Don't Be An Angry Bird!

Last night my foster pup, Seven, and my pup Brooklyn were playing when things got a little rough. There was a little too much growling and nipping my for comfort and I could see their friendly play going from joking to anger. Swiftly they were in their crates for a time out. Seven was snoring moments later.




How ironic that hours later I would be at school hosting my final "Cool Beans" small group, a group for students with anger. Today we finished up our group by creating "cool down goodie bags." Here's a peak:

I laugh too much to be mad.

A reminder to listen to calming music.

• The Bag: To start the group I had them docorate one side of the bag with words and images that helped them calm down. One student drew a chair with the words "push, pull, dangle," a method we learned about when reading Julia Cook's "Soda Pop Head." Another drew the beach, a claming image, and surrounded it with cool down methods. My example bag had three pictures glued to it, each that make me giggle. 

This picture not only makes me laugh, but reminds me that a bath always calms me down.

 

On the other side of the bag I had the kids write their final "warm fuzzy." One nice compliment to each other or a finally good-bye wish. I wrote one as well.

• The contents:




• A journal and pencil- for them to write and journal when they are angry. They could write their angry words instead of yelling them. Pencils were donated from Publix and journals from Oriental Trading.
• An eraser- the eraser was a reminder that we all make mistakes, but we can't always erase the mistakes we make when we are angry, so we need to make good decisions the first time.
• A pull tab- a visual reminder of the book "Soda Pop Head" by Julia Cook. We used this book as the basis of our group.
• Angry Bird Strategy Cards- I got these images here. One side of their card lists what it means to be an angry bird and the other has cool down strategies.
• Candy- a sweet treat, because I find it's hard to chew and yell at the same time.
• Party Favors- these blowouts are wonderful because they don't make noise. We practiced taking slow deep breaths with them. I grabbed a huge bag that will last years at Oriental Trading for $8. 
• Play dough- to mold, mash, and create when they are angry. I always pick up playdough when it's on sale at Target.
• Funny Stress Monsters- I picked these up at Oriental Trading also. We talked about instead of hitting a person, animal, or pillow we could squeeze our goofy character relaxable as hard as we could.
• Bubbles- another fun way to practice taking slow deep breaths.  I picked an 8 pack these up in the summer on clearance at Kroger for less than $2.

If you are interested in adopting my sweet angel Seven or interested in adopting/fostering a pup please visit: http://www.nashvillepittie.org/adopt-a-bulls.html