World Mental Health Day Activities and Resources

World Mental Health Day’s purpose is to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and to mobilize efforts in support of mental health. It’s a day to talk about mental health and what more we need to do to make mental health care a reality for people worldwide. Here are some activities for children to open the door to self care and caring for their own mental wellbeing throughout their lives.

1. Encourage kindness in your class. If you’re looking for World Mental Health Day activities for elementary school, this free lesson plan from Emily Azouelos explores how children can feel more connected to their peers and community in meaningful, fulfilling ways. It also covers how children can overcome the challenges they may face.

2. Use these excellent free activity packs with World Mental Health Day activities from Plazoom to explore a range of different emotions with kindergarten and elementary children. Students will identify different emotions using the image and word cards and discuss examples of when they’ve felt these emotions. Use the question cards and question stems to encourage conversation about positive mental health. There are activities for both kindergarten and elementary, plus teacher guidance about how to use them.

3. Explore emotions and nature and help your pupils build up tools to deal with everyday stressors with this free elementary school wellbeing lesson plan that delves into the themes of nature and wellbeing. Spending time in nature is essential to mental wellbeing, so kids may as well learn this early on.

4. Learn about mental health and wellbeing with these worksheets. How are your students’ lives rolling along? Which areas are going well and which areas need attention? Find out with this reflective Wheel of Life activity.

5. Practice managing feelings. This six-week series of World Mental Health Day activities for kindergarteners focuses on helping pupils to be able to express their feelings and understand that all emotions are equally valid. There are also accompanying resources to help you deliver the lessons, including PowerPoints and worksheets.

6. Explore The Grand Hotel of feelings. You can use The Grand Hotel of Feelings by Lidia Brankovic in elementary school to help students investigate their feelings and emotions. It’s a picture book that names a wide range of emotions and promotes the idea that all emotions are normal and welcome.

7. Utilize self-care visual guides. These SHOUT Feelgood Guide resources can be used in lessons or as wall displays. There are three PDFs included: the self-care guide, the empowerment and self respect guide, and the be your own bestie guide.

Allison Green
Boston Tutoring Services