The Calm Kids’ Journal

The Calm Kids’ Journal is a guided journal designed for children aged 8–11 to help them understand stress and anxiety, develop emotional awareness, and build practical coping skills to manage big feelings and find calm.

Created by a psychologist and educator with over 15 years’ experience, this journal combines playful, age-appropriate activities with evidence-based stress and anxiety management techniques to help kids feel more in control, supported, and confident.

Who is this journal for?

• Children aged 8–11 experiencing stress, worry, or anxiety
• Kids who struggle to understand or name their anxious feelings
• Children learning stress management and coping skills
• Kids seeking practical tools to calm down and feel more in control
• Little worriers and overthinkers
• Children navigating transitions, changes, or challenging situations
• Parents wanting to support their child’s emotional wellbeing and resilience
• Teachers and school counsellors addressing anxiety in the classroom
• Therapists and mental health professionals working with children on anxiety management
• Anyone supporting a child’s journey toward emotional regulation and calm

What’s inside

The Calm Kids’ Journal gently guides children through:

• Understanding stress and anxiety: Kid-friendly explanations of what stress and anxiety are, why they happen, and how they show up in the body and mind. Kids learn that anxiety is normal and manageable.
• Recognizing physical and emotional signs: Reflection activities to help kids notice how stress and anxiety feel in their body and emotions, building self-awareness and early recognition.
• Learning calming techniques: Evidence-based, science-backed tools and strategies designed specifically for kids, including breathing exercises, grounding practices, mindfulness, and sensory activities.
• Building emotional vocabulary: Activities that help children name and describe their worries and anxious feelings with greater precision and self-awareness.
• Exploring thoughts and worries: Gentle reflection prompts to help kids understand their worries, challenge unhelpful thoughts, and develop more balanced perspectives.
• Developing confidence and resilience: Guided exercises to help kids build confidence in their ability to manage tricky moments, face challenges, and bounce back from worry.
• Creating personal calm strategies: Activities to help kids discover their own unique ways to find calm and develop a personalized toolkit they can use anytime.

The journal includes a mix of friendly explanations, calming exercises, engaging prompts, drawing spaces, and reflection activities—so it feels supportive and doable, not overwhelming.

Why this journal works

The Calm Kids’ Journal is grounded in real psychological practice and evidence-based approaches to children’s anxiety and stress management.

• Designed by a psychologist and educator with over 15 years’ experience supporting children’s emotional wellbeing
• Informed by evidence-based approaches including anxiety management, mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), emotion regulation, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and social-emotional learning (SEL)
• Written in clear, accessible, child-friendly language – no jargon, no shame, no judgment
• Combines playful, creative activities with proven therapeutic techniques
• Treats stress and anxiety as normal and manageable, not something to be ashamed of
• Focuses on building lifelong coping skills, not just managing anxiety in the moment
• Designed to be fun and engaging, so kids actually want to use it

How kids can use this journal

There is no “right” way to use The Calm Kids’ Journal. It’s designed to fit around real childhood.

Kids can:

• Work through the journal independently at their own pace
• Use it when they notice stress or anxiety showing up
• Return to favorite calming techniques whenever they need support
• Pick and choose activities that feel most helpful
• Draw, write, or express themselves in whatever way feels natural
• Track their progress and celebrate their growing calm and confidence

Parents can:

• Work through activities together with their child
• Use specific sections to address current worries or stressful situations
• Model calm and healthy stress management in their own lives
• Create a safe, judgment-free space for their child to explore their feelings
• Celebrate their child’s growing emotional awareness and coping skills

Teachers and school counsellors can:

• Integrate journal activities into SEL lessons and classroom discussions
• Use specific sections to support whole-class or individual student needs
• Recommend the journal to parents as a home extension of classroom learning
• Help kids develop stress management and anxiety coping skills

Therapists and mental health professionals can:

• Use the journal as a therapeutic tool between sessions
• Integrate anxiety management and mindfulness activities into counselling work
• Support children’s emotional development in a structured, evidence-based way
• Track progress and celebrate growing calm and resilience

Important notes

• This journal is not a replacement for therapy or professional support.
• It is a supportive tool that can sit alongside other help, giving children a structured, safe space for exploring and managing stress and anxiety.
• If a child is experiencing significant anxiety, panic attacks, or persistent worry that interferes with daily life, please reach out to a mental health professional.
• Every child is unique – activities can be adapted or modified to suit individual needs and preferences.

What makes The Calm Kids’ Journal different

Unlike generic anxiety books, The Calm Kids’ Journal:

• Is evidence-based and psychologist-designed, drawing on real therapeutic approaches (anxiety management, mindfulness, CBT, ACT, emotion regulation, SEL)
• Treats stress and anxiety as normal and manageable, not something to “fix”
• Combines proven therapeutic techniques with playful, age-appropriate design
• Emphasizes building lifelong coping skills, not just temporary relief
• Focuses on practical, science-backed calming tools kids can actually use
• Includes emotional awareness and self-reflection, not just distraction techniques
• Designed by someone with real experience supporting children, not generic parenting advice
• Helps kids develop confidence and resilience, not just anxiety reduction