FLIPPING YOU LID ACTIVITIES Stress Response Strategies Upstairs Downstairs Brain

Looking for a complete, engaging way to help kids understand their emotions, brain, and coping strategies? Flip Your Lid, Find Your Calm Workbook Understanding My Brain & My Feelings Workbook is the perfect SEL curriculum to support emotional regulation, social-emotional learning, and coping skills development in a fun and accessible way for young learners.

This 6-lesson unit is designed for school counseling activities, classroom lessons, and small group interventions. Through a combination of brain science, emotional literacy, and calming strategies, students will build self-awareness and emotional control.

THIS WORKBOOK INCLUDES:

• Lesson 1 – Meet Your Brain – Introduces the Upstairs and Downstairs Brain, key brain players (Wise Owl, Guard Dog, Memory Elephant), the fight-flight-freeze response, and flipping your lid. Includes a self-reflection questionnaire.
• Lesson 2 – Big Feelings & Reactions – Helps students understand what happens when the Downstairs Brain takes over, explores the Amygdala Hijack, and builds awareness of emotional triggers and strong memories.
• Lesson 3 – Calm Your Brain – Teaches calming strategies like deep breathing, mindfulness, and grounding. Students learn to calm their Guard Dog and track their emotional regulation with strategy cards and rating scales.
• Lesson 4 – Name It to Tame It – Builds interoception and emotional vocabulary. Students learn to identify body clues, name their emotions, and play the “Name It to Tame It” game.
• Lesson 5 – My Brain, My Choices – Focuses on making positive choices. Students explore green (helpful) and red (unhelpful) choices with activities, worksheets, and a cut-and-sort exercise to reflect on their decisions.
• Lesson 6 – Crafts and Activities – Reinforces learning with fun brain-themed activities, including a coloring page, brain facts, a cut-and-paste brain anatomy craft, and a Build-a-Brain Hat.

Whether used for school counseling lessons, SEL classroom activities, or emotional regulation groups, Flip Your Lid, Find Your Calm gives students the tools they need to build resilience and self-control. Help students “flip their lid” less and “find their calm” more – with this complete, interactive SEL resource.

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► Looking for more SEL workbook topics? We’ve got you covered!

• Behavior and Feelings Workbook
• Gossiping & Rumors Workbook for Teens 
• CBT Workbook – Thoughts Feelings Behaviors for Teenagers
• Self Esteem and Feelings Workbook
• Emotions & Self Care Workbook
• My Anger Management Workbook

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