There’s someone special we’d like you to meet,
And there's only one thing he likes to eat,
He's here to keep your bad thoughts at bay,
He's come to take your worries away,
So when you feel your legs turn to jelly,
Give your Worry Monster a full belly!
Write your worry down nice and clear,
And say it loud enough for him to hear,
Then when it's time to go to bed,
Place your worry beneath your head,
So that as you fall into a calming sleep,
The worry becomes your monster’s to keep.

Our Worry Monster is here to eat your child’s worries - this fun and visually engaging activity can help alleviate anxiety in young children by letting your child feed their worries to our Worry Monster to gobble up!

About this resource:

The Worry Monster activity provides an interactive way for children to address their worries and anxieties. By ‘feeding’ their worries to our monster, children can externalise their concerns and symbolically transfer them to the monster.

Why not use a physical Worry Monster?

This activity has been designed so that it can be used as a communication and discussion tool. We want children to know that sharing worries is ok – we don’t advocate the use of a Worry Monster teddy because this can teach children to keep worries to themselves or between themselves and the ‘monster.’ A physical monster doesn’t prompt your child to share their worries with a trusted adult.

Our Worry Monster resource helps you to address your child’s worries together and reinforces the fact that worries are not only to be shared with the monster but with trusted grown-ups too.

Benefits:

Anxiety Reduction: Writing down and giving a voice to worries can help to alleviate anxiety. The act of transferring worries to the Worry Monster allows children to gain a sense of control and ‘release’ the worry from their minds.

Emotional Release: Expressing worries and concerns through writing provides a healthy outlet for emotions. It helps children to acknowledge and validate their feelings and helps them learn the importance of releasing a worry from our heads.

Empowerment: By personifying worries and transferring them to the Worry Monster, children gain a sense of empowerment. They realise that they have the ability to identify and manage their worries, promoting resilience and a proactive mindset.

Communication tool: Children can sometimes find it hard to find the words to describe their worries and how they are feeling, this activity prompts children to work together with a trusted adult to figure out how to articulate the thoughts in their heads.

Sleep Management: The act of placing the worry with the Worry Monster under their pillow before bed time helps children to process and release any worries before they go to sleep. This can make it easier for children to fall asleep and have a more restful sleep.

Download our Worry Monster activity and help your child identify, release and visually let go of their worries. Help children to learn that sharing worries is good for us and helps us to feel empowered and in control.