The Social Edge

This innovative, Brain-Based Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Curriculum is for kids 8-12 years old*. This is an interactive, hands-on curriculum which includes a parent and teacher guide. Children learn 3 secret strategies that will help them with identifying and regulating their emotions. They also play 3 games to reinforce all concepts and terms learned: Amygdala Hijack! card game, Heads Up! Emotions, and Social Edge! Taboo. All worksheets are interactive. Students are asked to label, draw, and/o

Brain-Based Life Hacks is made for Tweens and Teens. This book teaches kids 10 Secret Strategies to live a happy, meaningful, balanced and productive life! Throughout the book, kids learn how to apply the 4 Happiness Chemicals: Oxytocin, Serotonin, Dopamine and Endorphins to various situations in their lives (friendships, peer pressure, conflict resolution, kindness, self-compassion, taking risks, goal-setting and more!) -The function of neurons & neurotransmitters -Understand how to activate

Your Brain – Introduces young children to three key brain parts: the prefrontal cortex (the "smart boss"), amygdala (the "superhero protector"), and hippocampus (the "special memory book"). Emoticons help reinforce understanding of their roles in thinking, emotions, and memory. Brain Maze – A hands-on activity that helps students see how the prefrontal cortex aids in decision-making as they navigate a maze. Why Do You Need Your Hippocampus? – Encourages students to connect their hippocampus to m

"WHAT IS AN AMYGDALA HIJACK?! Explain how the amygdala is not as smart as the prefrontal cortex, because it really doesn’t know the difference between a real threat and a perceived threat. Provide examples and then have students create their own! YOUR BRAIN DURING AN AMYGDALA HIJACK! Explain that we call this an “amygdala hijack” because it is when your amygdala (or the “OMG” emoticon) takes over your brain. It doesn’t allow the prefrontal cortex or the hippocampus to work! When this

Empower kids to activate their own happiness chemicals: oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine and endorphins! These worksheets will help kids learn more about their neurons ---and how they can "activate" these particular neurotransmitters to have a positive mindset and day! *Note: These worksheets are from our Brain-Based Life Hacks! workbook.

Brain-Based EQ for Pre-K and Kindergarten: A Social Edge Workbook Help young learners build emotional intelligence with Brain-Based EQ for Pre-K and Kindergarten! This engaging workbook introduces children to brain-friendly concepts and mindfulness strategies, empowering them to understand and manage their emotions. Through fun activities like coloring, sensory exercises, and deep breathing, students will explore how their brain works, learn calming techniques, and develop essential social-emoti

Why Do You Need Your Amygdala? – Helps students understand how their amygdala acts as a "superhero protector" by keeping them safe. Includes a matching activity to differentiate between safe and dangerous situations. Think About Your Body! – Explores the mind-body connection when the amygdala reacts. Introduces the fight, flight, and freeze responses and encourages students to reflect on their own physical reactions in past situations. Think About Your Amygdala! – Encourages students to draw a p

his is a Heads Up! Emotions Game to help children identify a range of emotions. Here are the steps to play: 1. Cut out each card and have one child hold the card up to their head. 2. Each player will get 1 minute to guess the emotion they are holding. 3. Instead of shouting out clues, the other children should only try to act out the emotion (players get 2 points if they can guess it correctly by using only facial expressions and body language) 4. If that doesn’t work, the player will get 1 m

Learn About Emotions: Students discuss emotions they might feel in different situations shown in pictures. They color an emoticon that best matches their feelings. These conversations will help expand emotional vocabulary. Teachers and parents can also extend the conversation to other environments and discuss how children feel at a park and how they feel when the approach different play areas. Name Your Emotions: Students identify emotions in different scenarios and brainstorm other situations t

YOUR BRAIN Use the emoticons to help students remember how three important parts of their brain work together prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus. Students will learn how their prefrontal cortex is like a light bulb with its bright ideas, how the amygdala goes into “OMG mode” to protect them from stressful and dangerous situations, and how the hippocampus is like a librarian as it keeps track of their memories and can reference those memories when needed LABEL YOUR BRAIN Have students

