‘The Stress Bucket’ has been designed to support children and young people with exploring what stress is and how it feels. This is a tool for illustrating how stress is like a bucket, over time it fills up before it becomes too overwhelming. It shows ways of releasing that stress to make the feeling become less.

The sheet encourages children and young people to identify where on the scale they are feeling and what they can do to support.

How could this resource be used?

• To support emotional regulation.
• To support emotional literacy and identifying feelings on a scale.
• To support a child 1:1.
• This could also be used as a whole class display to support all children.

Which statutory England PSHE curriculum* objectives does this resource fall into?

*in line with the PSHE Association 2021 Statutory Guidance.

• KS1: H13 – how feelings can affect people’s bodies and how they behave.
• KS1: H18 – different things they can do to manage big feelings, to help calm themselves down and/or change their mood when they don’t feel good.
• KS2: H20 – how to manage and respond to feelings appropriately and proportionately in different situations.

Scottish Health and Wellbeing Curriculum Outcome: Mental and Emotional Wellbeing – I understand that my feelings and reactions can change depending upon what is happening within and around me. This helps me to understand my own behaviour and the way others behave.