Preschool Self Regulation Activities for Little Learners

This set of preschool self-regulation activities is jam-packed with visual supports, and activities to teach self-regulation in little learners! It was created for the early childhood level, but can also be used at the early elementary level with students who are just learning about emotions and working on self-regulation. There are also ideas for sensory activities to help calm children’s bodies.

Basic emotions are addressed in several of the preschool self-regulation activities (see below). There are also several choices for calming strategies that can be used to help students learn self-regulation. The students learn to identify their feeling (I feel) and choose an activity (I need) using pictures. There is also a 2nd level of sentence strip that adds “because” (e.g. “I feel ___, because ___. I need ___).

I’ve used these preschool self-regulation activities with several young children ages 3-5 and they have responded very positively! I LOVE strategies that really work and are easy to use in the classroom setting. This resource is perfect for early childhood special education teachers, preschool teachers, speech/language pathologists, occupational therapists, school counselors, social workers, and parents. It is a very easy strategy for paraprofessionals to use in classrooms too.

The updated resource includes:

• 2 “I feel – I need” visual support boards
• 3 different options for check in charts
• 30 different “I feel” pictures depicting- sad, mad, frustrated and happy
• 30 different “because” pictures
• 100 different “I need” pictures
• 1 chart titled “Today we are learning about” with 8 different categories to put up as lesson targets (use a fidget, take a break, heavy work, sensory tools, breathing, yoga, meditation and move my body)
• 2 deep breath visual support/cue cards
• 2 push on wall (wall push ups) visual support/cue cards
• 2 sentence strips (I feel_____, I need_____) and (I feel ____, because_____, I need_____)
• 11 beginning yoga cards
• 1 Calming My Body social story
• 4 Emotions Matching Mats
• 1 Emotions Sorting Mat with 30 emotions pictures
• 27 Emotions flashcards (3 of each emotion: happy, sad, mad, scared, surprised, frustrated, worried, tired and excited)
• 1 Breathing visual cue card
• 1 Calming sequence

The zip file also includes the original Calming Strategies resource:

• 24 4×5 cards with choices for calming strategies
• 20 4×5 cards with basic emotions (mad, sad, happy, scared
• “I feel – I need” visual support
• Small pictures of emotions and calming strategies to use with the “I feel – I need” visual
• Social story about emotions and using the “I feel – I need” visual
• Emotion matching activity
• Emotion sorting activity