Anger balloon

One of my favorite lessons was on the topic of anger. I had a red balloon prepared for each class I taught. I had pre-printed some slips of paper with different physical and behavioral effects of anger on our body. The list included things like:

Heart beats faster than normal
Breathing hard
Cheeks get red and hot
Making fists with my hands
Tight muscles
Feel like yelling
Feel like I can't sit still

During the discussion with the class, I had each student tell me one thing that makes them feel angry. Most students gave examples, like a little brother who won't leave them alone. With each example, I added another puff of air to the balloon. By the time every student shared an answer, the balloon was ready to explode!

Then I talked about how when we are full of anger, it is easy to explode over little things. As I talked, I had a push-pin in my hands. I talked about how small the push-pin is and that it seems like a really small thing. However, all it takes is one small thing to make our anger explode! I gave examples of something that could set off anger, like someone borrowing our pencil without asking or someone stepping in front of us in line. I usually ham it up and pretend to be really angry as I give examples and then I tell them that I just can't hold on to my anger any more and....POP! I pop the balloon. As the balloon explodes, it sends little slips of paper across the classroom area.

After doing this lesson a few times, I did learn a lesson or two. First, prep the students ahead of time for how loud the balloon will be and promise to warn them before you pop it. Tell the students they are allowed to cover their ears if loud noises bother them. Second, give very specific instructions about what to do with the slips of paper. I told the students that they could ONLY pick up a slip of paper if it landed close to them or on them. If they were close to two pieces of paper, they should be prepared to give one of the papers to someone else who is sitting nearby. Under no circumstances should anyone jump up or race to grab a slip of paper.

After the balloon pop, I would have students read what their slip of paper said. If it was a class with poor readers, I would have them hold the paper in the air for me to take and read aloud.

Once we were clear on the negative affects of anger, we read the book Soda Pop Head by Julia Cook. In it, the main character learns some cool-down strategies to keep his anger from exploding. We review these cool-down techniques with another balloon. I blew up a blue balloon, reviewing some of the anger triggers the students had discussed earlier. The anger is the same with both balloons. But, with the blue balloon, I release a puff of air for each of our cool down strategies. In the end, all the air is released. I would take the same push-pin and talk about those little frustrations that triggered the explosion before -- but this time, when I touched the pin to the balloon, nothing happened. The flat balloon was unable to explode when the pin touched it.

It was a very engaging lesson and one the students talked about in later lessons as they talked about handling anger appropriately.