The Calm-Down Traffic Light

Children play at getting pretend-angry and use the traffic light to calm down: red, stop and curl into a ball; yellow, breathe; green, move calmly. They learn a simple body routine for handling anger.

How to play

1. In a circle, the teacher introduces the feelings traffic light with the three cards and what the body does for each color (2 min).
2. Play at being pretend-angry: stomps, tight fists and an angry face while the drum beats loudly (2 min).
3. Red card: stop! Curl into a ball on the floor hugging our knees and count to three (3 min).
4. Yellow card: sit up and breathe like a balloon filling and emptying, three times (3 min).
5. Green card: stand up, walk calmly, find a friend and tell them how we feel (2 min).
6. Repeat the full cycle several times with a different reason to be angry (“someone took my toy,” “it's not my turn”) (2 min).

Rules

• The anger is pretend and we don't touch anyone.
• On red, my whole body stops.
• On yellow, I breathe slowly through my nose.
• On green, I move calmly and find a friend.

Variations

Adaptations

• Hearing loss: the cards are enough as a cue; add hand gestures.
• Autism: keep the traffic light on a fixed poster and use it in the classroom when real anger shows up.
• Limited mobility: on red, hug yourself from the wheelchair; on yellow, breathe like everyone else.

Learning goals

• Notice the signs of anger in the body.
• Learn a simple sequence to calm down.
• Move from intense movement to stillness.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Red, yellow and green cards: 3
• Hand drum: 1

Teacher tip

Use the same cards back in the classroom: the game only works if the routine comes back when anger is real. Don't ask them “not to get mad”; the message is that anger is okay and can be calmed.

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