Worry waves
Worries written into the waves, what they feel like, and what helps when they get big. The picture does some of the work: waves rise, and waves go down again.
Free to download and print. Nothing to pay, no account needed.
What it is for
A child who is worried often experiences it as permanent — this is simply how things are now. The wave makes the argument for you without anybody having to say it. Waves get big and waves pass, and the sheet closes by putting it in the child’s own mouth: “Waves come and go. I am strong. I can handle this.”
It also opens gently. The first box asks what a worry is, not what theirs are, which gives a child who is not ready yet a way in that costs them nothing.
Using it in a session
- Let them define a worry first. The opening box is general on purpose. Starting there lets a child warm up before anything of theirs goes on the page.
- Three waves is a limit, deliberately. It asks for the worries that are loudest today, not a complete inventory. Do not help them fill all three.
- Ask which calming ideas they have actually tried. Five are pictured. One a child already uses is worth more than five you suggest.
- Four lines for people who can help is a lot. One real name beats four polite ones. Ask what that person would do, not just who they are.
- Read the closing line together. A child saying “I can handle this” aloud lands differently from a child reading it.
A child naming what helps is useful. A child who cannot name anybody at all is telling you something more urgent, and that belongs in your assessment rather than on the sheet.
What is on the sheet
- What is a worry?
- Three waves to write or draw worries into
- How do my worries make me feel?
- What helps me when the waves get big?
- Five things I can do to ride the waves
- People who can help me
- A closing line to read together
Thirty-five worksheets, all free
Built in practice by a working social worker, for children, young people and the people around them. New sheets are added as they are needed.
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