ABC Worry Busters

Author(s): Lindsey Croft

Topic: Stress Relief

Purpose: To give students a variety of techniques to tackle stress, worry, and anxiety.
Learning Objectives:
Students will explore their definitions of stress and sources of stress.
Students will come up with an extensive list of ways to handle/cope with stress.

Group Size: can work for a group as small as 2-3 students or as a larger classroom guidance
activity
Time Required: 15-20 minutes
Setting: Small School Counseling group
Population: Middle School Students (6th-8th grades)
Materials Needed: Worry Busters ABC worksheet, writing utensils

Instructions for Conducting the Activity:

1. Have the group introduce themselves by going around the room. Each student should
state their name, something cool about themselves, and something that causes them
stress.
2. After introductions, ask the students to think of how many ways they can think of to
decrease stress.
3. Have students get into pairs or groups of 3. Once groups are formed, hand out the ABC
Worry Busters worksheet.
4. Explain to the students that in their groups, they should come up with something,
someone, somewhere, etc. that relieves their stress for each letter of the alphabet.
Encourage students to be creative.
5. While students work in their groups, the leader should set the white board up by listing
the letters of the alphabet so examples of each can be written on the board.
6. When students seem to be stuck and cannot think of any more worry busters, get the class
back as one large group. As a class, go through the alphabet and have students volunteer
their examples. Examples can be written on the board for the whole class to see.
7. After discussion of the examples, emphasize that students now have a large list of stress
reliever techniques to use.

Reference: Pinterest search middle school stress management activities