Helping Kid’s ‘Know Themselves’ to ‘Grow Themselves’: Supporting Children’s Mental Health in Your Activity Club
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Every day, children and young people across the UK face challenges with their mental health.
In fact, as high as 1 in 5 children experience these struggles, with over 420,000 children and young people receiving monthly treatment for mental health issues in England alone.
With numbers like these, it’s clear that supporting children’s mental well-being is vitally important.
Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week provides a powerful opportunity to pause, reflect, and consider how we can all play a part in nurturing the emotional health of young people.
This year, Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week has partnered with Walt Disney Company and Inside Out 2 to help kids explore the world of self-awareness, emotions, and personal growth. The theme “Know Yourself, Grow Yourself”, encourages children to explore their feelings, discover their strengths, and build confidence just as Riley does.
As a kids’ activity club provider, you have a special opportunity to support children’s mental well-being in a fun, safe and empowering environment.
Why Children’s Mental Health Awareness Matters
Mental health isn’t just about overcoming major challenges, it’s about equipping kids with the tools they need to navigate everyday emotions, from excitement and joy to frustration and disappointment.
When children learn to understand their feelings, they’re more likely to:
✅ Express themselves in healthy ways
✅ Build strong, meaningful relationships
✅ Develop confidence in new situations
✅ Bounce back from setbacks and challenges
Just like in Inside Out, where Riley’s emotions work together to guide her, children need to recognise that all feelings, even the tricky ones like Anxiety, Sadness, or Fear, serve a purpose.
By prioritising mental health in your activity club, you’re helping kids develop lifelong emotional skills that will serve them far beyond the walls of your club.
Here are some practical ways to support the emotional well-being of the kid’s you serve, with activity ideas to make it part of your day-to-day:
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Confidence-Building Activities
Trying something new can feel intimidating, but it’s also how kids grow. Whether it’s learning a new skill, speaking up, or performing in front of others, confidence develops through both practice and encouragement.
Activity: ‘Courage Cards’
✨ Step 1: Kids write down something they’re nervous to try
✨ Step 2: Underneath, they add a positive affirmation (e.g., “I can do hard things!”).
✨ Step 3: They keep the card as a reminder to believe in themselves
By providing a growth mindset- where effort is valued over perfection- kids learn to see challenges as opportunities, not obstacles.
Teaching Healthy Ways to Manage Anxiety and Big Emotions
Big emotions can feel overwhelming, but with the right tools, kids can learn to calm themselves down when they’re anxious, frustrated, or scared.
In Inside Out 2, Riley’s new emotion, Anxiety, appears just as she faces big changes. Just like her, kids sometimes worry about new situations, but learning how to self-soothe and manage stress helps them feel in control.
Activity: “Pause Like Bluey”
Inspired by Bluey, where characters pause and breathe to stay calm!
- Teach a simple breathing exercise: “Small the flower, blow out the candle” (inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth).
- Practice pausing before reacting, just like Bluey does when facing challenges.
By using fun, relatable examples, kids gain real-life strategies to self-regulate their emotions.
For Older Kids & Teens: “Reset & Refocus”
As kids grow, stress can come from school, friendships, or big life changes. Teaching them how to reset their minds helps them manage emotions in a healthy way.
The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Exercise is a good way to encourage them to reset and refocus, helping them handle their emotions.
- Name 5 things you can see
- Name 4 things you can touch
- Name 3 things you can hear
- Name 2 things you can smell
- Name 1 thing you can taste
By encouraging self-awareness and emotional regulation, children and teens develop lifelong stress management skills!
Encouraging Self-Reflection and Growth
In Inside Out, Riley experiences all kinds of emotions as she navigates big changes. Understanding that every experience- successes and setbacks- helps us grow is key to building resilience.
Sometimes kids feel discouraged by a challenge but helping them take the time to reflect can help shift their perspective.
Activity: The Growth Jar
How It Works:
- Set up a jar where kids can write something they learned or improved upon during the session
- It can be a new skill, an act of kindness, or a moment of bravery
- Read a few at the end to celebrate personal growth and progress
By recognising their own progress, kids see that every step forward- big or small- matters. This helps them embrace challenges as opportunities to learn and grow.
Helping Kids “Know Themselves and Grow”
Supporting children’s growth starts with small, intentional actions- encouraging self-awareness, promoting inclusion, and giving them the tools to express their emotions.
As a kids’ club provider, you have a unique opportunity to create an environment where children feel understood, valued, and empowered to be themselves. By weaving simple activities and meaningful conversations into your sessions, you help shape their confidence and emotional well-being.
Just like Inside Out, every emotion, challenge, and experience play a role in who we become. Let’s give kids the space to understand their feelings, embrace their journey, and celebrate their growth, because every child deserves the chance to thrive.
Win a Mental Health and Fitness Class for Your Club!
For Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, ClassForKids are partnering with Move Your Mind to give away free mental health and fitness classes to kids’ clubs across the UK.
For a chance to win a class for your community, let us know how your kids’ activity club encourages kids to be themselves [.pink__text]here![.pink__text]
Caitlin Martin
Cait is our in-house social media manager and digital content writer. When she isn’t brainstorming puns or chasing participants for TikToks, she can be found outside running, playing her fiddle in Scottish pubs, travelling on the Avanti West Coast train line to visit her family (read, dog), or nestled up on the sofa with a good book or movie.
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