they are above your head. Focus on taking slow, controlled breaths for several minutes and feel yourself relax.
Materials: Towel/blanket
Time: Five minutes
At Home Scavenger Hunt
Set a timer for 3 minutes. See how many items from the list below you can collect in only three minutes. To help reduce stress even when you have a time constraint, take a minute to plan your actions before you begin. Starting an activity with a plan or a strategy is a great way to feel more calm and less stressed.
- Hairbrush
- Headphones
- Measuring cup
- Red pen
- Shampoo bottle
- Sports gear (jersey, hat, equipment, etc.)
- Black sock
- Envelope
- Health snack
- Something smaller than a paperclip
- Roll of tape
- Something bigger than a loaf of bread
- A book you’ve read
- Something written in another language
- Something purple
Materials: Timer
Time: 5 minutes
You can adapt this game by coming up with your own list and challenging family members to gather items.
Other resources
Want to listen to a story to help you relax? Check out www.storylineonline.net/library/ to hear children’s books read by famous actors!
Relieve stress by playing games at www.miniclip.com/games
Yoga with Adriene has a special episode just for kids. Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMMRb10LtGM