While browsing the Pinterest-sphere for ideas {as I so often do}, I stumbled across a picture of this anger thermometer from onestopcounselingshop.com:

onestopcounselingshop.com

I absolutely LOVED this idea of separating the different stages of anger, so I decided to use it in session with a 4^th grade girl who was having severe anger outbursts at home. Using the thermometer as a baseline, we created a poster that identified her physical and emotional responses at each stage, as well as her triggers.

Here is the poster we created {this was done over the course of multiple sessions}:

We also developed a stop sign full of her coping skills so she has a reference of the things she can do to calm down.

So, how exactly did she use this poster? First, we worked on her noticing the physical and emotional signs that she had reached stage 4 and focused on stopping there instead of escalating to a 5. After a few weeks {when she mastered stopping at a 4}, she worked on stopping at stage 3. The whole family was a part of this system, and the child even hung the poster in her bedroom as a reminder at home.

I’ve done this activity with many other children since then, and it has seemed to greatly help them in controlling anger. This is truly one of my favorite anger management activities, because it presents CBT concepts in a way children can understand, respond to, and even have fun with!!