Engage students in a fun, mindfulness-based food activity. Have them try foods with different tastes—salty, sweet, sour, and bitter—and reflect on how each one makes them feel by coloring emoticons. After completing the worksheet, discuss each food item in more detail. Focus on sensory qualities like color, shape, and texture, using words like crunchy, smooth, slimy, soft, juicy, or chewy to describe textures. This helps introduce them to a variety of textures and foods. If they’re still enjoyin

About the Book Shanti and the Knot of Protection: A Rakhi Story is a beautiful children's picture book that helps all children understand why and how Rakhi is celebrated. This story ties in with historical tales about the origins of Rakhi—from a queen centuries ago who needed protection from a neighboring king, to modern times where it is celebrated by siblings that are brothers and sisters, siblings that are both girls or both boys, children without siblings, and even cousins and friends! With

AUTHENTIC FRIENDSHIPS: Talk to kids about how they evaluate friendships. What are the characteristics they are looking for in good friends? Discuss what it means to have a green light, yellow light, or red light friend. Have kids discuss what would put a friend in one of those categories. Discuss what their core values are. Core values are guiding principles that help individuals differentiate between what is right or wrong. Do their friends share their values, such as kindness and compassion? H

IT'S TIME FOR HOLI! helps children gain an understanding of the Indian culture by learning more about Holi, the festival of colors. This story begins during the winter season, with a boy who is anxiously waiting for spring and the celebration of Holi to begin. When Holi day finally arrives, he can't wait to celebrate. He decides to use his colored powders-- before his family and friends arrive! As he explores the different colored powders, he starts to relate the colors to what he sees happening

Light, Camera, Diwali! helps children gain a better understanding of Diwali, the Indian festivals of lights. Through this engaging story, children learn how Indian-American families celebrate Diwali in their homes. Dia receives a camera as a Diwali gift and uses it to capture her memories of this special day. She takes photos of her family decorating clay lamps, creating unique rangoli designs, preparing sweets called ladoos, setting off firecrackers and more! This captivating story also helps c

WHAT IS A “WORRY BULLY”? Before using this worksheet, read the book What to Do When You Worry Too Much, by Dawn Huebner. Talk to students about what causes them to worry. Their worries may even stop them from experiencing life and living to their fullest potential. By labeling each of their worries as a worry bully, students can regain power over their lives. Teach them how to talk back to their worry bullies when they need to. Tell them that at first, this will seem strange, because they a

SECRET KINDNESS AGENTS: The concept of Secret Kindness Agents (S.K.A.) was developed by Dr. Feral Pearson. It is based on the book Secret Kindness Agents: How Small Acts of Kindness Really Can Change the World. Have students choose a fun anonymous S.K.A. name (e.g., Chocolate Chip Cookie, aka Triple C) and have them think about small acts of kindness that they can do. The acts of kindness should come from them! Positive affirmation cards are definitely a fun way to get started! Talk to your

This engaging activity page helps young children learn about the brain while developing essential skills. Kids will connect the dots to reveal and color the brain, discover fun brain facts, and test their own brain’s abilities. *Please note: these individual pages are part of the Brain-Based Emotional Intelligence (EQ) workbook for Pre-K and K.

This is a peer pressure worksheet created by Girl Scouts Troop #31857. This was created for their mental health and well-being club at Fallon Middle School to educate 7th-grade girls about the different types of peer pressure, including both positive and negative. The troop would like for teachers and counselors to use this to teach students about the positive and negative aspects of peer pressure.

TEMPTATION BUNDLING TO ACHIEVE GOALS: Discuss how students can use temptation bundling to achieve their goals and activate dopamine and serotonin. The key here is that we can combine instant and delayed gratification to reach our goals. Note: It's important to remember why kids are pursuing the goal. Have them think about their passion project and the tasks that they have broken down to complete it. Also, have them think about other goals that would get them out of their comfort zone. Have t