EXCERPT: Try This “Worry Bug” Activity to Help Students with Anxiety
December 13, 2024
Anxiety can be a major obstacle to school success for students. Here’s a creative activity you might want to try with your students in the new year to help them learn how to manage feelings of fear and worry. It’s excerpted from Facing Your Fears in Schools by Judy Reaven & Audrey Blakeley-Smith—a new CBT program intended for use with students who are on the autism spectrum or have other social/learning needs. A great sneak peek into the type of content featured in the program, this “worry bug” activity is also a good one to use or adapt in your classroom.
Why This Activity?
The purpose of this activity is to help students begin to separate themselves from their worry or upset, and to introduce the idea that they can have some form of control over their worry/upset, rather than the other way around. Through this activity, you are suggesting that the students and their worry are different entities and that the worry/upset does not have to completely define them. By “externalizing” the worry/upset, you intentionally separate the person from the problem and create the belief that students can manage their worry/upset.
DOWNLOAD the worksheets you need for this activity here!
What To Do
Introduce the art activity. First, ask the students the following: Imagine what your worry/upset looks like. Is it big and frightening? Is it like a monster or alien, or is it more like an annoying bug? How tough or strong are you in comparison to your worry/upset? Then, have the students take turns reading the directions for making worry bugs/creatures on the Worry Bug/Creature and Helper Bug/Creature worksheet.
Create worry bugs or creatures. Have students jot down details and a name for their worry bug or creature on the worksheet. Then tell students: Now show what your worry/upset looks like on the My Worry Bug/Creature worksheet. You can use Play-Doh, clay, or drawing materials to show what it looks like. Give students time to create their Worry Bug/Creature.
Create helper bugs or creatures. Have students read the directions for making helper bugs/creatures on the Worry Bug/Creature and Helper Bug/Creature worksheet and jot down details and a name for their helper bug or creature. Then say: Next, imagine a helper bug, an imaginary creature that helps you “beat” or manage your worry/upset. Draw this creature on your My Helper Bug/Creature worksheet or mold it. (If needed, define “imaginary” as based on a fictional character or your own creation.) Give students time to create their Helper Bug/Creature.
Squash the worry bug/creature. After the worry bug/helper bugs (or creatures) are drawn or molded, ask the students to squash their worry bug or creature.
- If students drew their worry bug or creature, they can draw a picture of themselves “squashing” it. You can take a photo of their illustration and provide the students with the picture at the next session.
- If students molded the bug or creature from Play-Doh or clay, they can squash the physical worry bug/creature (and take a picture) to instill and maintain the image of them having control over their worry/upset.
Note: Because the art activity can run long, you may prefer to have the students squash worries in another class.
Helpful hint: Be flexible with this activity. Some students are reluctant to squash their worry bugs or creatures, particularly if they have spent some time making them out of Play-Doh or clay. It is okay not to push this, but instead convey the intent behind the activity, which is to help the students see that they can begin to have control over their feelings of worry or fear.
Modifications for Middle School Students
This activity is successful with students in elementary and middle school, although it may be important to modify the language and/or art materials for middle school students. For example:
- Substitute clay for Play-Doh.
- Have students who would rather draw their worry use pencils or other sketching materials.
- Rather than using the term “worry bug,” you can encourage the students to imagine their worry as any kind of creature or being.
- Similarly, rather than using the term “helper bug,” you can encourage students to imagine a creature or being that helps them manage their feelings of worry or upset.
Feel free to be creative, and remember that the intent of the activity is to externalize worry—an important concept for students of all ages.
Facing Your Fears in Schools
Managing Anxiety in Students With Autism or Related Social and Learning Difficulties
By Judy Reaven, Ph.D., & Audrey Blakeley-Smith, Ph.D.
Help autistic students face and manage their fears—and overcome a major obstacle to school success—with this highly effective cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) program designed for use with students ages 8–14. FYF is evidence based, has been shown to reduce anxiety in students with autism, and is an ideal way to increase student access to critical mental health interventions in school.
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