Effective Lesson on How to Cope With Sadness for Pre-K

Starting with a puppet play, this lesson opens with poor Squeak, a hedgehog puppet, feeling sad! He has lost his ball, so he cannot play. It’s a good thing that his other hedgehog friend, Mimi, is there to help him manage his sadness. Now, Squeak feels much better!

Sadness is an emotion common to everyone. It is a big feeling that can be overwhelming, especially for pre-kindergartners. Learning how to manage it can help them be resilient and act positively, rather than negatively, when dealing with sad emotions. This lesson is helpful for pre-kindergartners to learn the positive ways that they can confront and manage their sadness.

In a class discussion following the puppet play, pre-kindergartners learn what sadness feels like, how they can identify it, and how it is expressed. Then, they discuss how to manage and turn their sad feelings into happy ones.

With Squeak as an example, the young students learn about the positive action of asking for help to manage their sadness. The lesson continues to enumerate more ways to cope with this feeling.

After the discussion, the class listens to the Positive Action song, "Grumpy Grouch/Bright Sider" and participates in a class activity. Finally, they open the ICU Box and read the ICU messages to celebrate their positive actions.

Sadness can feel like a heavy burden on the chest or a distracting blue hue that hinders the mind and body from their normal daily functioning. Reduced mind and body performance create challenges to success, so positive coping mechanisms are important to prevent sadness from assuming control over opportunities.

Although feeling sad is unavoidable, there are positive ways to manage this emotion. In this lesson, pre-kindergartners gain a deeper understanding of the normalcy of sadness and the healthy practice of managing it.