Since its inception, the foundation has empowered millions of children across the country, delivering programs that equip youth with the skills to manage life’s challenges and thrive.
In celebration of the milestone, expert from the foundation have shared their top fifty mental health promotion strategies to help infants, children and teens:
1. Sing Together: Hold your baby, sing, and make eye contact to foster a loving bond.
2. Respond with Care: Comfort your baby when they cry. It builds trust and safety.
3. Play Together: Let your toddler explore everyday objects and follow their lead in play.
4. Stay Calm: Practice deep breathing to stay calm when your baby is upset.
5. Feeling Charades: Act out emotions and get them to build emotional awareness.
6. Draw a Happy Place: Encourage kids to draw their “happy place”.
7. Mindful Eating: Have kids eat a favourite snack slowly, focusing on taste and texture.
8. Dance Out Emotions: Let kids create dances to express how different emotions feel.
9. Mirror Emotions: Make faces that show emotions and guess what they represent.
10. Emotion Thermometer: Have kids rate their emotions from 1 to 5 using a visual thermometer.
11. What If Game: Ask “what if” questions and brainstorm creative solutions to problems.
12. Stress Stoplight: Talk about stress like a stoplight from bad (red), okay (yellow), to good (green).
13. Stress & Reach: Pretend to push clouds back into the sky as a stretching exercise.
14. Belly Breathing: Teach deep breathing to calm down when feeling stressed or angry.
15. Name Emotions: Teach words for different emotions to help them communicate feelings.
16. Gratitude Collage: Create a collage of things they’re grateful for.
17. Finger Breathing: Trace fingers while taking deep breaths to calm down.
18. Animal Pack: Imagine how animals deal with stress and how a “pack” can help.
19. Focus Eyes: Encourage them to focus their eyes on one spot to calm racing thoughts.
20. Excitement Over Worry: Shift nervousness into excitement by reframing the feeling.
21. Inner Buddy vs. Bully: Name their positive (buddy) and negative (bully) inner voices.
22. Invisible String: Write down names of supportive people on notes to show their invisible support network.
23. Daily Reflection: Have them journal or draw about their day and how it made them feel.
24. Calm Jar: Create a jar of calming activity ideas to use when stressed.
25. Mindful Walks: Go for a walk and focus on what they see, hear, and smell.
26. Active Play: Encourage daily physical activity like skipping, running, jumping.
27. Recognize Stress: Talk about how stress feels in their body.
28. Muscle Relaxation: Practice tensing and relaxing muscles to release stress.
29. Express Emotions: Draw how they think their face looks when feeling different emotions.
30. Quick Calming: Brainstorm 9-second calming activities, like petting an animal or counting.
31. Stress Plan: Write down stressors and brainstorm ways to cope.
32. Worry Box: Create a box for storing written worries until they’re ready to discuss them.
33. Count to 10: When emotions run high, encourage them to count to 10 before reacting.
34. Happy Place: Close eyes, breathe deeply, and imagine a calm, happy place.
35. Creative Outlets: Express feelings through art, music, or dancing.
36. Growth Mindset: Think about how they can improve, even areas of skill.
37. Three Good Things: Before Bed, write down three positive things from their day.
38. Best/Worst Outcomes: Think about the best and worst possible outcomes of a situation.
39. Practice Apologizing: Reflect on times they’ve apologized and how it improved relationships.
40. Stress Scale: Ask them to rate their stress level from 1 (most stressed) to 10 (least stressed).
41. 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding: Name 5 things they see, 4 things they feel, 3 sounds, 2 smells, and 1 taste.
42. Positive Affirmations: Write down 10 positive affirmations and refer to them when stressed.
43. Stress Reflection: Regularly reflect on signs of stress and how to manage them.
44. Focus on Values: Use their values to guide decisions and behaviours when overwhelmed.
45. Create a Stress Kit: Make a kit with items that help relieve stress.
46. Laughter: Watch something funny or spend time with people who make them laugh.
47. Healthy Habits: Encourage sleep, nutritious food, and regular physical activity.
48. Journaling: Write down thoughts and feelings to identify patterns.
49. Relaxing Music: Create a playlist of calming music or sounds.
50. Get Organized: Use to-do lists and calendars to stay on top of tasks and reduce stress.
Anjolina Rankin-West is an editorial assistant with an interest in family caregiving.
For a complete list of programs, visit
strongmindsstrongkids.org/en/the-psychology-foundation-of-canada
Congratulations to Strong Minds, Strong Kids – Psychology Foundation of Canada for 50 years of leveraging psychological science to promote mental wellness and resilience among Canadian families.
Images: Mac Loong. CanStock.
