Resilience Habit Animal Role Plays

Teaching Self-Compassion Through Story and Play

Big feelings are not something to “fix.” They are something to meet with a little more kindness.

The Feelings and Resilience Habit Animals give kids and caregivers a playful way to practice doing exactly that. The characters come to life through activities in the Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Workbooks for Kids, as well as illustrated stories and role play activities like the ones on this page.

Below is a sample three-day plan for using a Resilience Habit Animal story and role-play kit with your child. It’s a starting place, not a script. Please follow your child’s lead and make it your own.

Day 1 is just for you. Take a few minutes to get familiar with the language so you feel comfortable when you explore together.

Download and print

Download the ​Buddy Face Mask & Scripts page​ and the ​Flame Face Mask & Scripts page​ and take a moment to look them over.

Take the quiz

Try the ​Feelings Habit Quiz​ yourself first. This helps you notice which feelings habit you tend to fall into when things feel hard.

Watch the story

Take a few minutes to watch the video ​Everyone Gets Upset Sometimes​ so you’re familiar with the story before sharing it with a child.

Guide your child through the quiz

Have your child take the ​Feelings Habit Quiz​ (kids love the online quiz) to help identify how they respond during difficult moments. You can share your own feelings habit animal. Seeing that adults have ‘feelings habits’ too builds a sense of connection and lets them know that they are not alone.

Color Flame

Take out the Flame coloring page and invite your child to color while you talk together.

Flame is special because it sometimes feels like all the Feelings Habit Animals. When things go wrong, it might feel like Beaver, Bear, Chameleon, or Deer.

As you color together, you might ask: “Which of these animals do you feel like sometimes?”

This playful conversation helps children notice their feelings without shame.

Act it out

Kids learn best through play.

Try acting out the different feelings habits together. One of you can pretend to be Bear with BIG feelings, or Beaver thinking about something over and over, or Deer hiding with shame.

Let it be silly and light.

Now we introduce the first resilience habit.

Watch the story together

Watch ​Everyone Gets Upset Sometimes​ with your child. Notice how Buddy helps Flame remember something important: everyone has hard moments sometimes.

Color Buddy

Take out the Buddy coloring page. Buddy reminds us of the first resilience habit: we are not alone.

While your child colors, read the Buddy reminders aloud, such as:

• “Everyone has ups and downs.” • “Everyone makes mistakes.” • “Other kids might feel like this too.” • “I’m not alone.”

You might invite your child to circle their favorite Buddy phrases.

Role play

Invite your child to act out the problem from the story, or invent your own scenarios.

Choose a character and hold your colored page in front of your face to start. One can be Flame and the other Buddy, then trade pages so you both get a turn as each one.

Role playing or acting out the story together helps children practice the Buddy habit in a safe and playful way.

Many families and classrooms enjoy using the Feelings Habit Animals and Resilience Habit Animals stuffed animals to act out the stories. You can use stuffies that your child already has, and pretend like they are the characters from the story.

• Take the Resilience Habit Animal Quiz 
• Explore the Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Workbooks for Kids
• Try the free mini-course on helping kids with big feelings
• Learn to teach self-compassion to kids

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