Worrying and feeling anxious is very common in children. It can be hard to deal with the unknown. It can be hard to handle feeling like you can’t control what will happen. Here are 6 children’s books about anxiety, worrying, and feelings.
Picture Books for Anxiety and Worry
Worry Says What?
Worry Says What? helps children understand that worries are common, but that we can conquer our worries.
The books follows a little girl throughout her day as she’s met with worry (personified as a monster) after worry over all kinds of things. Children will relate to the types of worries the girl deals with- worrying that she’ll mess up in school, worrying her friends don’t want to play with her, anxiety over trying something new. The little girls learns to talk to and confront her worry and no longer let it control her.
The book ends with her worry getting smaller and smaller. She acknowledges that it will come back sometimes, but now she has the tools and power to deal with it. My own children and students have really enjoyed this one.
The Worrysaurus
The Worrysaurus is a cute but helpful tale of a little dinosaur who is planning a picnic. However, on the way, he begins to worry about all of the things that go wrong.
With some helpful advice from his mom and the kindness of a friend, Worrysaurus learns to try to enjoy the moment.
Wemberly Worried
This classic Kevin Henkes books is great for back to school, or any time.
Wemberly worries about just about everything, but her biggest worry of all is starting school. In this sweet and relatable tale, Wemberly learns that often times there’s no need to worry because things turn out okay in the end.
Ruby Finds a Worry
Ruby Finds a Worry has a wonderful message about how everyone has worries, and that sometimes the best thing to do is to talk about them.
This book does a great job of helping children know they’re not alone and gives them the courage to voice some of their worries to others.
My Body Sends a Signal
While this book is about emotions and feelings in general, this book can help children with anxiety and worries name their feelings.
Often, anxiety can manifest itself in other emotions like fear and anger, so this one is super helpful.
How Are You Feeling Today?
Just like the last book, this one doesn’t deal exclusively with anxiety and worrying. Instead it deals with a range of emotions.
In the beginning of this book, there is a page with different ways a child might be feeling- happy, angry, bored, grumpy, scared, quiet, worried, sad, excited, jealous, embarrassed, and shy. There’s a page number next to each emotion, and children can turn to that page to read suggestions of things they can do when they’re feeling that way. This book is a great book for students who are prone to worrying, or to add to a calm down spot.
If you enjoyed this post about children’s books about anxiety, you might also enjoy:
- 7 Books to Help Kids Deal with Angry Feelings
- 5 Ways to Help Reluctant Readers
- Graphic Novels Your 1st and 2nd Graders will Love
