Inside ME! - My Feelings Control Panel - Children's Mental Health Week 2025 Resources

Introducing Inside ME! - My Feelings Control Panel, a creative and engaging resource designed to help children explore and navigate their emotions. Inspired by Riley’s control panel in Disney’s Inside Out, this activity empowers children to identify, express and practise managing their feelings. Perfect for classrooms, therapy sessions or home use, this printable encourages emotional literacy and self-regulation while supporting Children’s Mental Health Week 2025 and its theme, “Know Yourself to Grow Yourself.”

Children’s Mental Health Week 2025

This year’s Children’s Mental Health Week highlights the importance of self-awareness as a foundation for emotional growth. By knowing and understanding their feelings, children can build stronger emotional resilience and communication skills. Inside ME! - My Feelings Control Panel aligns seamlessly with this year’s theme by providing an engaging way for children to explore their emotions and practise emotional regulation.

This Year's Theme

Place2Be’s focus for 2025 takes inspiration from the beloved Disney movie Inside Out, which illustrates emotions as vibrant characters working together at a control panel. Similarly, this resource invites children to imagine their own feelings control panel, promoting creativity, self-awareness and actionable emotional management techniques.

About the Resource: Inside ME! - My Feelings Control Panel

Inside ME! - My Feelings Control Panel features a printable design that encourages children to personalise their own emotional control panel. With buttons like “Pause,” “Play,” “Fast Forward,” and “Rewind,” this resource introduces relatable tools for managing emotions. Children can colour and customise their control panel while learning practical strategies for self-regulation.

How This Resource Aligns with Children’s Mental Health Week

By combining creativity with emotional exploration, Inside ME! - My Feelings Control Panel supports the 2025 theme of “Know Yourself to Grow Yourself.” It helps children visualise and explore their emotions and equips them with simple, actionable strategies to navigate their feelings.

Suggested Uses

• Classroom Activities: Incorporate this resource into lessons about emotions or mindfulness.
• Therapy Sessions: Use as a tool to facilitate discussions about emotional regulation.
• Home Activities: Encourage families to explore emotions together and discuss ways to manage them.
• Group Work: Share and compare control panels to promote empathy and understanding among peers.

Benefits of Inside ME! - My Feelings Control Panel

• Promotes Emotional Literacy: Helps children identify and label their feelings.
• Encourages Self-Regulation: Provides relatable tools to practice managing emotions.
• Fosters Creativity: Allows children to customise their control panel to reflect their unique emotional experiences.
• Builds Communication Skills: Opens the door to discussions about feelings in a non-intimidating way.
• Supports Mental Health Education: Aligns with the Inside Out-inspired approach of teaching emotional awareness.

Tips for Using This Resource

1. Start with a Discussion: Talk about how Riley’s control panel from Inside Out helps her manage emotions and how children can create their own.
2. Customise the Panel: Provide art supplies for children to make their control panel unique.
3. Teach Regulation Strategies: Use the buttons (Pause, Play, Rewind) as metaphors for emotional management. For example, “Pause” to take deep breaths, “Rewind” to reflect on what happened, and “Fast Forward” to focus on the positive.
4. Role-Play: Act out scenarios where the control panel could help manage a tricky emotion.
5. Reflect Regularly: Encourage children to revisit their control panel as their understanding of emotions evolves.

Inside ME! - My Feelings Control Panel is a creative and interactive way to help children explore and regulate their emotions. By personalising their control panel and practicing strategies for emotional management, children build emotional literacy, self-awareness and resilience. Download now!